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Why do so few people major in computer science?

danwang.co

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Re: Why do so few people major in computer science?

#71

Post by Osiris »

ellius wrote: post #40
mdc2161 wrote: post #32

Personal anecdote: I didn't major in it because I had no idea I would enjoy it. I was fortunate that my engineering program had two semesters of Java. We spent more time hand drawing logic gates than coding in the intro course and so it wasn't until the second (data structures) that I realized it was something I wanted to pursue. It was too late for me to change majors at that point, but not too late to take internsh…

Same here. I wish I had the degree, but I don't regret the ones I did get (history and economics). I get to use code in a job I enjoy and thrive in, which gives me a leg up on the competition. It has made it difficult to break into fields I now think would be interesting (esp. security or systems admin), which I think has been the only downside. I can learn a lot of the interesting stuff on my own time and apply it w…

I took one year of CS then finished with a degree in International Relations (basically political science and economics) and Latin American studies. I loved school and the topics I learned about, but they have no bearing on anything I've done professionally.

University came out of a tradition of being educated for education sake, not to build job skills. Even computer science doesn't teach you how to be a software developer. It's an academic study of computers.

Re: Why do so few people major in computer science?

#74

Post by orthoganol »

xxSparkleSxx wrote: post #12

I think the market is just way over saturated. Hiring practices for developers point to just that. I mentioned in a different thread how simole it is for my travel-nurse of a sister to get a new job (her stints around the Bay Area paid ~100k and she only has 2 years of experience). Developers jump through hoop after hoop for employment, this wouldn't happen if they were in demand like a nurse. The market is just resp…

Those practices also speak to the general openness of opportunity of being a developer - your actual skills matter most, so they screen to assess your skills. Other industries focus more on degrees or names of past employers, etc., and I prefer it this way in software.

But yes, due to its openness, that you don't need the relevant degree to find employment as a SWE or ML engineer or data scientist (lol - data scientists today, such a bastardization of 'scientist'), it is I agree very competitive, especially if you're just starting out.

Re: Why do so few people major in computer science?

#75

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

twblalock wrote: post #58
simonsarris wrote: post #11

Slight note about Dan Wang picking 2005: That was the peak of CS degrees awarded because it's 4/5 years after the height of the dot-com bubble. So the upward bump in the mid-2000's is somewhat explainable as an anomaly. I think his point 1 is underrated. CS degrees are flat because aptitude is flat. You can compare CS degrees to other degrees over time at nsf.gov: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2016/nsb20161/#/report…

> The number of grads for difficult degrees and the quality of grads seems to be another story. This is why I never believed the "There is no STEM shortage" stories. They were mostly based on the assumption that all STEM grads were qualified to work in STEM. That's not true in any field where you can complete a degree with a C or D average. I find it unfortunate that some of the larger software companies filter out a…

There is no STEM shortage because salaries haven't risen for those already working in the field.

Re: Why do so few people major in computer science?

#76

Post by sleepingeights »

The environment in the US is in-conducive to high level educational attainment in the STEM sectors. On top of that, the fields and people in them are seen as alien to the US, hence they see them as areas for foreigners and immigrants.

The US is an exploitative dominant culture, favoring aggression, and the like. Many traits that are counter to traits necessary for continued success and development based on internal attainment, versus external acquirement.

The US cannot survive without immigrants due to their dominating trait of exploitation, (at least) as long as scientific and technological development is a necessary prerequisite for survival.

Re: Why do so few people major in computer science?

#77

Post by jacquesm »

A very large factor is that having a CS degree is not going to make up for the years lost as a developer if you're any good. Some companies are pretty heavy on the degree requirement but even the larger ones like Google have been slowly backing away from this.

Lots of developers come into computer science through physics, maths and other peripherally related fields and discover they're good at computers.

Finally, it's hard to continue to work on a degree for a pittance while your less capable buddies are raking in 6 figure salaries. At some point the words 'opportunity cost' will start to appear in your nightmares.

Re: Why do so few people major in computer science?

#78

Post by twblalock »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #75
twblalock wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The number of grads for difficult degrees and the quality of grads seems to be another story. This is why I never believed the "There is no STEM shortage" stories. They were mostly based on the assumption that all STEM grads were qualified to work in STEM. That's not true in any field where you can complete a degree with a C or D average. I find it unfortunate that some of the larger software companies filter out a…

There is no STEM shortage because salaries haven't risen for those already working in the field.

They certainly have risen in tech, the T part of STEM.

Re: Why do so few people major in computer science?

#79

Post by kutkloon7 »

I majored in computer science, and I don't feel like I've learned anything. Every time there was an opportunity to learn something cool (mathematical theory behind cryptography, assembly language, details of a processor, the cache, or a communication protocol) or useful, it was glanced over as 'technical details'. Instead, I was introduced to many, many small topics (programming, graphics, databases, algorithms, user experience, functional programming, logic, web programming), but we didn't go in the depth. To be honest, I forgot most of it. It did easily land me a job as a consultant, though.

I honestly wish I'd picked a more interesting major, like electrical engineering or physics. I feel like I could learn the things I've learned in a few months (which may or may not be true).

Computer science is just not very hard, while physics, math, and engineering is. I think the guys from other fields can be more successful programmers, just because they are smarter (more used to solving hard problems).

In computer science, the only course that required a little bit of creativity was algorithms. It was stuff mathematicians are practically trained to do (be it not in exactly the same setting).

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