What major should I choose

[Rickie cheong]

I've been thinking about it lately but,what major should I study for if I want to work as someone who builds computer.

[suicidalfranco]

Not to sound rude but, do you really need a major to build PCs?

[TubsAlwaysWins]

Just now, suicidalfranco said:

Not to sound rude but, do you really need a major to build PCs?

According to Best Buy you do

[suicidalfranco]

Just now, TubsAlwaysWins said:

According to Best Buy you do

seriously? i'm shocked 

[TubsAlwaysWins]

Just now, suicidalfranco said:

seriously? i'm shocked 

Yeah. I had a friend that tried to work for best buy and according to him (more specifically for Geek Squad) you need a major in computer repair. Which is basically building computers and using google

[suicidalfranco]

7 minutes ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

Yeah. I had a friend that tried to work for best buy and according to him (more specifically for Geek Squad) you need a major in computer repair. Which is basically building computers and using google

*facepalm*

[TubsAlwaysWins]

Just now, suicidalfranco said:

*facepalm*

Yeah its really stupid

[Rickie cheong]

1 hour ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

Yeah. I had a friend that tried to work for best buy and according to him (more specifically for Geek Squad) you need a major in computer repair. Which is basically building computers and using google

Do you know anything about that major

 

[TubsAlwaysWins]

10 hours ago, Rickie cheong said:

Do you know anything about that major

 

I personally don't. Is this a question where you are trying to fact-check me or you are legitimately curious about it?

[SpaceMonkey]

I'm in my last semester for a bachelors in IT with a security-focused minor. "Computer repair" isn't really a major.

 

(Depending on the school) You've basically got

• Information Technology (networking/database type stuff)
• Computer Science (programming)
• Computer Engineering (closer to electrical engineering)

Best Buy wants real world experience, and "I build gaming machines" isn't the most convincing thing to put on a resume. Look for a job at a smaller local computer store.

 

You do not need a degree to work as a technician repairing computers. A Comptia A+ cert is easy and can give you a bit of credibility (esp if you're young and looking for a summer/part time job)

 

tldr; no, you don't need a degree to build computers

[Ganz]

If I were you (maybe because I am motivated by money) I would push bigger and for a network and system administration major and job.  You will make way more money than just "Computer Builder" and you get to do more than just build computers.

[Rickie cheong]

6 hours ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

I personally don't. Is this a question where you are trying to fact-check me or you are legitimately curious about it?

I am just curious,thats the reason for this post

[Huntsman]

Honestly my colleages are all IT graduates but they know next to nothing about how a computer works..

[Rickie cheong]

What about a minor for just computer building?

 

[Rickie cheong]

Major

 

[SpaceMonkey]

My first assignment for my IT degree was to go to Amazon, pick out a bunch of parts, and explain why you chose them. (This was before PC part picker).

 

The key word here is "first assignment." What you're taking about as a 'computer building major' can be covered in a single college class.

 

A college degree goes way beyond what you're talking about. There will some programming classes, OS/server configuration, and some webdev stuff. You might work with Cisco routers and switches in a lab environment, reverse engineer viruses and malware etc etc.

[Scheer]

On 7/29/2016 at 0:36 AM, TubsAlwaysWins said:

Yeah. I had a friend that tried to work for best buy and according to him (more specifically for Geek Squad) you need a major in computer repair. Which is basically building computers and using google

Half of the kids who work in Geek Squad at the Best Buy here look to still be in highschool, so I'm not sure how they have a College degree....Not to mention, two of my classmates in high school worked in the Geek Squad their senior year.

 

From BestBuy's website: 

Basic Requirements:

• 3-6 months working experience

Preferred Requirements:

• High School diploma or equivalent
• Associate degree in general electronics or computer repair
• 1+ years retail or customer service experience
• 1+ years experience diagnosing or repairing PCs or consumer electronics

Sorry OP, not to be rude, but "computer building" isn't a skilled career that requires training, a degree, and years of experience. You kinda just plug wired connectors in to the same shaped connectors on a PCB. 

[TubsAlwaysWins]

2 hours ago, Scheer said:

Half of the kids who work in Geek Squad at the Best Buy here look to still be in highschool, so I'm not sure how they have a College degree....Not to mention, two of my classmates in high school worked in the Geek Squad their senior year.

 

From BestBuy's website: 

Basic Requirements:

• 3-6 months working experience

Preferred Requirements:

• High School diploma or equivalent
• Associate degree in general electronics or computer repair
• 1+ years retail or customer service experience
• 1+ years experience diagnosing or repairing PCs or consumer electronics

Sorry OP, not to be rude, but "computer building" isn't a skilled career that requires training, a degree, and years of experience. You kinda just plug wired connectors in to the same shaped connectors on a PCB. 

