Computer Science vs Information Technology What’s The Difference?

Com­put­er Sci­ence and Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degrees are the two most pop­u­lar types of com­put­er-relat­ed degrees. Both areas of study seem sim­i­lar to the lay­man, but there are dif­fer­ent skill sets and career oppor­tu­ni­ties for each degree. Com­put­er Sci­ence is a broad area of study that includes the the­o­ret­i­cal foun­da­tions for com­put­ing and is put to prac­ti­cal use by cre­at­ing usable com­put­er pro­grams and appli­ca­tions. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy is gen­er­al­ly more busi­ness-ori­ent­ed, as IT stu­dents will study the the­o­ries of data flow, and use them to archive, retrieve, and pro­tect the valu­able data that com­pa­nies, cor­po­ra­tions, and gov­ern­ments need to func­tion on a day-to-day basis. Both Com­put­er Sci­ence and Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degrees are some of the most cov­et­ed amongst employ­ers, as there is a large skills gap between the num­ber of avail­able posi­tions and the num­ber of qual­i­fied candidates.

Many stu­dents will find that a bachelor’s degree in either field will qual­i­fy them for high-paid posi­tions with job out­looks that are expect­ed to increase in the Infor­ma­tion Age. Because of the large skills gap, CS and IT grad­u­ates from less­er-known insti­tu­tions are afford­ed the same job oppor­tu­ni­ties as CS and IT grad­u­ates from pres­ti­gious Ivy League col­leges. For some of the most afford­able bachelor’s degrees in the field of Com­put­er Sci­ence and Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, check out our list of the Top 10 Cheap­est Online Bach­e­lors of Com­put­er Sci­ence Degrees. Many stu­dents might be con­fused on whether they should choose a degree in com­put­er sci­ence vs infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, so let’s con­sid­er their dif­fer­ences closely.

Com­put­er Sci­ence is a broad field that encom­pass­es a wide range of sub­jects. There are gen­er­al degrees that focus on a holis­tic under­stand­ing of the the­o­ret­i­cal basics for com­put­ing, like bina­ry code, and then there are degrees that spe­cial­ize in cer­tain fields with­in Com­put­er Sci­ence. Some of the most com­mon areas of spe­cial­iza­tion with­in the field of com­put­er sci­ence are com­put­er pro­gram­ming, soft­ware engi­neer­ing, and com­put­er (hard­ware) engi­neer­ing. Stu­dents can usu­al­ly choose not to spe­cial­ize in a par­tic­u­lar field in their under­grad­u­ate career if they plan on pur­su­ing a grad­u­ate degree in a spe­cial­ized area. Com­put­er Sci­ence degrees are some of the most ver­sa­tile degrees in today’s mar­ket­place, as stu­dents can also choose to fig­ure out their spe­cial­iza­tion based on the job oppor­tu­ni­ties that get offered to them after col­lege. For stu­dents that are inter­est­ed in learn­ing the fun­da­men­tals of com­put­ing, a Com­put­er Sci­ence degree is the best place to start.

Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degrees focus on data sys­tems and how they are used by com­pa­nies and insti­tu­tions. Almost all com­pa­nies have made the tran­si­tion from ana­log data to dig­i­tal data, but there con­tin­ue to be new prob­lems that present them­selves. Two of the major spe­cial­iza­tions with­in the field of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy are Infor­ma­tion Secu­ri­ty and Sys­tems Admin­is­tra­tion. Major gov­ern­ment offi­cials as well as cor­po­rate insti­tu­tions have had a hard time keep­ing their data safe from Wik­iLeaks, and are will­ing to pay experts to fig­ure out how to keep their data pro­tect­ed, which is where Infor­ma­tion Secu­ri­ty spe­cial­ists come into play. Sys­tems Admin­is­tra­tion focus­es on how to set up a net­work that allows per­mit­ted par­ties to archive and access the infor­ma­tion that orga­nizes dai­ly busi­ness activ­i­ties. For stu­dents who are inter­est­ed in the flow and pro­tec­tion of data, a degree in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy is the best place to start.

Relat­ed:

Top 10 Cheap­est Online Bach­e­lors of Com­put­er Sci­ence Degrees

Top 10 Bach­e­lor of Com­put­er Sci­ence Degree Programs

Top Ten Online Schools for a Bach­e­lor’s Degree in Com­put­er Science

15 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Infor­ma­tion Science

15 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Informatics

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Programs

15 Best Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs

10 Fastest Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs

10 Most Afford­able Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor Programs