At A Crossroads: Economics or Computers

[nicoenarg]

EDIT: Just want to make it clear that I'm asking keeping the Argentine job market in mind.

Well,

I've been in Argentina for about 6 months and have seen the computer market deteriorate a bit, especially the sliding demand for Java programmers with little to no experience (I didn't do the research but have two friends who work at multinational companies that used to have internship programs that would lead to employment but don't have them anymore since they're planning on picking up their operations and leave).

I came here with the knowledge and guarantee that I would be able to get in to one of these companies as an intern and things would go from good to better from there. However, thanks to CFK and her idiocies, that window of opportunity is gone.

I am enrolled at a university in their Creative Computing undergraduate degree program. I also have a diploma in Economics. This year, I get to choose whether I want to stay in "computing", as the brits call it, or switch to Economics. I like computers and programming languages and the idea of creating something out of nothing and see the result come to life in front of me is awesome. But I am also passionate about Economics and understand most basic economic concepts as a matter of course.

My question is whether I should take the opportunity to switch to Economics or is the job market better for computers still. I'm going to graduate around 2014-2015 so I have to keep the economic climate around that time in mind. And also internships that are available now are pretty important.

So, keeping everything relevant in mind, internships and the job market, what route should I take and why?

PS: I'm not going to take your advice as binding, so don't be offended if I don't listen to you

 

[expatinowncountry]

I work in economics and except for one course I teach for fun at UBA, I do all my work for institutions/think tanks abroad. In Argentina economics mean either to work for the government or in a consulting firm, and only those consulting firm working for the government get decent salaries (peanuts anyway for international standards). My brother who is in IT on the other hand gets dozen of offers per year.
I think, whatever is your choice, if you are in Argentina given the current situation you should try to do something that pays in hard currency.
Good luck.

 

[nicoenarg]

Thanks expatinowncountry. The thing is, my wife and I are going to stay here for the next three years or so and I need to worry about getting jobs as an intern to get experience here. Whether that's with consulting firms that work with the government and pay alright salaries or no salaries is alright because experience is what matters to me at this moment.

For the past six months I've been in talks with international companies in computers who were willing to offer me positions as an intern (with my limited knowledge of Java and Processing) but have withdrawn the offers now because of the economic climate here.

In that respect, I have no idea if there are any interships or junior level jobs in the field of economics here at all. It doesn't have to be pure economics actually, an investment bank (yeah, sharks in suits and all that stuff, I don't care), or anything else in finance is fine and dandy too.

What does your brother, if its not too much to ask, do in IT specifically?

 

[HeyBA]

Not sure if this is feasible, but I'd get qualifications in economics and IT, then you can couple those fields, or have both to choose from. This is from the perspective that pretty much anyone could benefit from a STEM degree.

 

[el_expatriado]

Start learning mobile technologies -- iPhone and Android programming. You'll be beating off job offers with a stick.

 

[davonz]

Forget about the interships for a minute..

What interests you more ?

Do you see yourself settling in one place or moving about ?

I am a computer consultant, and have worked in many countries for international companies. I have for the last 7 or 8 years just done my own thing, have a few servers sitting in my dads office in NZ, and host email/websites/databases/cloud servers for clients. While i dont make the big $ i use to doing consulting work i have freedom. I travel for 3 to 6 months, in BSAS for 4 to 6 months and in NZ/AU for 1 to 2 months every year. And as long as i have a reasonable internet connection i can work from anywhere. But the most important thing is, if its a cold/wet day, i just stay in bed...

I also like economics, not sure if its was always an interest or because i worked for big banks/oil companies and had to understand their trading systems etc, but i was tempted to do an MBA or similar, and have dabbled in fx/commodity trading, but i would have been restricted in my lifestyle, where i could work if i had gone down that path.

The other thing i like about the computer industry is that its in a state of constant change - which keeps it interesting to a certain degree.

