Ask HN: What minor/major would compliment a CS degree?

Marketing. People that go into CS major usually have great ideas and love to build them. However the majority of them have very little insights in how to bring it to consumers. Marketing will bring that missing ingredient into the mix.

I majored in both math and philosophy and they have been useless in my career as a software engineer. If you want to do another quantitative discipline I'd suggest statistics. Non-quantitative, I'd suggest something like art history over Philosophy, or even graphic design if you wanted a more "practical" minor.

I second the economics vote. It can really help you with your entrepreneurial desires. If you are really wanting to go out there, try out some law classes and see what you think. Not necessarily for a minor but they help you think about problems and issues differently.

The post title should use the word 'complement' instead of 'compliment'. If answered literally, it would be something like an English major/minor complimenting a CS degree for being practical.

Being very much interested in something is a pretty damn good reason to study it.

A minor is really not worth the trouble if you plan to get an MBA in the future. Take all the courses that seem interesting to you. Down the road the lessons you gain will broaden your thinking immensely.

Some course ideas:

  Economics (Trade Theories)
  Business (Marketing Research + Stats)
  Philosophy

Good luck,

Philosophy and/or art/design.

If you're in to web development and are currently more focussed on the development side then I think some design courses would be really beneficial!

I would pick business. I have 2 degrees CS and math and the math one hasn't been that valuable so I'd avoid that.

Communication is always a good one.

I am going to address some of the sentiments expressed in this thread.

1. This is not a choice between having a minor and not having a minor. This is a choice between having a minor and having a certain amount of free time slots available for any combination of 1)random electives, 2)part-time internships/employment, 3)freelancing, 4)side projects.

2. As far as your career goes, a minor will have very little impact. It will just be a line on your resume. However, side projects and work experience is going to be much more impressive.

3. If you are interested in certain fields (philosophy, economics, business), then you could consider just taking a selection of interesting courses from each, rather than tying yourself down with a minor.

If you like writing low level software, you should double down and minor in ECE.

Calligraphy?

This is actually quite simple,pick up a minor that interests you. If you like basket weaving, take a basket weaving minor, maybe you can disrupt the whole basket weaving industry in the future...who knows. What you take as a minor has little impact on your job later in life, unless it's something you really enjoy which will give you some direction to apply your CS degree.

I work for a big national lab. Bs/ms in cs. Take a hard science major as well (make the cs a minor or double major). The best programmers/CS people I know are cross-disciplinary and are able to adapt CS approaches to hard problems in other fields.

I personally wouldn't focus so much on your career. If you're doing well in your CS program and internalizing that material (and learning how to program), you'll be fine there.

Instead, I would do something "out there" that interests you. If you're like most people, this is about the only time you'll be able to learn about philosophy or literature directly, in-person from subject-matter experts. I've studied philosophy a bit on my own, and with others, and let me tell you, it's a very dense, difficult subject for self-study. It might not benefit your career, but it will benefit your life.

I recommend doing a BA - I did a BS and wasted a lot of time in engineering courses. I enjoyed taking Japanese.