Question: Do I Need to be Good at Math to go Into IT? 

I clicked on that like button as soon as you said, "I suck at math too!"

I barely survive math in university(despite being asian). But hey! I started as Desktop support>System Admin>Network engineer>Network Security> Cyber Security Architect.

Thanks for the clarifications. This is a real issue that many of us are facing. We love computers and would like to build up a career around it but we are seriously concerned about math. Your video has clarified this issue for me like not other and so thanks a lot for that.

I am 9 years exp guy working in IT as database developer. I have been doing programming in UNIX, Oralce PL/SQL & Teradata SPs & Java. Let me clear one thing here.. ONLY 10-20% of folks working in IT are actually involved in programming. Rest are either working on support projects OR maintenance kind of assignment where you need to go through code and you should understand it so that you can modify someone else's code and fix the issue OR to implement new functionality. In my career, I saw very few oppurtunity where you get a chance to develop a complete application or major part of it alone. So don't worry, support part is very easy, maintenance part if fun and if you get CORE development, it will be very much fun. And it is more like an Art, the more projects you work on, more implementations you see, better you get on how things are built. Just to give my own example, I was an average student in my high school and engineering. But I am doing ok in my core development projects in IT. I believe if you really have interest in technology, that should be enough to get you through. You don't really need to be a genius unless you want to work in product development (which requires a bit more creativity).

bro i still struggle with elementary level algebra

Thank you , you saved my LIFE :D

It's interesting to listen to other people's experience like yours. I have 17 years of software development experience and I've done mobile, embed, enterprise and games and I can tell that I had to do a lot of math in mobile and games and a little to none in embed and enterprise applications.

Math is taught in general by academics, who are not necessarily good communicators/teachers. As a result, many of us emerged from school believing we had little or less logical/mathmatical intelligence than others. This is not necessarily the case. I almost flunked Math in school but when I hit university I scored high 70's for accountancyand financial planning. The key was a great lecturer.

For web programming no math. For "scientific programming" like at NASA and other companies like that, yes, a lot of math.

This...this is what I've been needing to hear for so long I just never got around to searching the answer.

Most people have false perception of math. Most people think it's about solving arithmetic or number crunching, but in reality it teaches you fundamental problem solving skills, knowing how to breakup problems and solve them in a systematic way, also it teaches you discipline and curiosity which are crucial to any fields you want to get into. In upper year math courses, you rarely do any arithmetic others than basic adding 1+1=2, most of your time will be spent doing proof , manipulating sequences and matrices which are the core of computer science.

Thanks Eli. I am planning to study I.T as my second degree and I sucked at math really bad. So this video has helped me abit and gave me abit of confidence to persue studying in I.T next school year. Def worth a sub. Thank you sir.

So refreshing to hear someone say they’re not good at math I don’t feel alone

im 41 and now going back to school ive never been to college but im taking cyber security as my major and yes the course is 1 college math class but im so nervous

If you're talking about IT, you need a good grasp of basic algebra, but nothing really advanced. For Computer Science, you need a very good understanding of algebra, discrete math, calculus, some geometry. For programming, you need a good understanding of algebra, this is a must. If you want to become a better programmer you need to know discrete math, calculus, geometry for algorithms. Case in point: There is NO WAY around math. Whether you're good or bad at it, it is the driving force of the computer industry. If you hate math, you still need a good grasp of basic algebra because you will be using it all the time.

I'm trying to get in to IT, I was shivering lol Glad I came across your video!

Great breakdown - I have worked as a programmer in Geographic Information System for 20+ years and did a Computer Science degree but the maths involved in the Statistics component of my other major in Psychology was far more difficult. I also cannot do any sort of mathematics easily in my head and am not that great on paper. I can problem solve, however, and given a tricky problem I can work it out, and code it.

I'm about to start my 2 year I.T degree.

...by the way- Happy new year everyone, and Eli- thanks for all the great lectures. I thoroughly enjoy them:)

Great point. Nothing really to add. Thanks foor the video!

Thank you for the assist. I mean, I still have to take my Quantitative Analysis class, but at least I know what the future should hold.