Yeah thats what I thought. I never personally tried to join though. I guess its just preferred

[Cvdasfg]

On 7/29/2016 at 1:36 AM, TubsAlwaysWins said:

Yeah. I had a friend that tried to work for best buy and according to him (more specifically for Geek Squad) you need a major in computer repair. Which is basically building computers and using google

That shocks me, Here in MD All you need is some experience, and a A+.

 

I worked there at 18 for two years, no one had degrees. 

[TubsAlwaysWins]

9 hours ago, Cvdasfg said:

That shocks me, Here in MD All you need is some experience, and a A+.

 

I worked there at 18 for two years, no one had degrees. 

Huh

[straight_stewie]

On 7/29/2016 at 0:23 AM, Rickie cheong said:

I've been thinking about it lately but,what major should I study for if I want to work as someone who builds computer.

I hear the college of hard knocks has a good program for that field of study. 

Unless you mean engineering computers, in which case I'll need you to be more specific.

[almondhive]

Short answer: Search for an interesting program, and also take into account other factors like how far is it or if the university is cool or you like it. Also what other subjects may be useful for your plan of living of building computers. 

 

Long answer ( maybe not an answer but my humble contribution ) :

 

I had to make a decision like that when I was deciding what major to study.

I've always liked computers, I learnt to build computers from experimenting and reading and breaking things when I was 14, I also learned how to programm at that age also by reading and experimenting at first with windows .bat scripts, then basic, python and then C. I wasnt very good but I had the interest. 

I don't know what are your interests besides building computers but when I was trying to decide what major to study I had a lot of different things that interested me ( or a great deal of indecision maybe ).

 

So I knew I liked building computers, playing the piano, mathematics, engineering, physics, philosophy and reading. Maybe you have very clear that you want to build computers and thats great, I struggled a lot with what I wanted to do with my life. But even if you are completely decided and now you are just looking for the perfect how-to-build-computers-and succed-in-life major I think you should explore other majors that interest you regardless if they are focused on computer hardware or not.

 

In my search for majors I didn't find a perfect how-to-build-computers-and succed-in-life major, also I realised building computers and playing the piano were more like a hobby to me so I started to question if I could really do that for living and still enjoy it. I started to suspect that if I had to do that to earn money maybe I would end up bored or sick of playing the piano or building computers ( I now think I was wrong and I could have done that without getting sick of it ). I also found too abstract the major in mathematics, didn't like the programs of philosophy I found, and I couldnt decide for an engineering major. I ended in a major called Engineering Physics, not the most known major but I liked the subjects and how it was a hybrid between theoretical physics and engineering.

 

I ended ok with my choice, I learned a lot of programming, I had my chance to play with really powerful super computers, I learned how semiconductor physics works and how they manufacture the transistors. I also learned other things that didn't interest me much like particle physics and quantum physics ( kind of interesting but it wasn't for me ). So I ended really enjoying computational physics and simulating fluids in porous media. Strangeley I ended working for an oil company making finite element simulations and designing pipes (its more fun than it sounds). But now to my point: 

 

I ended studying something that had nothing to do with building computers (kind of) but I continued to learn things about bulding computers from the internet or tinkering with mine in general, i updated my computer several times, i built computers and sold them to friends and family, I upgraded and cleaned computers also as a side job when I was a student. I even made a business model with a friend about a company that builds computers and sells them to different people that needs them like designers, gamers and enterprise users (and won a contest). My best advice is if you are shure about building computers for a living search for a major that best complements the knowledge that you have, I don't know how much you know about building computers but as others in this thread said you dont need specificaly a major to know that, theres so much content online, on this forum and from personal experience i can tell you the best way to learn is to tinker with your computer. If I was in your situation I would think what other abilities I need for living of building computers aside from building the computers itself. Maybe a little business knowledge, maybe more engineering knowledge, industrial design for desining cases, mechanical engineering for materials or something, IT degree would be a very wise choise also but more important it has to interest you. Majors are to a greater o lesser extent wide in the number of topics they cover so (almost) everything should help you (some more some less). If you choose a major that generally appeals to you maybe you will find another area that you really like and have never thought about it and you end up in something else completely and still be building computers as a side job or hobby.  

 

Another good idea as someone here also mentioned you could start working for a computer repair shop or something like that to get experience and know much more.

hope it helps!

Daniel.

