Technology Majors In College: What’s the Difference Between Them?

By S Rifana

Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Science, all these majors sound so strangely similar, and yet, they’re not. They’re all fundamentally based on computer networks and coding, but what’s the real difference?

CS: Computer science focuses on creating programs and applications. It emphasizes on computing theory and theoretical and practical applications of computer science. A computer scientist designs new programming languages or find new uses for algorithms. Potential jobs you could be qualified for are software and web developer.

Computer Engineering: Computer engineers work at the junction of computer science and electronic engineering. They integrate development of hardware and software. It includes hardware design and looks at how components like processors and circuit boards interact with software. The major overlaps with computer science in terms of some fundamentals and potential jobs.

Information Science: information science majors learn how the computer works as a physical and abstract machine. This major focuses more on handling information through computing. It includes designing, building, maintaining and improving their computer-based systems. It offers an understanding of the fundamentals of computing. Possible careers include being a database administrator.