Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#1

Post by eugeneross » Thu, May 28, 2015, 12:49 PM UTC

Tell me HN, what are your thoughts on this? Do you believe it's absolutely necessary to be a CS major to be competitive in the technology world?

Can the same result happen for someone who isn't a CS major but goes through all the hoops to teach themselves?

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#2

Post by monroepe » Thu, May 28, 2015, 12:52 PM UTC

Honestly it comes down to motivation. Whether or not you get a cs degree you have to super motivated and hard working to achieve greatness.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#3

Post by LukeFitzpatrick » Thu, May 28, 2015, 12:55 PM UTC

It helps, but not necessary. Most of the awesome coders I know, didn't study CS - they learnt by themselves.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#4

Post by LukeFitzpatrick » Thu, May 28, 2015, 12:56 PM UTC

It helps, but not necessary. Most of the awesome coders I know, didn't study CS - they learnt by themselves.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#5

Post by kasey_junk » Thu, May 28, 2015, 1:04 PM UTC

I personally have and greatly appreciate my CS degree. I don't know if anyone else on my team has a CS degree and I largely don't care. It is not a requirement to do the job of software developer and lots of great software developers do not have CS degrees.

That said, most of the really good software developers I know who do not have a CS degree, at some point in there career wished they did. Whether those wishes are worth the investment is hard to say.

My biggest question is why not get a CS degree? If it is a question of resource allocation, then I completely understand. If it is a question of lack of interest, that would be a red flag to me, either of the institution you are studying at or of your own motivations. But that could just be my bias because I found CS fascinating.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#6

Post by byoung2 » Thu, May 28, 2015, 1:04 PM UTC

I am a self taught programmer, and I am now director of engineering at a tech startup. I think CS has its place, but just like music, some of the best musicians and producers have not studied music theory formally. There is not a day that goes by that I am not learning something new about programming or technology (which should also be true of CS majors), so keep that in mind, learning doesn't end at graduation.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#7

Post by monroepe » Thu, May 28, 2015, 1:06 PM UTC

kasey_junk wrote: post #5

I personally have and greatly appreciate my CS degree. I don't know if anyone else on my team has a CS degree and I largely don't care. It is not a requirement to do the job of software developer and lots of great software developers do not have CS degrees. That said, most of the really good software developers I know who do not have a CS degree, at some point in there career wished they did. Whether those wishes are…

I agree with your "Why not?" point. If you are already in college and plan to do 4 years, you might as well get a cs degree. For me it was too late to switch majors when I found out how much I loved programming. And it really wasn't worth it to do a 5th year. But I did take as many courses as I could before I graduated.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#8

Post by czbond » Thu, May 28, 2015, 1:18 PM UTC

I self taught myself before college and then used a CS degree to force me to study things I never would have. It tended to round me out better in areas where a self taught might avoid. For example, optimization, refactoring, underlying OS implementation, architectures, etc. No way on earth would I have diligently taught myself those for months on end.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#9

Post by brudgers » Thu, May 28, 2015, 1:49 PM UTC

I am not saying that a CS degree is necessary or necessarily better, but I believe it is a categorical mistake to treat the experience gained obtaining a formal CS education with the experience gained teaching oneself...if only for no other reason than that a student, by definition is less able to distinguish among the hoops and accurately separate them into useless, useful, important and critical.

The features of a formal education include guaranteed access to experts [for some definition of 'expert'] and a proven set of priorities [for some definition of 'proven']. The downside is less potential breadth since standardized systems are standardized.

The real question is what does 'make it' mean? For some people the piece of paper matters. It's a goal with social and personal significance and there is nothing wrong with that. If 'make it' is tied to wealth...well it's easier if you were smart enough to pick rich parents.

In the end it depends on what you want. And in any event, while a CS degree won't necessarily make anyone good [for some definition of 'good'] it may open opportunities and if they are good a CS degree will probably make them better, and almost certainly not make them worse.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: Is it necessary to be a CS major be successful in the tech sector?

#10

Post by mlitchard » Thu, May 28, 2015, 2:01 PM UTC

Eugene, I'm going to pass along advice that was given to me years ago. Do the hard thing.