Poll: Do you have a CS degree? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: Do you have a CS degree?

#171

Post by waterlesscloud » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 10:25 PM UTC

alecco wrote: post #33

Dropped out out of frustration with ridiculous emphasis on calculus and extremely poor algorithms teachers. I don't regret dropping out, I regret wasting a couple of years fighting that. But almost 15 years later I now find algorithms teaching in top universities completely out of touch with reality. Hardware changed drastically in the last decade and it seems they just gave up. It's turning into a cult of big-O theo…

Rather than reflexively attacking your viewpoint, I'm instead curious to see if I can understand it.

I'm most curious about what you mean when you say "real algorithm". Can you offer an example?

Re: Poll: Do you have a CS degree?

#172

Post by jstrayer » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:48 PM UTC

The only time not having a degree seems to matter is with academic institutions (and some companies founded by PhDs)

Re: Poll: Do you have a CS degree?

#173

Post by kaeluka » Thu, Apr 05, 2012, 8:22 AM UTC

joshAg wrote: post #138

kaeluka wrote: post #132

what is the US definition of "degree"? Bachelors or Master? I'm a B.Sc. in CS, Master is on the way.

a degree in the US pretty much only means a bachelors unless there's an adjective in front of it. if you mean a masters degree, then you refer to it as a masters or a master's degree or a graduate degree. if you mean a ph.d you call it a phd or a doctorate or maybe a graduate degree, if there's no need to differentiate between masters and doctorates. every now and then a degree will refer to a high school degree, but…

that clears things up; thank you for taking the time to write that up. As for the sample size: what a master's is in Europe is pretty consistent (there are some 1 year degrees, though). It takes five years at university to get one, 3 for the bachelor's, 2 for the master's

Re: Poll: Do you have a CS degree?

#174

Post by Foy » Thu, Apr 05, 2012, 9:08 PM UTC

joshAg wrote: post #140

Foy wrote: post #61

Out of high school I went to pursue a Computer Science degree because I wanted to be a programmer. First year was a lot of math, calculus and the like. First year computer science courses were kinda cool and fun, they used Scheme, a functional programming language to teach concepts. I kept telling myself though, that upper year would be more programming/cs and less math. Boy, was I wrong. Upper year "computer" scienc…

did you go to berkeley, by any chance?

The University of Waterloo in Canada. Great school if you really love math. But like I said, too many of my professors didn't make the slightest effort to relate the theoretical concepts to the real world.

Re: Poll: Do you have a CS degree?

#175

Post by joshAg » Thu, Apr 05, 2012, 9:29 PM UTC

Foy wrote: post #174

joshAg wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did you go to berkeley, by any chance?

The University of Waterloo in Canada. Great school if you really love math. But like I said, too many of my professors didn't make the slightest effort to relate the theoretical concepts to the real world.

ah. i was going to point you toward/ask about berkeley's more real-world classes since it sounded like you went to Cal.

Re: Poll: Do you have a CS degree?

#176

Post by mcherm » Sat, Apr 07, 2012, 5:09 PM UTC

AdamTReineke wrote: post #160

mcherm wrote: post #148

For what it's worth, I do a lot of hiring of programmers. A candidate's schooling MIGHT make a tiny difference in whether I notice their resume, but most anything that stands out will get you past that filter. Once you get to the interview stage, schooling makes essentially NO difference to me (although the things you LEARNED in school will make a difference).

How does your hiring process handle drop outs?

As far as I can tell, dropouts either never apply or they apply but don't list the education at all. Or more likely they apply and list it, lying and claiming to have completed the education -- I realize (although it disappoints me) that not 100% of everything put on resumes is the truth.