During this time of transition in your life, you may be deciding whether earning a computer science major is for you or not.  In order to help you make the best decision, you need to determine the skills you should have or be willing to develop before you sign up for your first computer science class.

The first and possibly most important quality to succeed in a computer science major is the ability to multitask.  Professionals who work with computers are often figuratively juggling many different tasks at the same time.  If you have a hard time focusing on more than one task at a time, you may still succeed in this kind of major if you are great at working with team members.  After all, consider that when you enter the professional world, you will never be assigned to complete a task individually.  You will nearly always be working with a team whether you are designing a new product or troubleshooting a problem.  When it comes to computers and fixing their many potential problems, two heads are definitely better than one.

Next, you must be able to adapt.  What this means is that you can be versatile and work in many different kinds of situations as the circumstances call for.  You may need to draw from a variety of other skills you have, and you should be able to know how to do that.  For example, you may need to use your analytical skills to assess a problem or come up with a brand new idea, and then to make it a reality, you will need to stream your mathematical knowhow into the idea.  There is no computer science major that does not require advanced math courses, so know what you are getting yourself into before you sign up.

Then, the skill to be able to pick up on details will be imperative for your succeed in a computer science major.  Having attention to detail means you can spot problems that might go over other people's heads, thus making you more adept at preventing problems before they arise and more quickly solving problems when they must be fixed in a hurry.  Once you graduate, employers will certainly be keeping an eye out for graduates who have a great attention for detail.

Another important attribute is that you have good communication skills.  This is an in-demand skill for many majors, and a computer science major is no exception to that rule.  When you show your ability to convey what you are doing to partners in class, you will see that you can transfer this skill into the real world by communicating effectively with coworkers and customers of the company you are hired by.  By both communicating what you are doing and understanding what clients and coworkers are trying to say, you will have much greater success.  By analyzing your qualities carefully, you should be able to assess whether you possess these skills and are meant to enter a computer science major.