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# Do I need a CS Degree?
A question I see asked around the internet is "I wish I studied Computer Science (CS)" or "Should I switch majors?" or even "I am still in high school, should I study CS?". These are three different questions to be honest but I think the overall sentiment is still the same.
## Who am I to give my opinion?
So a bit about me. I have a Bachelors in CS from a state university here in the US. Nothing flashy, but I feel I got a good education. I then worked since then as a software engineer and am now a senior engineer at my company eight years later.
## The long and short of it
There are two main summaries I can give:
If university isn't free, and you've already been to university - self learn. Here in the US Universities are expensive and if the end goal is software engineering - spend your time teaching yourself. Look up the curriculums, ask engineers you know / online communities.
If you're still young - learn to program before you enroll. Loving computers doesn't equal loving to program. Maybe computer engineering, or an IT like major is more beneficial for you.
## What is a CS Degree
This varies by department. And I think this is the most important thing to stress. A CS degree is actually something different in almost every school (here in the US). From my coworkers, and girlfriend, discussing what they learned in their CS degree is vastly different. The overall material is generally the same, but how its presented, and what beyond the core CS curriculum.
### Theory
Unless you're in some specific engineer track you're going to learn some theory.
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