Having a learning disability and trying to prove I can do more than what I am capable of, I will say this! thank god for internet. I can learn how to solve a problem if I am ever lost or confused, I can always ask for assistance as well. I am aware some students will call me names and I don't care! I'm there to achieve one thing and that's to prove I can be capable of doing anything as long as you put your mind to it. thank you for this video I got a lot of study to do but not too much to overwhelm myself. I have to see what kind of math Computer Information Systems have so I can better prepare myself. once again thank you!

Good understanding of math greatly changes the way you think about problems and the way you solve them, so I'd say, do as much of math as you can, even if you will not be fully understand all of it. About math having downsides, I actually encountered people that were turned down from jobs they wanted because they were overqualified, and HR argued they'd run away from the position, which means quite a loss for the company. If you get qualified in this area, and you present it during interviews, you may close some jobs for you. How many, that is up to discussion I suppose.

I did actually have to do a calculation for the length of a power line strung between two poles and that actually involved calculus for a program I was writing for cable estimating for a telecom company. I will say that if you study "Discrete Mathematics" (Its actually the math of countable things generally speaking) that is probably the most useful place to start for someone getting into "Computers" and "Programming". Look at a book called Concrete Mathematics by Graham, Knuth and Patashnik for a complete text on computer related Discrete Math. Encryption relies heavily on Matrices of numbers and their operations as does computer graphics and that topic falls under discrete math.

Meth is always good for you

When I got my CS degree in the 80's you needed Calculus I & II to graduate. There were a couple computer science courses required that dealt with matrices and heavy logic. I never used any of the calculus since I graduated, but the logic and matrix math is pretty useful. The level of math you need to understand is mostly related to the type of programming you'll be doing. If you're writing software dealing with designing buildings, you'll probably need to know a lot more math than if you're writing software for a retail company.

thank you, you saved another life too

Thank you, for this video! I am average at math, (but good at physics which sometimes looks harder than mathematics that I learn in my math classes in high school.... weird?) But anyway, I am going next September to an IT program in college and I had doubts since my knowledge of math is average.. even a little less than average!! again, thank you! :)

I feel so more relaxed now! I need to take 2 more maths; statistics and some other one. And I am holding back, but at the same time I want to get them out the way. I have 2 more years to go. I like cybersercurity, computer forensics, and ethical hacking (just learned about this one recently) and I cant wait till I graduate and get experience!! Thanks for your video!!!!!

The times that I use math the most is in excel doing budgets. Perfect example, I had to find out how much we are spending on ink for a 2' plotter currently compared to a new one. So I found our cost per mL of ink, our average monthly ink usage, and compare that to the same cost per mL of the new plotter. What I found was after only 18 months we would cover the 5 grand cost of a new plotter in ink savings alone. With a nice pretty graph I was able to get us a new plotter put into the budget. The math was basic, no need for fancy algebra. BUT you do need to know the core concepts of math.

I like programming and thinking about the logical structure of a code but most of the time my mind can't understand hard mathematical problems that involve numbers. The problem is most companies are asking for a computer science degree(which is a maths heavy course- I looked at the modules/subjects and there are loads of math subjects like trigonometry, calculus,etc.) when they're hiring programmers.

Full stack C# dev. I don't have a comp sci degree. My two cents: I don't really *need* math, but the more I've learned, the more useful I've been able to make myself. I do enterprise dev, ymmv For general programming, having a basic understanding of Big O Complexity is good for picking the right data structures and algorithms (that someone else probably made), but you don't necessarily need to know it inside and out. This could be the difference between your loop running in two minutes or 20ms. After that, I'd personally suggest entry levels stats and probability. Your ability to deal with numbers and reporting meaningfully will skyrocket. Algebraic manipulations are handy; if you get an equation that's messy to deal with, sometimes you can make it way nicer to implement by rearranging it. (I've done this when dealing with all kinds of metrics we track) Last, every time I learn more about any kind of optimization, I find a practical place to use it. So far for me this is linear programming and graph theory. Graph theory is especially interesting because it doesn't take advanced math background to start with, and it covers a wide range of problems. For a lot of this stuff it's been about knowing enough of the math to know where it's appropriate to use it to solve a problem, then using someone else's battle tested library to do the heavy lifting. Of course, the more of the nitty gritty you know, the better you'll be able to apply it, but you can get use out of it pretty quickly. I got a full time job without knowing basically any of that, and just taught myself as I went along, so they're not requirements, just my thoughts.

