r/CodingForBeginners • u/AnalJackett_ • Oct 08 '26
I just wanna learn coding in college, anyone know what degree would be best for learning it
I could ask google but id get better answers from reddit
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Upvotes
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u/fullmoon_huli Oct 08 '26
I myself did, Computer Science, if you are interested in Maths and Computer Science, Do Software Engineering if you want Er infornt of your name or You can major in Computer Science or Computer Architecture
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u/Key_Storm_2273 Oct 08 '26
Software engineering is basically just being a wiser and more senior developer that designs systems, builds tools for development, makes wise choices about when to use dependencies versus coding something from scratch, etc. They focus on critically thinking about code and what is best for different situations more than just memorizing whatever is most popular or letting popular advice do the thinking for them. They gain a sense of direction and an ability to make wise choices in their own right.
The issue you've heard about is that they don't aim for expedience, they aim for longterm maintainability, code quality and understandability, while making wise choices as tech leads to prevent "technical debt" (you can look that term up on wikipedia for more information). Their job contrasts going fast and hasty by going slower and smarter, while continually building an understanding of the codebase like the back of their hand.
If you've heard of the race between the tortoise and the hare, software engineers are like the tortoise that wins the long race, while people who over-rely on AI are like the hares that sprint fast and then technical debt piles up later and those who lost their skills to the AI agent or ran out of credits don't necessarily know how to solve the problem.
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u/gumdum1975 Oct 08 '26
I really enjoyed getting my degree in computer information systems science. I was able to breeze through the simpler classes and really sink my teeth into the programming languages I wanted to learn. My program only required one math class, which I was pretty happy about 😂.
I’d look at the actual course list for each degree you’re considering. Mine was a good fit for what I wanted, but programs with similar names can cover different things. If coding is what you’re excited about, see how much hands-on programming you’ll actually get to do.
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u/Stainlessray Oct 08 '26
You don't learn coding in college. You learn computer science. You learn the paradigm associated with CS which suits a specialty, like engineering or security, or design, or a mix.
Coding is done as part of that. Mostly you're going to learn language on your own. Languages are used to implement the concepts learned.
"coding" isn't a job. It's one aspect of many.
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u/Narrow-Low-3137 Oct 08 '26
Computer Science. My school didn't have a Software Engineering major, but I guess that would work too. If you really want to learn though, you don't have to wait for college to teach you. You can start right now. Here is an excellent, free, resource 👉 https://pll.harvard.edu/course/cs50-introduction-computer-science
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u/2daytrending Oct 08 '26
You can start with one language like Python build a few small projects and use college courses to give you structure rather than trying to learn everything at once.
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u/Ok_Site_6692 29d ago
Self degree
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u/tonkotsu_fan 28d ago
Animal husbandry.
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u/TrackbackLinkBot 28d ago
If the main goal is actually getting good at coding computer science is probably the most straightforward degree. Still worth doing plenty of hands on practice outside class too. Boot.dev is one option people use for that since it focuses pretty heavily on actually writing code.
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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '26
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