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So, for the dogshed builders among us, what might be the recommended pathway to learn some architecture--beyond the obvious academic options? I'm sure this has been covered to death on HN already, but if anyone has a link bookmarked and feels like sharing?
So, for the dogshed builders among us, what might be the recommended pathway to learn some architecture--beyond the obvious academic options? I'm sure this has been covered to death on HN already, but if anyone has a link bookmarked and feels like sharing?
As soon as higher-level programming languages such as COBOL, Algol, and FORTRAN came out; many clerks in the mid 1960's onward learned programming without knowing about the hardware guts or theory. Thus, the layering of specialties had already begun.
And so it should be (for the vast majority of the HW's users). The better the work done by the people below, the more hermetically with which the abstraction can be interacted from above.
I agree with the author's sentiment, but also note that it is precisely that--personal preferences masked as universal truths (aka business as usual).
"shopping carts and web forms and pretty pictures" versus "mak(ing) a tiny little difference in the industry and chang(ing) the world just a little bit"?
One could argue that certain "pretty pictures" have changed the world far more than any bits and bytes ever could, when considering the long history of art and visual expression.
(Besides the notion of anything in this industry accomplishing that representing human vanity--we're more of a minor irritant to the world, to be shrugged off and forgotten in the course of time.)
So, for the dogshed builders among us, what might be the recommended pathway to learn some architecture--beyond the obvious academic options? I'm sure this has been covered to death on HN already, but if anyone has a link bookmarked and feels like sharing?
The best introduction I’ve ever read is Michael Sipser’s Introduction to the Theory of Computation. It is eminently readable. It somehow manages to be logically rigorous while remaining approachable. I couldn’t recommend a book more strongly for someone such as yourself. As a bonus it’s not even particularly long.
I've worked for years as a self-taught developer before going back to get my CS degree, I've taught at a bootcamp, and I've hired bootcamp graduates. Bootcamps can be valuable, but they are in no way comparable to a 4 year degree from a decent CS program. The top performing bootcamps are either functioning as an extended job interview that you have to pay for, or they are very good at selecting experienced students w…
I've seen various syllabi eg teachyourselfcs.com and though they seem legit (and I've dabbled is some courses) I don't quite see the application/direct benefit professionally.
Let me phrase in another way; when I got started it was easy to see why I needed to learn front-end and back-end to make a web app (for a CRUD job). Now I want to go further, but where?
I think it would be helpful to see what jobs I could get by furthering my CS fundamentals, and not just "Senior Software Engineer".
So, as someone with your unique perspective, what do you recommend? Should I really slog through ye olde CS curriculum in hopes that one day I'll be able to apply some of it? Can you recommend another approach?
Again, put another way, some of these "top performing bootcamps" sharpen your React skills and whiteboarding skills, which have a career/market value. But they don't appeal to me because they don't seem academically/CS focused.
I hope this duality/constraint came across.
Any guidance appreciated.
I've worked for years as a self-taught developer before going back to get my CS degree, I've taught at a bootcamp, and I've hired bootcamp graduates. Bootcamps can be valuable, but they are in no way comparable to a 4 year degree from a decent CS program. The top performing bootcamps are either functioning as an extended job interview that you have to pay for, or they are very good at selecting experienced students w…
If it is just the idea of having to take a load of liberal arts classes that perturbs your son and not the low level courses like chip design, logic, algorithms and data structures, calc and stats, one alternative to consider is to study internationally. English universities, for example, offer a bachelors in computer science in three years. Unlike a "8- to 16-week full-day immersive courses that focus solely on technology" they have a curriculum almost exactly the same a US computer science course minus the 3 English classes, 3 history and political sciences classes, 2 economic courses and an art course that a college like Kennesaw has a graduation requirement: Kennesaw State Curriculum (http://ccse.kennesaw.edu/cs/docs/BSCS_2016-2017.docx). To compare look at the University of Bristol's Curriculum:[https://www.bris.ac.uk/unit-programme-catalogue/RouteStructu...]
I know this is not an option for everybody - many people need to stay close to home for personal or financial reasons, but is definitely something to look into. With regards to finances, English university for international students even with 1 year less of study still cost a lot. However, I am pretty sure that the course structure is similar at most European universities some of witch offer really low fees to international students.
I've worked for years as a self-taught developer before going back to get my CS degree, I've taught at a bootcamp, and I've hired bootcamp graduates. Bootcamps can be valuable, but they are in no way comparable to a 4 year degree from a decent CS program. The top performing bootcamps are either functioning as an extended job interview that you have to pay for, or they are very good at selecting experienced students w…
Computer science graduates also need a lot of training. If not more, a boot camp graduate has already been exposed enough to modern tech stacks to at least come in as a junior. Too many CS grads have little practical experience to hit the ground running on even the simplest real world projects. Yes I have a CS degree.