Very well said sir! I'm already enrolled to bachelor of cs but after I saw this vid, ive changed my mind. I think IT is the one that fits on me well coz it doesnt really need a math that much. (Sorry for my bad english xD)

We all suck at math :)

Really really thank you for that answer. I was scared that you will say: if you are not good at maths, then get out of it. I like your videos and your character.

hello sir: your speech just reduced all my burden from my mind.i m very weak in maths and i m a learner in computer language.thanks a lot sir .i was very much confused about this topic in my mind .once again thanks a lot :)

Working as a developer in data science.... math comes up a lot. Being good at math is great for any programmer/developer/engineer/coder whatever you want to call it. Math is important, problem solving is important, being logical is important. You can be good at anything as long as you put in some hours.

I subscribe to this channel only on the basis that you made my day by saying that it "DOESN'T REQUIRE " except the statistic part. Thank you I dont even know this guys name but still I will give you my subscription. Thank You!!!!!!

Thnx alot ELI

The way he laughs about his past about math makes me feel safe

thank you you help me a lot :D saved my life , i love your videos ^-^

From my experience, no. You dont use any math that you may endured in college. I got a computer science degree and had to take math all the way up to calculus 2. Ive been a IT developer for years and never used any math not even simple arithmetic. Most of the stuff in IT is straight programming so make sure you you know your stuff when it comes to programming. Any programming courses you take you should be getting straight As. Any math courses that you may take, just worry about passing it. You really dont need to understand the math for anything. I actually cheated in one of the maths I took to get my bachelors degree. So yea, for the math, cheat away. Just make sure you learn the programming courses because thats all your going to be doing in your IT career.

Take it from a person who has a Master's degree in math, almost no one is going to pay you for knowing math. My income is miniscule, and I wish I knew programming for web or mobile development. My acquaintances who know IT programming are paid more than my friend who has a doctorate in mathematical computer science, and there are many more jobs in IT than in fields that require a computer science degree (mostly academia). The presenter of this video, Eli by name, overstates the value of math to employment prospects. It is definitely not needed in IT.

yoh have saved me alot someone told me that i cannot do IT because i failed in highschool mathematics but you have given me a light that it doesn't really matter

You just made my entire career decision for me 🤣🙌 thank you!!

i def recommend you taking higher level math classes in high school if youre gonna do comp science, discrete maths is a bitch if you go in with low math skills

What do you think is the most essential math to learn or be aware of to be a good programmer / problem solver?? I took statistics, finite math, calculus for business, pre-calc, college algebra, etc in college for my undergrad requirements (some of which were electives).. Surprisingly, it seems the only math I have seen come up in IT / info systems in my degree is knowing the powers of 2 and the like. For example, if you have 8 possible address bits, then the number of possible addresses is 2^8, or 256. Little things like that.

programming in my 15 yrs I rarely did more than algebra, geometry, and basic trig. that was for action script games but statistics usually I used a library and feed it inputs. networking & disciplines I only had to convert ips to binary but you can use utilities to convert base 10 to base 2. otherwise it's logical issues in branching to control program flow and execution. unless your doing memory addressing or nowise operations but that's all hex and binary with base 2 & base 16

I love your Energy.

I was thinking of going back to college and getting an IT degree, good thing I took basic algebra and that’s all I need to know.

I think I need math and physics. I want to create a child/ academic friendly computer program that encompasses real world physics and math models and sell packets of code to developers and financial modellers, get the scientific community to reference and regulate parts of the system. (I know about Stephen Wolfram's already put together a business)

Computer Science Graduate here, besides the general education math classes, in the computer systems class, we did binary algebra and memory size calculations. an example problem would be if 4 bytes are required to store an integer, then how many integers could you fit on 4 GB of storage?

A program handles data according to algorithms. How the data is processed and what will be the outcome pretty much relies on math calculations. However, not always are they as complicated as one may think.

It really depends the type of programming your gonna apply for, but generally yes, strong base in maths automatically converts you in a solid programmer

Thank you, from a 43 year old, about to go into a bachelor of IT..... Who also sucks at maths.

computer scientists are the badasses of the computer world

I know a 6 figures salary (year salary) computer programmer who doesn't like math and was average in math from high school to college. he always been good at computer stuffs though, even when we were younger!

