Computer Science is a very interesting degree. Having done the program myself, you learn math you will never use* and ton of other things that can be counted as useless, however I am better for it. Calculus taught me less about how to do Calculus (I don't remember how to do an integral, but I don't get paid to do that), but it did teach me how to study properly and that grinding (hard work) really can solve some issues you have. Discrete Mathematics taught me to look deeper into things, and not just observe the first thing you see as the conclusion. Overall, I went into Computer Science wanting to learn how to program and left not learning how to code from the program (I worked full time as a software engineer through school) but I learned valuable skills that have helped me get where I am today. If you are thinking about not going to college (college is not for everyone*), I suggest you do. College isnt about what books can teach you (you can read those), its about the experiences that you gain (like my stories above), the people you meet and the bonds that you make. That is what makes it all worth it!
Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
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Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#12I wonder what the attrition rate would be.
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#13Computer Science is a very interesting degree. Having done the program myself, you learn math you will never use* and ton of other things that can be counted as useless, however I am better for it. Calculus taught me less about how to do Calculus (I don't remember how to do an integral, but I don't get paid to do that), but it did teach me how to study properly and that grinding (hard work) really can solve some issu…
In my experience, Comp Sci grads are among the best prepared employees that we hire for programming careers. It's a great general-purpose education for the kind of work we do, although it's no substitute for hard-gained experience.
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#14Computer Science is a very interesting degree. Having done the program myself, you learn math you will never use* and ton of other things that can be counted as useless, however I am better for it. Calculus taught me less about how to do Calculus (I don't remember how to do an integral, but I don't get paid to do that), but it did teach me how to study properly and that grinding (hard work) really can solve some issu…
I'm going back to for a CS degree after a 6 year hiatus. I completed about 90 hours of a history degree before I dropped out to start programming.
Going back has made me rethink almost every negative thing I've ever said about college (at least with respect to STEM programs).
The contrast in what I'm doing now and the history degree I was going for before is completely night and day. The difference in rigor between the departments (same school for both) is shocking.
The biggest specific difference is that Computer Science feels like a coherent program, where each class builds on the previous ones, whereas history felt like I was just taking a bunch of loosely associated classes with no overall goal.
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#15I honestly wonder how many were influenced by movie The Social Network.
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just the TA for a CS class. I don't know any students, even the ones who struggle the most in the Introductory CS sequence, who can't do that. I'd say even those that failed the course can probably do that...
But what level institution are you at? I can easily imagine weak second and third tier CS students who can't code their way out of a paper bag. It looks like Reddit's r/cscareerquestions/ gets questions from a lot of these type of people.
I'm at a run of the mill state school (Georgia State--returning after a 6 year hiatus), and I can't imagine how someone who couldn't write that for loop could graduate.
You could maybe pass the intro to CS class (mostly theory, not much programming), but unless you were willing to pay someone else to take tests for you there is absolutely no way you'd make it through data structures, or algorithms.
Even in an intro to MATLAB class I took that was designed primarily for non CS majors (mostly physics and biology majors) that substandard level of programming would have resulted in an F.
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#17This reminds me of a story that I heard last summer, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4603414 later confirmed here on HN by the hiring supervisor who observed the problem, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4919749 that many CS grads, even CS grads with master's degrees, can't get through a hiring screen that includes the question, "Write a loop that displays the numbers 1 to 100." Yes, something that simple is s…
There is a huge anti-CS degree movement, specially (and not suprisingly) among people without CS degrees.
The affirmation that almost 100% of grads can't write a trivial program would mean that somehow CS grads are worst at programming than a sample of random people.
Which language paradigm the question required? functional? logical? imperative? according the comment, they were phone interviews, meaning you had to dictate the program statements by phone, that's insane. It's impossible to take seriously those numbers.
Disclaimer: I have a CS degree, so my opinions are obviously biased :)
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#18I honestly wonder how many were influenced by movie The Social Network.
Or the billion dollar purchase of instagram.
People hear "A billion dollars" and immediately want in to whatever got someone that much money.
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#19I'm really starting to wonder if we're in a "developer bubble."
Everyone wants to learn to code. Every other week there's a blog post on "why everyone should learn to code." Last year, NYC Mayor Bloomberg posted his new years resolution was to learn to code[0]. Soaring enrollments is just another sign.
[0] https://twitter.com/Codecademy/status/155038379216609280
Re: Computer science enrollments soared 30% last year
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just the TA for a CS class. I don't know any students, even the ones who struggle the most in the Introductory CS sequence, who can't do that. I'd say even those that failed the course can probably do that...
But what level institution are you at? I can easily imagine weak second and third tier CS students who can't code their way out of a paper bag. It looks like Reddit's r/cscareerquestions/ gets questions from a lot of these type of people.
I have a hard time believing the claim. I've certainly seen a fair share of new graduates disappointingly lacking in certain areas (for some reason, this seems to be especially true of those who hold a Masters degree but have no work experience), but managing to graduate without knowing how to do a simple for loop is really, really hard to believe.
The only way I think that would happen would be if they were fairly weak to begin with and had a ton of performance anxiety, but I'd expect that to be exceptionally rare.