???????????
Computer Science is by far the most popular stem major all around the world!
If somebody have numbers showing opposite, I would like to see them.
Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
31–40 of 452 posts
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#32Easy. The educational aspect is pretty awful. And after you get through that, the big companies treat you like a leper unless you went through a few chosen schools.
I went to a big state school in the 90s. The first two years were a hazing, with a brutal curve designed to drop class size from 1000+ (CSI 200) to about 80 graduates.
It was sink or swim and awarded grit. The only major worse was biology where organic chemistry weeded out the frat boys from premed.
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#33When I learned coding, CS wasn't really a "thing." I came up from the hardware end of things (EE). Today, the only downside of this seems to be that I never learned all the binary tree stuff (BTrees haven't played any role in the type of coding I've been doing for the last three decades), so I don't fare well in employment exams. Otherwise, I'm actually thrilled at the way my software development education has gone.…
Thankfully I've never worked or applied to a company doing that kinda thing; at best it was a fizzbuzz. They mostly do practical in-your-own-time assessments - prove that you have the hands-on know-how to build a feature representative of the work you will be doing in the company. Few companies will rebuild B-trees in the day to day job. Interview for the job your candidates will be expected to do, instead of giving…
I have an enormous portfolio of code. I'm talking dozens of repos, hundreds of thousands of lines of code, shipping apps (with full source code), and at least a decade of checkin history.
Also, I have many, many articles on Medium, and on my own sites. These tend to explicitly and unambiguously cover my development methodologies, design ethos, and personal philosophies.
There should be no question at all about my technical ability, methodology, creativity, or team integration.
But it is my experience that the portfolio is immediately ignored by hiring managers.
After a few instances of that, I just gave up looking to work for others, and started doing my own thing.
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#34I don't think CS is a high social status field at all . You're deluding yourselves. Outside of our peers also in the industry nobody cares that you're a staff engineer at Google. Absolutely nobody. They'll assume you're doing IT work like the characters in the IT Crowd if they even bother to think about it at all and haven't already walked away. Here's a concrete example to make it really obvious. How many computer s…
I don’t know how old you are but this is not the case at all among my age group, recent college grads. If you say you work at Google, to continue your example, people are definitely impressed and think you’re very smart. Pretty much all of my friends and their friends are not in software engineering and that’s still the case.
I think people are impressed by the big names, but not so much if you work for an enterprise SaaS provider.
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#35I don't think CS is a high social status field at all . You're deluding yourselves. Outside of our peers also in the industry nobody cares that you're a staff engineer at Google. Absolutely nobody. They'll assume you're doing IT work like the characters in the IT Crowd if they even bother to think about it at all and haven't already walked away. Here's a concrete example to make it really obvious. How many computer s…
I don’t know how old you are but this is not the case at all among my age group, recent college grads. If you say you work at Google, to continue your example, people are definitely impressed and think you’re very smart. Pretty much all of my friends and their friends are not in software engineering and that’s still the case.
[deleted]
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#36Honestly, here's the truth of the matter as someone who has gone through Bachelor's and Master's.
Annectodal (sample size 1):
I went to a top university in Florida for Computer Science. The classes were either simple, useful or nintendo hard. Data Structures and Discrete Math were the courses most likely to have transfers out to IT or Business degrees.
Two good friends ended up dropping because they just found a job and said "Screw it" and just went into the industry. A couple of others went into IT because the coursework was "too hard and I can get the same job with an IT degree"
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#37I don't think CS is a high social status field at all . You're deluding yourselves. Outside of our peers also in the industry nobody cares that you're a staff engineer at Google. Absolutely nobody. They'll assume you're doing IT work like the characters in the IT Crowd if they even bother to think about it at all and haven't already walked away. Here's a concrete example to make it really obvious. How many computer s…
Is the social status of computer scientists zero, or do computer scientists choose not to go into politics or other leadership positions? I suspect it's the latter [anecdotal; opinion; citation needed]. CS people are a tribe on their own (if I may generalize); I've not met anyone with an interest in participating in politics. They have strong opinions on politics, but not to the point where they're willing to represe…
As an engineer many political compromises make no sense to me to the extent I cannot support it. Compromising between, say, quality of a solution and the available resources to implement said solution makes sense to me and it is clear what the trade-offs are beforehand. A political compromise to keep all parties involved happy that mixes parts of totally different solutions and creates a system you know beforehand it is going to perform significantly worse than either solution, is difficult to accept let alone support for me.
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#38I don't think CS is a high social status field at all . You're deluding yourselves. Outside of our peers also in the industry nobody cares that you're a staff engineer at Google. Absolutely nobody. They'll assume you're doing IT work like the characters in the IT Crowd if they even bother to think about it at all and haven't already walked away. Here's a concrete example to make it really obvious. How many computer s…
Agreed, and it goes beyond that. We have a pretty poor reputation when it comes to dating (as heterosexual/bi men). Obviously, it's not "real" - a lot of us end up married or in relationships, but of all of the high paying office jobs out there, tech guys are probably the lowest in the ladder.
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#39??????????? Computer Science is by far the most popular stem major all around the world! If somebody have numbers showing opposite, I would like to see them.
Check the graph, it actually isn't...
Re: Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
#40I don't think CS is a high social status field at all . You're deluding yourselves. Outside of our peers also in the industry nobody cares that you're a staff engineer at Google. Absolutely nobody. They'll assume you're doing IT work like the characters in the IT Crowd if they even bother to think about it at all and haven't already walked away. Here's a concrete example to make it really obvious. How many computer s…
The premier minister of Singapore is a computer scientist ...
(Though that might not be his primary qualification.)