I agree 100% but would like to mention, it's going to depend on the "exact degree requirements" with regards to the math to be taken. I'm guessing that "esoteric" math that Eli refers to would be something Discrete Math related (my guess is based upon me being an ME/EE with Math/CompSci minors in my undergrad).

What’s your advice for someone who wants to get into Cyber Security but all University IT and IS programs require you to have high math levels to apply, what if I don’t have them because I suck at math. I’ve been told multiple times to study something related to Computers as I’m pretty good at it, specially programming.

a professor told me I need math to do IT work she was wrong.

Hey, what is the maths like in Information systems Compared to IT?

Hello thank you very much. I am horrible at math, I started in Basic Math and rose to Algebra II. I am currently trying to pursue a business major but business calculus is preventing me from any further development. In the case that business does not work, I am highly considering switching to IT. This video has assured me I am capable of getting into this field. I am a 3rd year college student who grew up mostly playing with computers. I can relate to what is going on here, I do have an interest. I plan to take the CNET essentials this october as an extra class and see what it is like. Can any working professionals please give me some advice?

Good info

Thankx buddy Because of U em tenshion Free now ♥️☺️

Thanks for this cause I'm actually learning about subnet masking for the first time and I got so lost and intimidated 😂

U motivate me sir thank you very much

I am not at all confident in my math, though i guess I get by. However when ever i'm creating games within teams... that's pretty much what i'm responsible for. But it's still rather "esoteric". As was mentioned, it's more about math oriented around what you are trying to have happen... which may or may not be related to simulating reality in any way. Especially when it comes to representing stats and resources and various other relatively arbitrary concepts.

This may have been the best 6 minutes of my life.

oh thank heaven

Hey im currently going to school right now for my A.S in computer information technology. Just wondering if anyone else is doing something similar and how are the classes? I see I have to take many computer classes and wanted to know if it’s easy to do online or would it be better face to face

To be honest, whether you suck at math or not, generally math doesn't apply to software development. I was fortunate enough in school to love math from an early age, so it wasn't really a problem for me, but since I had no Computer Science background when I first attended a university, it took me a lot of work to feel like I had any sense of practical mastery. I honestly gave as much of an effort, if not more, in all of my CS courses as I did in math, but the two fields are different enough that it still took me a lot of work. I still enjoy coding a lot though, and I think that's more important than how skilled I am now. I definitely feel a lot more confident than I used to, and even though C++ still messes with me with annoying bugs sometimes, at least it doesn't freak me out like it used to. Then again, I haven't touched things like creating my own templates classes for a while, so that will probably mess with me if I ever need it again.

While I would agree that high level math (Trigonometry, Calculus, etc) would not be a necessity for being productive in the world of IT, I would also argue that basic math is a necessity (And even more advanced math when you get into the datacenter). Being able to see that all your applications are trying to consume more RAM, CPU or I/O than your machine is capable of is key, but this is basic math (IE: if 8 GB usage > 4 GB RAM, then, bad time had by all; add RAM now.). Once you start getting onto advanced tiers of IT (Trend calculations for storage arrays, cache hit/miss ratios, failure models, encapsulation overhead, statistics, De-Dupe throughput curves, etc.), it does become relevant to have a solid understanding of, let's say, middle of the road math (I have forgotten more Calculus than I actually recall). The minute you start implementing data centers and have to contend with the electric folks, you will need to bust out algebra and potentially more for the trifecta of physical, electrical and thermal fit. Nothing worse that saying you designed an "N+1" datacenter solution then have an AC unit fail and the entire datacenter overheat. At that point, you have to start shutting down gear before they become puddles of solder (I know, hyperbole, but...). Situations like that can become RGE's (Resume Generating Events), and they are best avoided. If you want to get INTO IT, no issues at all with just knowing basic math. We have calculators and Excel/Open Office/Google Sheets for that. They work, and they work well. When you start trying to sell entire infrastructure replacements to management, you best have the numbers (and computations) to defend your pie chart/bar graph, and be able to (reliably) extrapolate on the fly. Sure, companies make calculators to help you make those calls, but being able to explain the underlying math (again, to management, who write the checks), surely helps your case and allows you to sleep more comfortably at night when they do say, "yes," to your proposal.