Back to the internship - that wouldnt be on my list of things to worry about, my attitude is if you have skills and motivation you can make it on your own, it might take a couple of years to build a client base, but once you get your name out there you will be doing ok. Or maybe you might come up with the next facebook/amazon/ebay and all you would have ro worry about is how to spend all that dosh !!!

 

[nicoenarg]

Not sure if this is feasible, but I'd get qualifications in economics and IT, then you can couple those fields, or have both to choose from. This is from the perspective that pretty much anyone could benefit from a STEM degree.

I've actually thought about that. However, they don't let you do that at this university that I'm with. They have a strict limit of 1 degree at a time and 4 courses a year. Very limiting and annoying but its a world renowned university (for economics) and a decent university for computers.

Another problem is that I have no undergraduate degree yet. Once I get a degree and have some sort of future set, I can continue pursuing other fields and other courses.

 

[nicoenarg]

Start learning mobile technologies -- iPhone and Android programming. You'll be beating off job offers with a stick.

Lol. True. I have heard about that. Now you can also add Windows Phone platform (one of the internships was going to involve that actually). I guess I'm thinking in terms of the two options provided to me by the degrees on offer.

I am doing a lot of other stuff on the side but that's really not relevant here.

 

[sleslie23]

Not sure if this is feasible, but I'd get qualifications in economics and IT, then you can couple those fields, or have both to choose from. This is from the perspective that pretty much anyone could benefit from a STEM degree.

I've been working in software development for 17 years and I can say this is great advice. If you can pair business knowledge with programming skills and experience there are a lot of opportunities both in Argentina and the world in general.

You don't mention where you are studying, but if you are studying what is the equivalent of computer science in the US, you shouldn't have much problem getting an internship, especially if you can legally work in Argentina.

PM me if you have any specific questions.

 

[nicoenarg]

I've been working in software development for 17 years and I can say this is great advice. If you can pair business knowledge with programming skills and experience there are a lot of opportunities both in Argentina and the world in general.

You don't mention where you are studying, but if you are studying what is the equivalent of computer science in the US, you shouldn't have much problem getting an internship, especially if you can legally work in Argentina.

PM me if you have any specific questions.

Thanks.

Yes I can legally work in Argentina (its another matter that my DNI says I'm female ).

Here's my academic journey. I did my Diploma in Economics at LSE. Then because of financial issues had to work and leave my studies. Then when I could go back, I decided to learn some computer science (with Goldsmiths, University of London via their international program) because in the world that we're in right now, if you are one of the new graduates just joining the work force and don't know computers then you might as well stay home and take unemployment benefits.

I like computers, as I said, I like the power of creating things that computers give you but I think, breathe and dream Economics. That's not to say that I would only consider work in Economics. Its just that I am naturally better at Economics than I am at computers.

The point that I was trying to make in the original post, and didn't do a good job at all at making, was that upto a month or so ago, I had a bunch of potential internship offers here in BsAs for computer related jobs but they were then withdrawn because of, according to them, "the economic climate in Argentina". Before those offers were withdrawn, I wasn't even thinking about going back to Economics but now that I am left with nothing, I have the chance to go back and learn Economics (with LSE's international program).

But, I have no idea what the job/internship market is like for Economics or Investment Banking or Banking in general. Whether that goes down the finance way, or hardcore economics research, its fine. The reason I'm asking is, if the market for Economics (and others I mentioned) is close to dead here, then I'm better off sticking with Computers.

My computing degree, sleslie, is more focused on creative stuff. So its designed to be a foundation for me to eventually become, say, an animator or an artist. They are teaching me Java (I'm still pretty basic at it and I've also picked up the basics of C and C++. All of these are closely related so it wasn't that hard). And they are also teaching me Processing (a programming language for artists that is based on Java).

I hope this post makes it clearer what it was that I wanted to ask in the first place .

Oh, I don't yet know Spanish, which limits my options a huge amount!