15 critical signs that indicate that CS is not for you

if you are a student and wonder if a CS is meant for you or not, in this post you will know the critical 15 signs that indicate that a CS is not good for you.

In addition, we will give you 15 questions to respond to, finally to determine if you should go into CS or not. This is so important to make some interesting decisions.

15 critical signs that indicate that CS is not for you

you don’t like math

computer science major is a highly intensive mathematical field. So as a freshman in computer science you will study a lot of math modules in the first year. But the interesting one that many students are afraid to form is calculus.

in the first year you will study:

  • calc 1
  • calc 2
  • calc 3

in addition, you will find Algebra and discrete math. So everything that you have studied in high school is awaiting for you in CS major.

This is not to worry you or make you afraid of math. Because in the beginning, we said “if you don’t like ” not ” if you struggle in math “, the difference between these 2 things is big.

In other words, you struggle in math but still like it, this one signs that CS is for you even if you struggle in math. you could solve this issue by reading this guideline article.

But the problem is if don’t have any interest in math or don’t like it, in this case, you should not follow a CS major.

For those who aren’t interested in math but love technology going into an IT, major will be the best option.

you don’t like solving problems

The second point or sign that indicates you are not meant for CS, is if you don’t like solving problems. CS major is a field that teaches you how to solve problems. To keep you close to the number, programmers spend more than 75% of their time solving problems or fixing bugs.

So you will expect to spend the whole of your time fixing and thinking about problems solutions.

if you get overwhelmed easily and don’t accept having or facing problems anymore, then this might be a sign that a CS major is not for you.

Making mistakes is so bad for you

if you are one of those people who don’t like to make mistakes and just nail it from the first trial, CS is not for you. This domain has a lot of challenges and details. Therefore you don’t expect to not make mistakes, if you don’t make mistakes you won’t learn anything in this major.

Many people beat themselves for just making mistakes which is wrong. If you have this mindset, don’t approach this field before fixing that.

For instance, many students build projects by working hard on them. But finally, they find many mistakes in their works, sometimes it forces them to begin from scratch.

So the question, that you should ask yourself is, do I have the resistance to bear and accept mistakes?

don’t have patience

patience is a very interesting thing if you want to go for a CS major. In other words, if you aren’t patient you won’t succeed in a CS major or a job.

Sometimes it happens that you spend 2 to 3 days just solving silly programming mistakes. For instance forgetting some simple and silly things like :

  • [
  • ,
  • {
  • }
  • :

as a beginner in programming, we all faced this issue, as a student you are in the learning phase so you have to be patient to solve a lot of issues. Spending 2 to 3 hours to fix one problem is something normal in this field, this domain is technical and requires a focus.

Even professionals get stuck on many occasions. So if you aren’t patient a CS that is not meant for you.

you are perfectionist

if you are a perfectionist and like to put everything in the right position this domain doesn’t belong to this category. No matter how much time and effort you spend on the work there is still better and stronger work than you do.

People spend months and sometimes years enhancing projects and still finding bugs and issues every day. For people who like perfectionism, this field is not the right place.

What is mather is to implement quickly ideas and make them powerful enough to work.

don’t like challenges

CS field requires people to love and break challenges, you have to be competitive. In other words, going out of your comfort zone is what will keep you differentiated from your peer. You have to have a mindset of not settling up whatever happens.

For instance, if your professor gives the challenge to finish a given program in 3 hours you should be engaged and excited. If you don’t like that it means that you don’t have a spirit to compete against others which are not bad. But it might indicate that a CS is not good or not meant for you.

people who are just driven by money

The worst thing that many people do is they choose this major for just money. I will guarantee you that if you are one of them the odds of failure are very high.

In the US 33% of students drop a CS major in their first year, if you don’t have any interest you might be one of those. So don’t do that, being driven by money is not enough to face the hardships of this field.

you don’t love innovation

you’re a guy who doesn’t like innovation you like to settle and don’t hurt your mind, this indicates that might be not good for you. Because a computer science field is completely against that.

every day there is a new thing to enhance and other things to create. To clarify you will need to solve a lot of problems and in order to do that you have to be innovative to create powerful solutions.

you hate research

The research part is one of the top interesting things in the CS field, you will be researching for your whole lifetime and programmers know that well.

No matter how much experience you will get, every time you should research topics because technology is evolving very fast. A simple example that is famous for by programmers is Stackreflow.

don’t like building things

Computer science is not also programming it contains many topics like:

  • electronic
  • electrical
  • mechanics
  • programing
  • Chemistry
  • Maths
  • Physics

you will make a lot of electronics projects and mechanical systems, also build software that controls them. So if you don’t like to build or create things from scratch this field is not going to be suitable for you.

Don’t enjoy learning new things

As a CS major you should be used to consistently learning new things, technology is moving very fast. So you should be a quick learner or try to figure out how to learn fast to stay in the race.

for instance, if we take software development as an example, many language programming you should learn. In addition, new technologies appear every while that you should digest them.

it is like updating your phone, so you should keep updating yourself every while.

hate programming

if you hate programming this will indicate that a CS major is not for you. Simply because programming is the core of this field, doing something that you don’t like will affect your life and make you unhappy.

We see that with many people quitting their high-paying jobs because they don’t find purpose in them.

If you don’t like it means you don’t like it. CS is not the o only field to follow.

aren’t interested in technology

if you don’t find technology interesting or boring it might be that this domain doesn’t inspire you. If you are not following the last tech updates that happen in the market this field might not be not a good choice.

Because today we find many people who can’t even differentiate between hardware and software. To clarify they don’t have “the basics of the basics of technology.

It is not bad or an obligation to know about that, but it simply means that you have other interests outside of technology.

if you don’t accept criticism

you will make a lot of mistakes and fall into pitfalls, sometimes you hear things that will not appease you, are you ready for that?

Many people don’t, are sensitive, and don’t accept criticism, this is not good for this field. To be a good CS student you will have to go through a lot of experiences, accept to make mistakes, and also be humble to listen to a talk.

people who can’t sit in front of the computer for longer times

Most computer science students work and look for work as software developers. Because it is a high-paid occupation, you could read this article to know 10 reasons why software engineers are overpaid.

But the question is, are you ready to sit in front of a computer for more than 8 hours daily?

in your beginning stages, you will need a lot of practice and experience so you have to sit for long hours 10,12, and sometimes even 16 hours.

yes, Software developer freelancers can work up to 16 hours some days because they have deadlines to meet. So if you aren’t meant to do that don’t waste your time in this field

responding to these 15 questions will tell you, if a CS meant for you or not

Questions 

can you sit in a chair for long hours during the day?

do you like solving problems?

do you like breaking challenges?

do you like innovating and creating new things?

do you accept criticism ?

do you have the patience to spend the whole day solving one problem?

do you like to research?

Do you like to build stuff from scratch?

do you learn to enjoy all the time?

do you have curiosity about things and always ask how they work?

 do you love programming ?

are only drive by money to a CS ?

do you have patience ?

do you love math?

do you have an interest toward technology?

you should respond by YES for at least 50 % of these questions to say that CS is meant for you.

if you don’t, avoiding this major is the best decision.

conclusion

What a lot of students don’t know is that the CS field is the highest drop rate field in the US:

  • 9.8% of students drop from this field
  • 33% drop in the first year

So if you don’t have the right reasons to go into the field don’t waste your time and money.

yassin.ajanif

Yassin ajanif is a physics graduate and electromechanical engineer width more than 5 years in the field. My goal and my team are to share our experience to help you succeed in your career as a stem major. we talk about all tips, problems, and struggle STEM students face in their career and how to overcome them.