What is a good computer career to major in?

What are good career opportunities for a computer science and art double major?

• Answer:

  Awesome combo. I went with a double Political Science/International Relations and Art myself. I do not regret that choice. Plan A If you enjoy both disciplines, my advice would be to get yourself in a position where both talents can be exercised. Find an opportunity with a company that uses both computer science talents and creative talents. The entertainment industry, video game industry, toy design company. Remember, most large businesses have a spot for computer science majors, but not all have spots for creative types. So I'd suggest staying away from those less creative sectors (finance, transportation, agriculture, construction, healthcare.) So, you kicked in the door of a creative company with your computer science talents...now what? Don't get stuck in a desk. Keep your eyes open. Find out what other people do there. Find out what interests you in other departments. Meet people in other departments. Be inquisitive (but not so inquisitive as to piss off your own boss.) If you landed a computer science related job at Mattel, go find out what those kids in the toy design department three floors up are doing. You got a programming job at Bethesda? Go find out who is making cool city scapes for Fallout 5. Then discover the joy of the lateral move. Express your interests. If necessary, express it to a boss a step above yours. Once you are in a company, and have performed well, it is really much easier to move around. Most companies would rather keep a quality employee happy by moving them to another department than see them skip out to the competition. I made my rapid climb up the corporate ladder purely off the lateral move. One ladder over, two rungs up. Plan B You need not mix. Maybe you realized you love making art and want to pursue fine art, but you'd rather make some cash in computer science. No problem! Get that day job in computer science. Keep the bills well paid. And Art Like a MoFo on your time off. If your art career takes off and you want to run with it, then run Forest, run. Plan C Plan? There ain't no plan! Now a little bit of warning. You might wake up one day at 37, and realize you kicked the crap out of the computer science world, but forgot to art like a MoFo. This might depress you a bit. You realize you'll never make the "Hot 40 artists under 40" list. You'll never be a young artist at Basel. Know what? Who gives a damn!  It isn't too late to get to art. I took all kinds of detours and side alleys and strange paths in my professional career, my art career, and fulfilling my serial entrepreneur habit. Heck, I even got bored at one point and joined the Marine Corps. I just wanted to blow stuff up for awhile. And it has been a wonderful ride. Nowadays I make art, I sell art. I run my various eclectic creative companies. Sometimes I run them right into the ground. I live in a crazy art loft with a hot tub and a zip line and a Fallout door. I ditched the very successful political science related executive career in my 30's, and never looked back. But guess what? Lately I've been contemplating going back and getting that political science doctorate and taking up teaching. Because why not? You have varied interests my friend, you are not tied to anything. Don't let someone else steer your ship. And it is never too late (well, except when you're dead.) Know how I know that? My little old mother just picked up the paint brush in her 70's after a 40 year art absence. 40 years!  She has been painting furiously, like a young artist again. Two months ago she submitted and got accepted to her first gallery show since the 1970s. And she sold out almost her whole exhibition. She is already prepping for her next show. She is going to take the senior citizen art world by storm. So have fun with two great majors my young friend, and enjoy the ride.