[ale] CS Degree necessary?

[Chris Ricker]

On 16 Jan 2002, 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?

Just my perspective...

I'd say it's important to get the degree.  There are a lot of non-degree'ed 
people currently in the industry, but they're not generally new hires, and 
that's a trend that's only going to increase.

Beyond that, in my experience it's more important that the degree be in
something that interests you than that it be in CS.  My undergrad's
molecular biology / philosophy, and my grad's human evolution, and no one's
ever acted like my being non-CS was anything but an asset....  Of course,
both programs were highly technical, very computer-intensive and
math-intensive, etc.

If you do go non-CS, I'd recommend taking enough CS classes to get a
foundation anyway, though.  There's a lot of jargon -- concepts like
o-notation, for example -- that you'll have to pick up one way or another,
and it might as well be getting you credits while you do it ;-).  If you're 
planning on programming, make sure you do a fair amount of math too.

later,
chris


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