›
To take part in discussions on talkSFU, please apply for membership (SFU email id required).

Difference Between SIAT & CS

accession
edited December 2008 in General
What's the difference between the two, in terms of courses, possible future careers, and such? Is one better than the other?

I'm in the CS program right now, but math isn't exactly my strong point and so I'm thinking of maybe trying to major in SIAT instead.

Comments

  • Agentbob
    edited December 2008
    IAT deals with multimedia technology like Flash, PS, game designs and among other things. I'm not exactly 100% as to what it's like. Although I heard IAT courses have no exams. TechOne (which is the 100 level IAT course) doesn't have any either.

    Since you've taken CS, I'm sure you have a pretty good understanding of it. IAT seems pretty good though, there's been tons of students from IAT winning design awards and contracts.
  • iVamp
    edited December 2008
    IAT is like an arts school except with machinery rather than paint brushes. Career wise I think CS would be a lot more stable for jobs post graduation, but IAT would probably be more fun, and potential to get big scores if youre good.
  • Furia101
    edited December 2008
    In my opinion, Siat is almost like cs, but focuses on using software, developing creativity, and designing a wide range of interactive things. You'll be learning to use mutlimedia technology such as flash, photoshop, maya, etc, whereas cs focuses on creating these programs. You'll also be learning about human-computer interaction and some software-hardware interaction in general. There is a programming side to siat, where you program stuff related to multimedia, such as 2d java games, and even more advanced game designs. In my opinion, its somewhat like cs, but minus the math, and focus more on more creativity and more hands-on learning.

    In replacement of no exams, you'll get a LOT of teambased projects that are just as heavy in workload.

    I'd say in terms of future careers, they would be pretty similar in some areas. A CS guy would probably be working for EA as the main programmer, and the SIAT guy would probably be doing some minor programming with some visual and interactive designs.
  • JayDub
    edited December 2008
    SIAT is not even close to CS and saying it is borderline offensive. I do not want to be associated with SIAT since SIAT is a joke. All they do is draw. Any sort of animation or computer graphic is SIAT. They don't do programming.

    CS is math and computing. Seeing what you can do with the two.
  • Furia101
    edited December 2008
    thats a mean man. And they do do programming.
  • JayDub
    edited December 2008
    What they do... is not programming.

    Even CS doesn't program. We use programming languages to study the science of computing.

    If you want programming, go to BCIT.
  • Ether
    edited December 2008
    Actually, I heard Surrey is supposed to be "SFU's BCIT". They want to introduce more design and software engineering (yes, including programming) courses over there.

    A lot of Burnaby profs are against it saying it will tarnish SFU's reputation by churning out average workers who may know how to program or do whatever it is that IAT people do, but don't know real Computing Science, like the stuff they teach in Burnaby.

    It's like getting a degree in Chemistry but only learning how to fill test tubes and run experiments.

    The actual programming part isn't important, it's the math and algorithms that count.
  • IVTIVT
    edited December 2008
    Furia101;41946 said:
    thats a mean man. And they do do programming.
    for example....
  • Furia101
    edited December 2008
    for example iat 265, which is the equivalent of cmpt 265- multimedia programming
  • Agentbob
    edited December 2008
    Ether;41954 said:
    Actually, I heard Surrey is supposed to be "SFU's BCIT". They want to introduce more design and software engineering (yes, including programming) courses over there.

    A lot of Burnaby profs are against it saying it will tarnish SFU's reputation by churning out average workers who may know how to program or do whatever it is that IAT people do, but don't know real Computing Science, like the stuff they teach in Burnaby.
    Hmm...but it's a degree in SIAT, not CS. So, I don't see how that's a problem...? I was actually going into SIAT, but the degree isn't that versatile. Chances are employers outside of BC will have no idea what the hell IAT is.

    Think long term.
  • JayDub
    edited December 2008
    In the words of Lucky One, a professor in Engineering, "If you want a job, go to BCIT."
  • PhilBPhilB
    edited December 2008
    Furia101;41927 said:
    In my opinion, Siat is almost like cs, but focuses on using software, developing creativity, and designing a wide range of interactive things. You'll be learning to use mutlimedia technology such as flash, photoshop, maya, etc, whereas cs focuses on creating these programs.
    Er...No.

    Computing Science is the study of how to solve problems in a computational manner. Computers and programming languages are sometimes used to that mean, but not always.

    CS is basically applied math. It is nothing like SIAT (with my limited understanding of SIAT being that it is how to program graphical and other interactive pieces of "art").

    The fact that you can get a Bachelors of Science in SIAT by just adding MACM 101 and some limited number of upper division courses (where you can select entirely SIAT courses) is borderline offensive to those of us trying to learn actual science.


    Phil
  • Myname
    edited December 2008
    You can get a programming job with a CS major (even if it's more about the study of algorithms) I'm sure. Microsoft and Google doesn't keep hosting those events at the Applied Science building for nothing.

    Anyways, you'll probably have more chances at a job with a CS major since it's pretty broad. You can be a programmer, Network admin, database admin, etc. and it's all under one label - Computer Science. With SIAT, you're bottlenecked into freelancing design and graphics.
  • JayDub
    edited December 2008
    *Computing Science, not Computer Science. There is also a difference in those.

    And Microsoft doesn't do anything because some people in the CSSS don't want them there. As well, Google has yet to hire a single SFU student.
  • PhilBPhilB
    edited December 2008
    JayDub;42118 said:

    And Microsoft doesn't do anything because some people in the CSSS don't want them there. As well, Google has yet to hire a single SFU student.
    Microsoft is more than welcome to host an event on campus regardless of possible corporate sponsorship issues with the CSSS (that was in inside joke to me). Microsoft hires many SFU Co-Op students. I know of at least two who have worked here, including one who is expecting a job offer (if he hasn't gotten it already).

    No idea about Google though.

    Phil

Leave a Comment