What exactly does the BIT [Business Information Technology] major entail? If I’m not interested in and have never done programming/coding should I not go down the BIT route? Please help a confused freshman.
Thank you for this question, CWIB reader! I am majoring in Business Information Technology and was in your shoes a couple of years ago when I was deciding what major to pursue. Therefore, I’m happy to answer your questions and hopefully it’ll help you with your academic decisions!
First off, I’ll talk about what the Business Information Technology major is all about. BIT students take a lot of the same classes, but a few classes differ depending on what concentration you choose. There are two concentrations: Decision Support Systems and Operations and Supply Chain Management.
The Decision Support Systems (DSS) track focuses on learning how to design and implement computer systems that help managers make decisions. For example, if the CWIB VP of Treks is planning a trek to New York and is trying to decide which members to select, a DSS student could create a computer application that looks at all the members’ information and filters out the members with the highest attendance, most involvement, etc. so she can pick the most worthy participants. An example of a class where you learn this kind of computer application development is BIT 3424; my group and I created an application that helped CarMax decide how many of each type of car to purchase in order to maximize their profit!
The Operations and Supply Chain (OSM) track concentrates on learning how to manage the operations of a company; in other words, the conversion of raw materials, labor, and capital into a final service or product. For example, if the CWIB VP of Operations is planning a monthly meeting, she has to organize everything from the number of people she needs to help run the event, the food she needs to buy for members, the timeline of events that will happen, and so on. An OSM student would learn how to manage all of that to maximize company profit, minimize cost, and reach company goals. An example of a class that focuses on operations is BIT 3414. My last quiz was on aggregate planning, which focuses on deciding which kind of production is most cost-efficient.
Just because you don’t like coding/programming, don’t completely rule out BIT as a major! Yes, both concentrations require a few coding classes (OSM requires about three and DSS requires about four) but if you like the idea of the OSM track, BIT might be right for you! Personally, I am on the OSM track. I had never coded before the first coding class of this major (Intro to Java). I realized very early on that I hate coding but I worked with friends to get through the coding classes because I love my OSM classes and want to do some kind of operations work after college!
I hope my advice helped you in some way! All in all, I recommend that you really think about your interests, strengths, and your career dreams while thinking about what major to pursue. If you like management, statistics, computers, operations, Microsoft Excel, and/or coding, BIT is where it’s at! Do whatever makes you happy so you can enjoy your classes and your career!
If you have any further questions, please reach out to me at heaths4@vt.edu!