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Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

lazowska.cs.washington.edu

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Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#11

Post by hkmurakami »

kremlin wrote: post #7

I didn't understand this: "10% of Princeton’s students are computer science majors Far more at MIT 10% of Princeton’s faculty are unlikely to ever be in computer science! Ditto" It's the last two lines I don't understand. 10% of currently existing faculty are not likely to work in the CS department? Or it's unlikely that in the future 10% of Princeton faculty will work in the CS department? And the 'ditto'? Far more…

Hard to parse this even as an alum. Maybe that faculty position numbers are a very political thing that doesn't increase or decrease too rapidly, whereas student number can fluctuate much quicker?

BTW there is this student/alumni/faculty questionnaire floating around to "think about and foster the role of entrepreneurship at the university", and it seems like the administration is utterly clueless about how to approach things or what they even want to do: http://www.princeton.edu/entrepreneurship/

It reeks of "me too"-ism but I guess it might be better than doing nothing and sending the same old huge swath of kids into finance and consulting who aren't gungho about those fields in the first place.

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#12

Post by hkmurakami »

malloreon wrote: post #5

How about "Possibly, they see people making ridiculous amounts of money in tech and want a piece of it?"

See business school graduate placement numbers too. Declines in finance and huge upswing in tech (particularly the huge web software companies)

Follow the money!

(I think it's wise for students to be doing this.)

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#13

Post by lukasm »

malloreon wrote: post #5

How about "Possibly, they see people making ridiculous amounts of money in tech and want a piece of it?"

I've seen a few surveys claiming that money is 1st motivator.

People are attracted to high paying jobs not only for a financial gain. It's a signal that employer cares and other good people will be there.

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#15

Post by chmod775 »

_yosefk wrote: post #4
justinem wrote: post #2

Professionals who talk about this stuff never mention that learning computer science is a lot like learning a foreign language. The people who learn something in their early years tend to have an easier time learning new computer skills as they age. I wish more parents knew this.

I learned programming & CS at age 18 and I'm on par with people I met who learned it at say 11. I learned English starting at age 5 (I read as almost fluently in English as in my mother tongue, Russian); I learned Hebrew starting at age 10 (I have a hideous accent and prefer to read in other languages); and I tried French in university at age 20 (it was the only time I had to take private lessons to pass the exam). I…

> I learned programming & CS at age 18 and I'm on par with people I met who learned it at say 11.

These people have 7 whole years of experience more than you have and the advantage to have gained most of it during a time where their brains have been most able to learn and embrace new ways of thinking.

Even though you are making an unlikely statement, it might be true in your case. But I'd bet a litecoin it doesn't hold true if you average it out over a bigger sample set.

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#16

Post by thrush »

lispylol wrote: post #9

What is the biggest reason for this growth?

A lot of commenters referred to money being the biggest driver but I think that's only a half truth. Rather, job security seems to be the most logical reason to study computer science. No matter who you talk to, in any field, there's a huge consensus that having knowledge and experience with computers increase your employment prospects (I'm sure this could be proved by scanning job boards). Combined with the current job market and popular opinion that college may not be worth it (especially for non-STEM majors), I'm not the least bit surprised that CS has gained such an enrollment.

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#17

Post by [deleted] »

justinem wrote: post #2

Professionals who talk about this stuff never mention that learning computer science is a lot like learning a foreign language. The people who learn something in their early years tend to have an easier time learning new computer skills as they age. I wish more parents knew this.

[deleted]

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#18

Post by jacquesm »

jgg wrote: post #6
justinem wrote: post #2

Professionals who talk about this stuff never mention that learning computer science is a lot like learning a foreign language. The people who learn something in their early years tend to have an easier time learning new computer skills as they age. I wish more parents knew this.

Programming and graphic design perhaps (personally, I've yet to meet someone who programmed as a child who was better than a good programmer who learned later), but I really doubt there is much of an advantage to teaching your child Depth-First Search. I don't really think CS is like learning a foreign language at all. The advantage for languages supposedly comes from the fact that we are hard-wired to acquire langua…

> personally, I've yet to meet someone who programmed as a child who was better than a good programmer who learned later

True, but then you're already filtering out all the ones that are worse because you preselect for 'good programmers who learned later'. You should compare those who programmed as a child as one group versus those that learned how to program later.

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#19

Post by leot »

This is evidence that programming has become a skill akin to literacy. The migration seems similar to the hypothetical situation in which universities and society had primarily been based on an oral tradition of communication, and then this fancy new technology called "writing" appeared (at first only in "Departments of orthography science"). Some of those who majored in "orthography science" would go on to study it, comparing and contrasting the features of phonetic of symbolic writing methods. Many others would learn orthography science because it enabled them to learn and communicate much more efficiently in general.

Who wants to place bets on when country development metrics include "population % who know how to code" ... ? I'll wager no later than 2030 :)

Re: Responding to the Explosion of Student Interest in Computer Science [pdf]

#20

Post by lispylol »

thrush wrote: post #16
lispylol wrote: post #9

What is the biggest reason for this growth?

A lot of commenters referred to money being the biggest driver but I think that's only a half truth. Rather, job security seems to be the most logical reason to study computer science. No matter who you talk to, in any field, there's a huge consensus that having knowledge and experience with computers increase your employment prospects (I'm sure this could be proved by scanning job boards). Combined with the current…

Yeah I think that's an important distinction. A lot of kids are picking up CS as a second major or as a minor because it's believed to make you more marketable for a non-tech field.
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