I agree. Like you'd learn subnetting or binary, hex, etc in a math class. Many I.T things now there are so many tools that do this for you. I have an android app I put in a couple values for a network it spits out all the rest. I enter my network number, number of hosts it tells me the subnets, the mask, the Cisco wildcard mask, etc.

damn it ! i wanna do IT but that is like being the 1% in order to get into the course in college ,i'm too late to be better for the examination .I'm stuck with whatever my face is coming to my face

how much math is needed and what kind of math is needed for computer science, computer engineering, software programming, etc...

Universities in Sydney, most majors in BIT they either requires stadistics or discrete math, in my case I'm doing bachelor of IT with web development major and I have to learn discrete math in order to graduate from my major, and by doing discrete math you would have a better understanding about computer's logic, you cannot really compare a guy that has done discrete math and with one who didn't, for exampe they may be able to do similar program, but the one who has done discrete math, his program will be better structured and less buggy, and his code can be esily re-used.

Does anyone know what type of bachelor's degree Eli received?

I asked an electrical engineer I met that worked for Intel how much calculus he used in his work everyday (because I failed Calc 2 3 times). He said barely any in the sense of doing actual math problems. He said computers can figure all of the calculations out for us. But the oblique skill that calculus teaches is Efficient Problem Solving (because there are many different ways to get to the answer in calculus, but one way is more efficient than the others).

great.

I'm working on a degree, they require stats and all the algebra, etc that goes along with. To me it's like why i can't see a point. Unless you get into some larger situation and it's like I have a network of 100 PCs we are experiencing a 20% growth rate per year, What do I need to plan to buy for next year. That is only thought I had and no idea if anyone even does that or even if stats would help with that.

If I want to build a machine or a gadget which ones do I need to learn? which programming language is the best or most efficient in your opinion?

What about math in game programming 3D-modelling etc.

has anyone ever told you that you have some of Louis CK face expressions?

So it sucks for me, because I would like to get into computer programming, but the school i go to offers a bachelor's in computer science, which does require calculus. and I barely passed college algebra! :I I wonder where would I go to study programming straightforward.

What if i want to create software?

You look like very familiar although this is the first time over ever heard of you

Algorithms..?

My undergrad experience with Computer Science; 70% math, 5 to 10 percent programming, and this was mostly foundational/older languages, other courses were just the usual undergrad irrelevant stuff. My younger brother on the other hand, Masters in IT; pretty much no math, just some bare statistics, and his math knowledge today is probably elementary. Maybe it was just his program, but even my shitty rated course was still pretty math heavy...it is after all, an extension of math dept.

hello if u get BSIT u can learn WEB DEVELOPER?

i like watching your videos but i am not good in maths so can you show me some steps for me to become a genius in maths.

Please is doing a computer science degree enough to work in an IT job ?

What about Cybersecurity? University I applied to has a B.S. in Cybersecurity and half of their degree is math. I'm going for Computer Networking, so just a few math classes there. But I just don't see why they crammed a Cybersecurity Degree with so much math.

Ive taken Calc 1, trig, pre calc, stats and physics 1 and 2. I don't know exactly what kind of math is applied for computer programing, but I honestly thought Trig was the absolute hardest of all the pure math classes. Physics 1 and 2 were hell just because the algebra gets ridiculous. If trigonometry is not necessary for computer programming, I would stay the hell away from it. Just a little advice from someone who spent an extra year at university....

I want to change my career path at 38 yes old, I was not great at math in school I am registered nurse and have been in healthcare for 19 years. Can you advise of a good IT degree and which university would be great for online ?thanks

well sir u earned a subscription :)

Depends on what kind of IT you are going for. IT is a very robust term.

I am pursuing my IT degree and I have to take precalculus calculus statistics and discrete structures. it's not a computer science major so be careful

Computer Science -> "All the math". Serious cyber security -> "All the math" Software development for most business applications and basic data analysis = discrete math, a lot of statistics, and only a little calc. Computer repair and basic networking stuff -> very little math In general if you are trying to get a BS at most major universities you will have to go up to at least one calculus class. At my school calculus 1 was also a prerequisite for discrete math which you will probably need. BA degrees might go a little lighter on the math depending on the school.

sir, please tell me the difference between computer science and it,..

Sir, is possible to change career from maths to computer science. Like if someone graduate with mathematics degree and want to change his career from maths to computer science in masters....