[ale] CS Degree necessary?

[Geoffrey]

You are correct it's been discussed extensively.  I'll tell you how it 
is from my perspective.  Background, BS in CS.  25 years at AT&T.  I 
spent about 5 years on a technical review board for promotions.  At 
AT&T, promotions are based on your rating, education and job 
history/experience.  There is very specific educational requirements 
and/or job experience for the technical salary plan.  The bottom line 
is, job experience can be substituted for education, but it's not a one 
for one translation. (1year of work != 1 year of ed.)  The way it reads 
is "Candidate must have a Masters degree in a relevant technical field 
or comparable job experience."  Relevant technical field is very defined 
  as well.  So, having the educational credentials is pretty straight 
forward, either you do or you don't.  It get's real gray when trying to 
determine a comparable job experience.

I'd say if you're doing the 4 year thing, go for the CS unless you don't 
have the Math aptitude.  It seems that it was always the Math the had 
people dropping from Comp. Sci. to Info. Sys.

Also, a while back, when I was doing technical hiring interviews.  The 
Comp. Sci. parchment always carried more weight than the Info Sys. or 
Comp. Info Sys. degrees.




Michael Golden wrote:

> Hi,
> 	I know a similar thread has gone on in this list a while back but for
> one I'm too lazy right now to go back and try to find it and two I don't
> recall well enough if it addressed this exact topic.
> 	Right now I am set up to major in Computer Science but I've only been
> taking general education core classes so far. I was talking to people
> about some of the classes for the major and I took a look through them
> myself and I'm not sure how interested I am in taking half of them. I'd
> like to have a career in computers but I don't know how much I'll enjoy
> this major.
> 	Is a CS degree really necessary in the real world for computer jobs?
> What are the advantages/disadvantages to having it? Anything else to
> add?
> 
> Michael
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net

"...the system (Microsoft passport) carries significant risks to users that
are not made adequately clear in the technical documentation available."
- David P. Kormann and Aviel D. Rubin, AT&T Labs - Research
- http://www.avirubin.com/passport.html


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