A programmer is a person who can design, develop, debug, and maintain software systems. There are many programming-related career options: web application development, mobile application development, and desktop application development. Also, some programmers often work with developer tools or services that other programmers can use. Anyone can indeed become a programmer by learning programming principles and coding with a particular programming language. Every programmer has a unique skill-set and various skill levels. Every programmer is trying to upgrade their skill-sets and is striving to become outstanding programmers who can solve complex software engineering problems with better solutions.

Programmers learn programming in various ways: via their university or college, with their initial internship programs at tech companies, and by learning with the help of online learning resources (known as self-taught programmers). Every programmer/student initially struggles with one challenging question: should I start with computer science or software engineering?

In this story, I will explain how both fields impact your programming skills. Eventually, I will clear up which field you need to focus on to become a better programmer. This comparison will help when you choose your major, self-learn programming, upgrade your skill-set, and land your next/first job at a big tech company.

What If You Master Computer Science?

Computer science refers to theoretical and in-depth study about how a physical computer works. The computer science field consists of various subfields, such as data structures, algorithms, computer networks, discrete mathematics, computer graphics, computer security, databases, and computer architecture. The computer science field puts a strong foundation for programming skills with data structures and algorithms. Computer scientists often highlight that these data structures and algorithms study areas are the heart of computer science — because, without those, there is no such thing called computing.

All the modern computer-related innovations are made based on computer science theories. For example, Bitcoin has been invented thanks to cryptography, algorithms, and computer networks concepts. But, computer science theories won’t teach you how to develop real-world software systems. Nevertheless, those theories will teach you what core concepts you need to build a real-world software system.

As a programmer, if you master computer science, you will be able to write less error-prone optimized code, give better solutions for engineering problems, and get started on any software system so fast because you know the internals. Finally, you may become a programmer who understands what’s happening inside computers.

What If You Master Software Engineering Instead?

Software engineering refers to processes and practices for developing and maintaining software systems. SDLC (Software Development Life-Cycle) is the core of all software development approaches and models, and it defines a generic methodology to build enterprise software systems. SDLC consists of stages such as designing, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Software engineering defines how a particular software system needs to be built with a well-defined set of processes. Therefore, the software engineering field heavily focuses on the modern software development market compared to the computer science field.

The software engineering field works together with modern businesses to empower their processes with computer technology. If we check the internal structure of computers, you probably see CPUs, memory units, instruction set architectures (ISAs), operating systems, and software libraries. On the other hand, if you check the internal structure of modern business software, you probably see integrated software libraries (open-source or proprietary), cloud service provider’s services, and business domain knowledge.

As a programmer, if you master software engineering, you will be able to write code, give better solutions for business problems, and get started on any software development team so fast because you know the process. Finally, you may become a programmer who understands what’s happening in your current software system’s domain.

What Makes the Best Programmers?

Let’s find an answer to one of the hardest questions in the software development career. I am not going to say both fields make the best programmers because both fields have different pros and cons. Let’s define what is meant by the best programmer term. A better programmer can write less error-prone optimized code, quickly find faults in software systems, implement better solutions for engineering problems, and get started with any software system so fast. Also, a better programmer is interested in the internals rather than the outer layer of software systems.

Programmers indeed need to understand computer science principles to make better solutions and write less error-prone optimized code. Doctors learn about the structures and connectivity of the human body before they introduce solutions for illnesses. Similarly, you need to understand what’s going on inside computers before working on their applications.

Nowadays, most universities offer both computer science and software engineering majors. Also, there are countless online learning materials to learn both fields. Unfortunately, most beginners start software engineering without even glancing at computer science theories. Computer science puts a stable foundation on a programmer’s skill development process, and that foundation is the secret behind every outstanding programmer.

Conclusion

Modern software development is very different compared to the early software development approaches. Now almost all software systems are built on top of software frameworks due to the rapid feature delivery. For example, the Electron framework backs almost all cross-platform desktop applications. Also, Flutter and React Native compete with each other to win the mobile application development field. Therefore, the experience level of these frameworks may define the qualities of a particular programmer nowadays. Due to this scenario, many programmers mention that they don’t even use any computer science theory in their day-to-day life.

However, computer science creates a priceless mindset for programmers to study the internals of software systems. On the other hand, software engineering creates a process-oriented mindset to fit into the modern software development market. This makes an enormous impact on a programmer’s skill-set. You may not do the asymptotic analysis for every piece of code you write, but it trains programmers to write better code.

Bit-tech companies often test candidates’ computer science knowledge first to filter out the best programmers.

The software engineering field is not bad, and it still produces good programmers. But, computer science should be the first step for any programmer. They can learn software engineering concepts throughout their career. If you still feel software engineering should be the first step, check out why the C programming language is still important, even though everybody says it’s obsolete.