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Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

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Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#31

Post by corin_ »

byrneseyeview wrote: post #6

Degrees are for signaling. If you want to signal that you're as smart as a typical CS or Business student, pick a program they would drop out of (Math instead of CS, Economics instead of Business). If you just pick music, it's not a strong indicator of your skills. I used to work as a recruiter, and the candidate for whom I got the most interview requests ever had a triple-major: music, physics, and math. You don't h…

Thanks for the advice (and others suggesting the same thing), I think minoring in Maths is definitely something I'd consider, happens to be another area I'm interested in (though no-where near as experienced, would have to do a fair bit of pre-university learning to be ready to study it I think, having forgotten most of what I knew when I was 16)

Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#34

Post by corin_ »

ig1 wrote: post #14

For CS: Firms generally look for CS or a related degree (Maths, elec eng, etc.) - although if you can prove you can program (open source projects, etc.) they may well be flexible. Typically for most degrees you can do a few "open units" in other subjects, so if you did some in CS that would help as well. For Business/Marketing: Specific degree is less important, although some firms prefer degrees with mathematical co…

I'm confident I can gain experience for any area I might want to go into in the future - where I am currently, mainly focussing on marketing with an slight techy twist, I've created expensive advertising campaigns for companies like Dell, AMD and PC World, having had no experience prior to this job, plus on the side I've played a big part in various events, and management of 20 or so servers/websites.

Basically the last few years I've been doing my best to build up experience in as many of the areas that interest me as possible, partly because I love what I'm doing and partly because I want my CV to be non-restricting to any future path I might want to take.

Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#35

Post by hugh3 »

kenthorvath wrote: post #8
michael_dorfman wrote: post #2

I've hired a lot of programmers, and a music degree from Oxford is something I'd view as a plus, provided you could demonstrate that you also have the necessary technical skills. Personally, I was a philosophy major.

Personally, I was a philosophy major. As was I, along with Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Physics. Philosophy was by far my most important and relevant major. It taught me how to think and express myself logically and to identify specious reasoning - two things which are invaluable in life. In fact, I know of at least one Philosophy major that Apple hired as an iPhone engineer. They should really teach Philosop…

Out of curiosity, where can you have four different majors? (We didn't have official "majors" at all where I went to uni, but I always thought they were something of which you only had one or two.)

If you're studying four subjects in your final year, how do you go into any depth in them?

Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#36

Post by corin_ »

culebron wrote: post #7

An irrelevant degree takes some years that you could invest into a working experience, and more importantly, it delays maturity. But it can give you a valuable knowledge (of course, if you earn grades for real things, not for imitating some nonsense). This is hard to learn in everyday life. I program in Python and earlier was a DB developer, but have an economics masters degree. The most useful thing of this degree w…

I've already got four years of (in my opinion quality) working experience, and to be honest I think that most of the overall life-lessons that a music degree could teach me I already have - the biggest reason I want to do it is learning more about the subject, than using it as a way to improve myself in other areas.

(I asked HN more to see if it would give the impression of having improved my other areas, than if it would)

Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#37

Post by corin_ »

gaius wrote: post #12

Mind you don't get "Oxbridge syndrome"... Oops, too late.

I'm very aware that there are plenty of non-Oxbridge universities in the UK (and elsewhere of course) that are of a high quality, my reasons for wanting to go to Oxford specifically aren't (entirely) because of the name it's made for itself.

- Most of my ancestors on my mother's side went to Oxford or Cambridge, so feels roughly inherited (no university on my Dad's side)

- I've lived in Oxford all my life, and a.) love this city and b.) have grown a sort of irrelevant pride for it (kind of a more localised patriotism)

- I've very close personal ties with two colleges here at Oxford, one of which is the one I'd like to attend

- I happen to know a few professors at Oxford (all in Music, as it happens), one of which is the director of music at the college I'd like to attend

The fact that "Oxford" on a CV traditionally looks better than some other universities is just an added benefit, I'm not someone who would chose it purely for that reason.

Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#38

Post by dtegart »

ido wrote: post #22
tpanzarella wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not classify mathematics as irrelevant. Math serves as the foundation for all of science and engineering. I would bet that most CS and Engineering grad students (and industry professionals) wish they had a stronger mathematics background ... even those with strong mathematics backgrounds ;-)

Can't talk about Engineers, but as a professional programmer of 9 years with many years of undergraduate and graduate (M.Sc) Mathematics education, I must say I rarely/never use any of the math I've learned (at least not something I wouldn't have learned as an undergrad CS major) at work. I have heard your argument very often though, it seems about as popular as the one that states painters benefit from knowledge of…

As a former automotive engineer, I can say I didn't use my math much either. In fact engineering in my experience was mostly project management, the degree just gave you the background to work with everyone else.

Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#39

Post by gaius »

corin_ wrote: post #37
gaius wrote: post #12

Mind you don't get "Oxbridge syndrome"... Oops, too late.

I'm very aware that there are plenty of non-Oxbridge universities in the UK (and elsewhere of course) that are of a high quality, my reasons for wanting to go to Oxford specifically aren't (entirely) because of the name it's made for itself. - Most of my ancestors on my mother's side went to Oxford or Cambridge, so feels roughly inherited (no university on my Dad's side) - I've lived in Oxford all my life, and a.) lo…

Indeed. There is practically no difference between the quality of any of the Russell Group universities. But only Oxbridge graduates feel the need to mention their college within 2 minutes of you meeting them.

Re: Ask HN: Are irrelevant degrees at all useful?

#40

Post by rdouble »

tpanzarella wrote: post #18
rdouble wrote: post #11

I double majored in the two most irrelevant degrees, philosophy and mathematics. The main skill this has imparted upon me is superhuman-like bullshit detection. While useful, this has proven to be rather depressing, as bullshit is in no short supply. If I could do it over again, I would have majored in music.

I would not classify mathematics as irrelevant. Math serves as the foundation for all of science and engineering. I would bet that most CS and Engineering grad students (and industry professionals) wish they had a stronger mathematics background ... even those with strong mathematics backgrounds ;-)

It was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I have never used anything beyond sophomore linear algebra in my work.
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