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What every computer science major should know (2011)

matt.might.net

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Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#91

Post by WalterBright »

It's a good list, and I always recommend these:

1. Public Speaking. If you can't talk coherently in front of a group of people and sell your ideas, your career will be stunted.

2. Accounting. Accounting is the language of business. If you don't understand double entry bookkeeping, you can't be a manager. You can't run a startup. You can't talk to investors. If you misuse terms like "gross margin" you'll be overlooked as someone not worthy of doing business with. And worst of all, your feathers will get plucked by people who do, and you may never even realize it.

Neither of these are particularly hard to do, but like flossing one's teeth, avoiding them will be costly to your future.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#92

Post by greggyb »

pinacarlos90 wrote: post #89

I come from a CS background and learned a lot from studying CS, it definitely gave me a strong foundation and changed the way I view and understand computing. I learned most of the topics mentioned in this document while in school, and although they are all valid, they are not enough for real world needs. ~90% of CS undergraduates will end working as or with engineers, and in 2019 here are the skills that are indispe…

Most of these are in the article. The author mentions:

1) both http and ssh

2) source control and team work (and suggests courses built around these)

3) multiple sections on problem solving and algorithms (incl. proof techniquese, formal methods, knowledge of data structures and algorithms)

4) nothing in particular

5) nothing in particular

6) covers communication skills

7) emphasizes each student taking a lead role on a team in suggested team-based classes

8) not explicit

9) suggests writing and being graded on tests throughout educational career

10) section on graphics and simulation emphasizes this.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#93

Post by karmakaze »

rossdavidh wrote: post #15
commandlinefan wrote: post #2

> must practice persuasively and clearly communicating their ideas to non-programmers If you’re a CS major, panicking over this sort of “technical skills aren’t enough, you have to be a persuasive public speaker and effectively do management’s job for them”, people have been saying this since at least I started coding 30 years ago, and I don’t see any evidence that it’s actually true any more than it was back then -…

I would say there's plenty wrong with this list, but this one is, ironically, mostly true but malphrased. A better way to put it would be: "don't be content with being so bad at communication that it gets in the way of your ability to make your (technical) point". If you know something about how _not_ to communicate (badly), you can allow your technical expertise to be more influential when technical decisions are ma…

I know what you're talking about. I've done it and seen others fall into this trap as well. If there was a list of ways in which this can happen, it would be golden.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#94

Post by karmakaze »

vkou wrote: post #17
commandlinefan wrote: post #2

> must practice persuasively and clearly communicating their ideas to non-programmers If you’re a CS major, panicking over this sort of “technical skills aren’t enough, you have to be a persuasive public speaker and effectively do management’s job for them”, people have been saying this since at least I started coding 30 years ago, and I don’t see any evidence that it’s actually true any more than it was back then -…

PowerPoint is one of the worst way of persuasively and clearly communicating ideas, be it to programmers or non-programmers.

This. There's a difference between superficially appearing to be effective and actually being so. See Death by Powerpoint[0].

[0] https://www.zdnet.com/article/death-by-powerpoint/

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#95

Post by cambalache »

black6 wrote: post #18
invalidOrTaken wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I fully understand. Would you mind expanding on that?

A PDF is more portable, smaller file size, and it brings along the fonts it requires to display as-you-created-tt on another computer, which may not have them installed. Plus you don’t have to worry about the errant slide transition working its way in, and it tends to load faster. I don’t, as a rule, include video or other fancy effects in presentations ( they’re still referred to as “slide decks” where I work ), so…

Meh, I worked for one of those Fortune20 behemoths (Not tech) and all the presentations from a fresh intern up to the CEO were made in Power Point. 99% of business analytics? = Excel. Same in a big government organization (non US), I am as much a nerd as most people here, but being outside in the real (non-tech) world helped me to realize how much the tech world can blind you.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#96

Post by seventhtiger »

jstewartmobile wrote: post #43
bigred100 wrote: post #33

To me, this sounds more like what a good CS Ph.D who spent his free time filling in every general CS knowledge gap he could come up with would know. I don’t know why he says learn real analysis and linear algebra to talk to engineers when I doubt 90% of engineers took one analysis course unless they’re Ph.Ds.

Judging by the Wikipedia article, "Real analysis" is freshman-level math for most branches of engineering. Pretty shocking how little math most CS programs require in comparison.

I've seen that CS and EE are the most math intensive majors outside the math department. Many students go all in and get the minor or double major.

But they do learn a certain kind of math. Personally I think a strong foundation in statistics is warranted. The calculus goes far beyond what is useful on the job.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#97

Post by TeMPOraL »

dlphn___xyz wrote: post #78
godelski wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very true. But once you start learning this I think people start to realize others intent and that changes impact. At the end of the day we all kinda suck at communicating with one another and I believe that you should try to see intent too(I've found that this makes my life substantially less stressful as things that used to impact me negatively don't do so as much anymore). I'm not trying to give people an…

i think this is called empathy

It is. But these days, when the word "empathy" shows up in discussions, it's usually in the context of understanding someone's difficult position and why they may feel some resentment or jealousy towards you. Here, it's the opposite - it's the empathy needed to not randomly take offense when people say things to you.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#98

Post by archagon »

This is tangential, but HOW, HOW, HOW does someone have the time to do all this stuff? http://matt.might.net/materials/matthew-might-cv.pdf

I'd love to see a timeline of how some of these super-productive academics are able to fit so many activities into their lives. I doubt I've done 1/10th of what Matt has done in the same amount of time. (And all this while researching, publicizing, and treating his son's rare genetic disorder, in an entirely separate field from the one he got his PhD in: http://matt.might.net/articles/my-sons-killer/)

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#99

Post by aprdm »

pinacarlos90 wrote: post #89

I come from a CS background and learned a lot from studying CS, it definitely gave me a strong foundation and changed the way I view and understand computing. I learned most of the topics mentioned in this document while in school, and although they are all valid, they are not enough for real world needs. ~90% of CS undergraduates will end working as or with engineers, and in 2019 here are the skills that are indispe…

100% agreed! Communication is 80% of the job usually. So sad to see a lot of technical people who cannot communicate well!

People seem to forget we're all humans.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#100

Post by felipap »

archagon wrote: post #98

This is tangential, but HOW, HOW, HOW does someone have the time to do all this stuff? http://matt.might.net/materials/matthew-might-cv.pdf I'd love to see a timeline of how some of these super-productive academics are able to fit so many activities into their lives. I doubt I've done 1/10th of what Matt has done in the same amount of time. (And all this while researching, publicizing, and treating his son's rare gen…

Related: should I also be including my Twitter and Google+ followers in my CV?
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