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Can English Majors Be Good Developers?

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Re: Can English Majors Be Good Developers?

#31

Post by Terretta »

blindhippo wrote: post #18

Can Computer Science majors be good writers? Can Math majors be good politicians? I've met philosophy majors, english majors, biology majors, comp sci majors, and even people with no university level education - all were good even great coders. I majored in History and yet have done quite well as a software developer. I took 2 years of Computer science - it was 2 years of wasted drivel that has helped me solve ZERO r…

> I majored in History and yet have done quite well as a software developer.

I prefer to hire history majors[1] as developers. They tend to do well at holding complex systems in their heads, understanding them, and explaining them.

1. Ideally history plus some kind of engineering, where engineering is defined as design, building, and use of practical engines, machines, systems, or structures. Biology can fit this definition, but not, say, sports marketing.

Re: Can English Majors Be Good Developers?

#33

Post by alexbell »

timfrietas wrote: post #13

English major here. Leader of a tech team at a leading company. Derrida and David Foster Wallace were technically more challenging to my intelligence than what I do now. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, and it is not easy! But it is pretty entertaining (bordering on insulting) to see engineers huff and gruff that no one but engineers can be engineers. There's this weird rift in the developer world where only CS deg…

I have a poli sci degree, about two years of CS at a community college. I am a techincal lead at post acquisition company, I started with them as an unpaid intern when the founders worked out of an apartment.

Agree 100% about "curious people who are passionate". Interviewing people that have engineering degrees, I find a lot of people I could describe as bored or not curious. Sure it's not the case for everyone, but I think an engineer without an engineering degree is naturally going to be more prone to learn outside of their job. A lot of people with CS degrees seem to think the learning part of their job is done.

Re: Can English Majors Be Good Developers?

#36

Post by sk2code »

Why CS is being stereotyped? My wife is an English Major and now she is learning to code. She does have some issues in the beginning but with time she is getting better and better. She told me recently that how tough was some concepts when she started but with practice she is able to grasp them and now she is confident. Will she face fierce competition in the the job market which will put her against some of the people with CS major background? Absolutely. But she is all prepared to explain to her interviewer the passion for her to pursue programming as a career. If someone is good at maths and science from the very beginning then the chances are that they will end up pursuing there career in Tech. What I call "By chance". But for some other people who are taking this audacious decision to enter the field of programming/tech irrespective of their background are the people who I call "By choice". And according to me people who are entering this amazing field of CS/Programming/Tech by choice should be respected and supported.

Re: Can English Majors Be Good Developers?

#37

Post by specialist »

Years ago, on a tour of public K-12 schools, a principle asked me why software developers were such bad writers.

I said "au contraire", all the great developers I know are also great writers. In fact, if a person can't write well, I believe they probably can't code well either. I explained to the tour group that programming is just like writing an essay. Organize your thoughts, logical, clarity, etc.

Some of the best developers I've worked with come from outside tech. Ballet dancer, bus driver, EE, historian.

Because I value communication, intuition, and creativity, I get a little worried when a team only has CS nerds and script kiddies.

Re: Can English Majors Be Good Developers?

#38

Post by thirdtruck »

Theatre and Film Studies major here, albeit one who went into 3D animation as a transfer out of art school.

Looking back, though, that choice of major reflected confusion on my part more than any connection between liberal studies and software development. You would have caught me writing custom model-dialing scripts on OpenBSD back in junior high.

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