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Teach Yourself Computer Science

teachyourselfcs.com

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Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#11

Post by agumonkey »

skylark wrote: post #9
agumonkey wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone else concur with yters experience ?

It really depends on what kind of development you're doing. The majority of software engineers are application developers making CRUD websites or mobile apps, so that perspective is the one to come up most often. I also happen to be one of those developers. The challenges of application development are related to transforming data, handling asynchronous operations, managing state, and picking elegant abstractions tha…

Thanks, that's what I was curious about

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#12

Post by scarecrowbob »

yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

I have very little training in formal CS (like, I dropped out of a CS program as a sophomore to get a BA in Philosophy and an MA in Lit).

I learned almost all the basis for what I do on a day-to-day practice of being a programmer from:

- my high school programming classes - my grad school practice of learning how to research and read - a bunch of middle school classes in formal logic - playing with a ton of programming tasks

The CS stuff that I've read in the decade since quitting the pursuit of a PhD in literature has been way less helpful than simply trying to fix bugs in my code.

I don't know if my career is representative of other folks' work, but at my "level" I consider programming to be a lucrative trade, and much of the CS stuff is almost totally irrelevant to that, compared to having awareness of the specific of whatever larger system I am trying to diagnose or modify.

I agree that the basis for this profession can be taught in a couple of classes; I feel that almost all of what I do comes down to playing with the actual technology and trying to solve problems with it; theory is only useful after you have a fundamental feel for the nature of the problems at hand.

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#13

Post by hobls »

skylark wrote: post #9
agumonkey wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone else concur with yters experience ?

It really depends on what kind of development you're doing. The majority of software engineers are application developers making CRUD websites or mobile apps, so that perspective is the one to come up most often. I also happen to be one of those developers. The challenges of application development are related to transforming data, handling asynchronous operations, managing state, and picking elegant abstractions tha…

Even most of video game development is simply using features of the existing engine. Some basic 3D math is required, but nothing crazy. You do find some gnarly problems in engine development though. (And some of the sub-disciplines like the network and graphics programmers.)

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#14

Post by [deleted] »

agumonkey wrote: post #7
yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

Anyone else concur with yters experience ?

[deleted]

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#15

Post by bytematic »

yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

How do you know you used nothing? Wouldn't that be hard to tell, perhaps you should work with someone who got a degree in somewhere unrelated vs a recent cs grad. I find the difference can be massive. Not realizing what is basic knowledge

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#16

Post by wjossey »

agumonkey wrote: post #7
yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

Anyone else concur with yters experience ?

I don’t concur.

Received a comp-sci degree in 2008 from a small liberal arts college. I was one of five grads in my year, and most of the last two years were not spent learning “practical” tech, but rather theories, algorithms, etc. My liberal arts educating taught me how to write, how to discuss solutions, explore tough concepts, break problems down into smaller subtasks, and more.

Skills are important. But theory matters too. Just because one has value does not rule out the other.

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#17

Post by [deleted] »

bytematic wrote: post #15
yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

How do you know you used nothing? Wouldn't that be hard to tell, perhaps you should work with someone who got a degree in somewhere unrelated vs a recent cs grad. I find the difference can be massive. Not realizing what is basic knowledge

[deleted]

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#18

Post by sixstringtheory »

agumonkey wrote: post #7
yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

Anyone else concur with yters experience ?

Not exactly. I really enjoyed my undergrad and grad CS programs, but I agree I don’t get to use most of it in everyday work. I also haven’t exactly sought out places where I would yet.

I can’t speak for yters’ experience in school or work, not least since they didn’t name names.

Tech is a huge and diverse industry, but it seems to be treated homogenously when stuff like this comes up. Writing web apps in React is very different from game programming, mission-critical embedded, chip architecture, etc. I see much more demand for frontend devs than more specialized roles, and I think that should lead to lower enrollments in CS programs to match. Today it is way oversold (as I believe a lot of university is in America), but still necessary in some circumstances. For instance, someone teaching a bootcamp should probably have undergaduate level training in CS and/or teaching.

University and even bootcamps also serve as validating authorities that vouch for the abilities af the people they graduate. Maybe not perfect, but I don’t profess to know that licensure or some other method is better or worse. Programming jobs aren’t just about code, and uni/bootcamp isn’t just about learning code: you need discipline and self motivation, executive functioning, ability to research and navigate systems.

Is having a github repo with 1,000 stars now a necessary and/or sufficient condition to be talented?

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#19

Post by [deleted] »

yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

[deleted]

Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science

#20

Post by chrisseaton »

yters wrote: post #6

I have many degrees in computer science, and have used almost none of the knowledge in programming jobs. So, the content is fairly useless, practically speaking. I've also found the more I focus on theoretical elements while at work, the more useless I become. The actually useful elements are big picture, and can probably be taught in one or two classes. Much more useful than technical knowledge are the abilities to…

> I have many degrees in computer science

If you have many I'm going to assume that's at least three. Surely that's a PhD then? Otherwise you've been standing still doing multiple bachelors or masters degrees, which wouldn't make any sense.

If you've done a PhD and then go into a field which didn't need that research, then that's unusual. Why did you bother with the PhD?

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