 

[Rickie cheong]

On 8/13/2016 at 1:26 AM, almondhive said:

Short answer: Search for an interesting program, and also take into account other factors like how far is it or if the university is cool or you like it. Also what other subjects may be useful for your plan of living of building computers. 

 

Long answer ( maybe not an answer but my humble contribution ) :

 

I had to make a decision like that when I was deciding what major to study.

I've always liked computers, I learnt to build computers from experimenting and reading and breaking things when I was 14, I also learned how to programm at that age also by reading and experimenting at first with windows .bat scripts, then basic, python and then C. I wasnt very good but I had the interest. 

I don't know what are your interests besides building computers but when I was trying to decide what major to study I had a lot of different things that interested me ( or a great deal of indecision maybe ).

 

So I knew I liked building computers, playing the piano, mathematics, engineering, physics, philosophy and reading. Maybe you have very clear that you want to build computers and thats great, I struggled a lot with what I wanted to do with my life. But even if you are completely decided and now you are just looking for the perfect how-to-build-computers-and succed-in-life major I think you should explore other majors that interest you regardless if they are focused on computer hardware or not.

 

In my search for majors I didn't find a perfect how-to-build-computers-and succed-in-life major, also I realised building computers and playing the piano were more like a hobby to me so I started to question if I could really do that for living and still enjoy it. I started to suspect that if I had to do that to earn money maybe I would end up bored or sick of playing the piano or building computers ( I now think I was wrong and I could have done that without getting sick of it ). I also found too abstract the major in mathematics, didn't like the programs of philosophy I found, and I couldnt decide for an engineering major. I ended in a major called Engineering Physics, not the most known major but I liked the subjects and how it was a hybrid between theoretical physics and engineering.

 

I ended ok with my choice, I learned a lot of programming, I had my chance to play with really powerful super computers, I learned how semiconductor physics works and how they manufacture the transistors. I also learned other things that didn't interest me much like particle physics and quantum physics ( kind of interesting but it wasn't for me ). So I ended really enjoying computational physics and simulating fluids in porous media. Strangeley I ended working for an oil company making finite element simulations and designing pipes (its more fun than it sounds). But now to my point: 

 

I ended studying something that had nothing to do with building computers (kind of) but I continued to learn things about bulding computers from the internet or tinkering with mine in general, i updated my computer several times, i built computers and sold them to friends and family, I upgraded and cleaned computers also as a side job when I was a student. I even made a business model with a friend about a company that builds computers and sells them to different people that needs them like designers, gamers and enterprise users (and won a contest). My best advice is if you are shure about building computers for a living search for a major that best complements the knowledge that you have, I don't know how much you know about building computers but as others in this thread said you dont need specificaly a major to know that, theres so much content online, on this forum and from personal experience i can tell you the best way to learn is to tinker with your computer. If I was in your situation I would think what other abilities I need for living of building computers aside from building the computers itself. Maybe a little business knowledge, maybe more engineering knowledge, industrial design for desining cases, mechanical engineering for materials or something, IT degree would be a very wise choise also but more important it has to interest you. Majors are to a greater o lesser extent wide in the number of topics they cover so (almost) everything should help you (some more some less). If you choose a major that generally appeals to you maybe you will find another area that you really like and have never thought about it and you end up in something else completely and still be building computers as a side job or hobby.  

 

Another good idea as someone here also mentioned you could start working for a computer repair shop or something like that to get experience and know much more.

hope it helps!

Daniel.

 

i have never really thought about it in that way,thanks for your advice.it really helped me a lot.

 

[Bigun]

Get a major is business management (masters), and a minor in computer science.  That's the beginnings of a CIO.

[Maxxie]

I agree with @almondhive. But I would also add another flavour to the mix. If you are starting to think about your major in College, I would imagine that you're not there yet? So I think you'd be making a mistake to pick something that would only allow you to build computers for the rest of your life. The key to picking a degree to apply for comes down to three things:

- Do you enjoy it?

- Will it help you get a job?
- Are you good at it?

Ideally, you should be answering yes to all three questions, otherwise you're going to have a bad time somewhere along the line. For me, I was always good at three things, chemistry, history, and music. I enjoyed all three, and I'm good at all three, but only one of those was ever going to get me a job with a decent salary.

It's important not to pigeonhole yourself to a course that will only ever allow you to do one thing. Chances are, you are going to change your mind over what you want to do, mainly because you don't know what else there is out there. I always thought I wanted to do inorganic chemistry and design catalysts, turned out that I really hate inorganic chemistry, and the theoretical challenges were far more interesting to me.

Keep your options open!