PathSource - COMPUTER SCIENTIST/DEPT. HEAD, IN-DEPTH: There Are Plenty Of Computer Science Jobs & They Pay Very Well!

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COMPUTER SCIENTIST/DEPT. HEAD, IN-DEPTH: There Are Plenty Of Computer Science Jobs & They Pay Very Well!

About this video

Deb, the computer science dept. head at a national lab, discusses what she loves most about her job, its challenges, key decisions, how hard it is to get work in her field, and work-life balance. The perception that all CS jobs have moved oversees is false. Demand is high; there are many opportunities.

Degree: Computer Engineering - Mechanical Engineering

Job Title: Computer Scientist & Department Head

Employer: Science Laboratory

Job Summary: Computer and Information Research Scientists

Job Description

Computer and information research scientists invent and design new technology and find new uses for existing technology. They study and solve complex problems in computing for business, science, medicine, and other uses.

On-the-Job Training

None

Quick Facts

Average salary

National Statistic Change Location

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$60,000 - $155,000

Projected Job Growth

15 to 25 percent

Typical schedule

Flexible, Full-time

Typical workplace

Indoor, Outdoor, Physically demanding, Military

Personal Qualities

Analytical skills, Detail oriented, People skills, Problem solving skills, Mathematical skills, Verbal communication skills, Written communication skills

Educational Path

Education Requirement

Master's degree

Recommended Education Degree

Master's degree

Recommended Majors

Computer Programming
Systems Engineering
Computer Science
Mathematics
IT Operations
Physics
Engineering

Related Careers

Computer and Information Systems Managers
Computer Hardware Engineers
Computer Programmers
Database Administrators
Postsecondary Teachers
Software Developers

View Detailed Career Data

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P3.instances[0].transcript.parse_transcript_data({"transcript":"What I love the most about my job is I get to work with scientists, and I get to work with world class scientists, the leading folks that are working on things like cosmology and climate change and these various areas. I've interacted at this point with six Nobel Prize winners. And we help them do that science, and so it's just amazing to work with them. The challenging part of my job is actually managing to do it on the budget that they give me. Because they inevitably want to spend all their budget on their science and on doing their analysis and things, and they tend to underestimate how much computing infrastructure and software that they need to do that. And so it's always challenging managing to provide the sort of capabilities they want on the budget they give us. One of the key things that really led me to this career is that change to computer science that I made from mechanical engineering. When I switched to computer science, it was coming to that realization that even though I love putting things together and taking them apart that there was much better careers available doing computer science and that I actually really loved sitting in front of the computer. I'd gone into mechanical engineering because I thought it'd get me outdoors a lot. And it did. But I actually really loved sitting in front of the terminal and actually working on computing. So switching to that field really opened this up. I'd say the other key decision for me was deciding not to be a university professor. And a lot of why I did that initially was because I thought, well, if I establish my research career first and then go teach at a university, I won't have the drag-- not the drag-- I won't be needing to teach, and I can just concentrate on the research. And then I can start teaching once I have my research career in pretty good shape. What I've really found is that I just love it here. And I would teach here as well if I had the opportunity. But given that I don't, I just do research, and I really love it. There's a lot of perception that computer science jobs have moved overseas. But that's really false. And the issue is more that, sure, there are lots of computing going on overseas. But there's a huge number of computing jobs here. So it's actually fairly straightforward to get a job in computer science. And there's few enough computer scientists that generally the demand is much higher than the supply. What's really great about that is the pay is exceptionally good in this field. In terms of work/life balance, sometimes I have pretty poor work/life balance. But most of the time, I manage to even it out. And the reality is I control my work/life balance. Because I'm in research, most of my work is driven off proposals. It's mostly projects that I've defined. So I control sort of how extensively I've committed myself to different projects. And, yeah, a lot of times I'm over-committed. But at least it's my own fault when I do it. It's rarely that anyone has driven me to need to do it. It's more that I've promised something amazing, and I want to deliver it. So I work really long hours a lot of times to do that. ","file":{"id":265687,"video_id":"2708207120001","name":"71527502","duration":208553,"thumbnail_url":null}});