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CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

academy.cs.cmu.edu

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Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#111

Post by ghaff »

wheelinsupial wrote: post #56
lispisok wrote: post #4

How come this or things like https://teachyourselfcs.com/ dont exist for other fields like mechanical engineering?

https://mitocw.ups.edu.ec/courses/mechanical-engineering/ It's available, you might need to search for it and look for the flow charts to see which courses are missing from the other departments. The challenge is, in many places, you won't be able to practice as an engineer without going through an accredited program. If you're trying to be a maker or learn more about that, mechanical engineering is probably overkill…

>The challenge is, in many places, you won't be able to practice as an engineer without going through an accredited program.

While not literally generally true in the US, in practice, you'll probably be hard put to land a job.

>If you're trying to be a maker or learn more about that, mechanical engineering is probably overkill.

It's not only overkill. A lot of the curriculum that doesn't involve a lab or a machine shop is probably mostly not very useful. Navier-Stokes fluid flow equations have very little to do building things.

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#113

Post by ghaff »

analog31 wrote: post #102
dotancohen wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another factor might be that the term engineer is a protected term, and not unlike doctors and lawyers there exist state-regulated tests to confer such a title. I'm sure that a mechanical engineering course would be possible, but the course would have to clearly state that it cannot accredit the credentials to actually work in the field.

I'm not sure the precise details, but there's an "industrial exemption" for engineers who work for a company that makes a product. Most of the MechE's in my department do not have licenses. One colleague is pursuing hers, but mainly on the grounds of "just because I can, so why not."

I got as far as an EIT but then went back to school and changed careers.

Engineers mostly need a PE licensure if they're going to be signing off on drawings and the like for regulators. Thus PEs are pretty common in civil engineering and, I assume, structural engineering in general. But most Mech Es aren't licensed in the US even if they have degrees from accredited schools.

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#114

Post by longbilly »

robaye wrote: post #99
lispisok wrote: post #4

How come this or things like https://teachyourselfcs.com/ dont exist for other fields like mechanical engineering?

I'm also interested into more of these "teach yourself x" curriculums if anyone has anymore to share. There's so many things I want to learn and I'm someone who likes (needs?) structure. Here's a few that I know of. Draw a Box: https://drawabox.com/ (Doesn't necessarily fit, but it's really good!) So You Want to Study Mathematics: https://www.susanrigetti.com/math So You Want to Study Philosophy: https://www.susanrig…

This one is my favourite, its not great for everything but most of the time it provides a solid road map to learning something new.

https://learn-anything.xyz/

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#115

Post by ghaff »

theusus wrote: post #70
lispisok wrote: post #4

How come this or things like https://teachyourselfcs.com/ dont exist for other fields like mechanical engineering?

Because good literature for other engineering fields is hard to find.

I'm not sure that's true in general.

You can go through something like OCW and see the notes and can buy the same books used in the courses. You may need to hunt down appropriate problem sets to work on but there's a ton of material out there.

That said, as commented on up thread, you'll end up doing a lot of work to get a very theoretical not-degree, without even the benefit of labs, that is probably more or less useless in actually getting you a mechanical engineering job.

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#116

Post by ghaff »

rz2k wrote: post #17
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #9

I wonder if soon all elite universities will make all of their curriculum and lectures free online, effectively turning them into content marketing to drive their customer acquisition funnel. The actual product will be a prestigious brand name, networking opportunities, and a laundered IQ test performed by the admissions committee anointing you with the stamp of approval at the gates. In the public's mind one goes to…

That seemed like the future ten years ago, but my impression is that the trend has gone the other way. There were a lot of really buzzy courses back then, but the communities don't seem motivated in the same way any more, with a large portion of the students now in pursuit of a certificate rather than intellectually curious. I also think that the reason that many of the popular early courses disappeared, wasn't just…

>It's also possible that online learning during the pandemic has ended up making online learning in general seem unpleasant.

MOOCs seemed to have outlived their novelty value since before the pandemic rolled around. The fact that paywalls were added to some content and schools probably lost a certain amount of interest as well didn't help.

But of course the pandemic did add a huge amount of (mostly uncurated) video content to the commons.

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#117

Post by b20000 »

fma wrote: post #103
boppo1 wrote: post #101

What's with all the free CS programs? How about a free law or pre-med curriculum?

Maybe because HN is skewed towards CS topics. But I agree, there are other careers that I think deserves attention for the benefit of society besides trying to cram everyone into an IT career. I keep reading of shortages in medical and trades fields. If we are short CS degree holders for the benefit of society, simply pivot them to meaningful software work rather then driving clicks.

my theory is that they want more programmers to lower the cost of making software. law prevents this kind of race to the bottom via a bar exam and an actual law degree etc. tech does not have these important career protections in place yet.

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#118

Post by wheelinsupial »

Jensson wrote: post #105
fragmede wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't we? Off the top of my head, there's front end, there's back end, there's DevOps, there's kernel devs, there's low-level embedded devs, there's database people, there's data scientists, there's ML people, scripting language people, video game engine programmers.

But all of those got the same degree and usually the same job title, they specialized on the job and not in their education. That is very different from engineers.

Where I am, engineers have a discipline which is their undergrad major (e.g., mechanical, electrical, civil) and a practice area which is on the job specialization within the discipline (e.g., HVAC, pressure vessels, pipelines).

Software engineering is a licensed branch of engineering in many places, so I don't think it's that different from other disciplines.

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#119

Post by passwordoops »

boppo1 wrote: post #101

What's with all the free CS programs? How about a free law or pre-med curriculum?

As a parent member of a PTA, I can say most parents I speak with or attend the meetings demand coding, robotics and chess as part of the curriculum. My questions about increasing arts, drama, music, natural sciences, mindfulness, civics, etc etc are usually met with polite nods and comments along the lines of "I thought you said you have a science PhD and worked at like Cal Tech or something?"

So, supply and demand and a total lack of appreciation of non-tech fields

Re: CMU CS Academy: a free online computer science curriculum by Carnegie Mellon

#120

Post by ccooffee »

longbilly wrote: post #114
robaye wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also interested into more of these "teach yourself x" curriculums if anyone has anymore to share. There's so many things I want to learn and I'm someone who likes (needs?) structure. Here's a few that I know of. Draw a Box: https://drawabox.com/ (Doesn't necessarily fit, but it's really good!) So You Want to Study Mathematics: https://www.susanrigetti.com/math So You Want to Study Philosophy: https://www.susanrig…

This one is my favourite, its not great for everything but most of the time it provides a solid road map to learning something new. https://learn-anything.xyz/

"How to make great pancakes" sadly is not one of the anything to be learned.

From poking around, this site seems to be a pointer-to-resources, rather than a road map of learning. While very useful, it seems like a tactical resource, rather than GPs strategic resources.

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