[ale] CS Degree necessary?

[kschmidt at mindspring.com]

Interesting view point. The comment about people working on motherboards, CPUs, etc., is true. That's because the knowledge needed to do that sort of thing is VERY specialized. These people have degrees in EE, CE, and, to a lesser degree, CS. The nice thing about computer science, and more specifically software engineering, programming, etc., is that you can be a college drop out and do amazing stuff.

Aside from theory of computation and analysis of algorithms, there isn't much else that a non-CS major can't learn over a CS major. And, to be honest, I have never, ever known anyone who used the stuff you learn in AofA in their daily jobs. This includes guys with CS degrees.

And, like I said before, I'm working on a CS degree. Not because I think it will be good for me, help me get a job, or help me get chicks, but because I love the subject matter. I think the REAL concensus on this list is that you should do whatever makes you happy.

-Kevin

Vernard Martin <vernard at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
> On Thu, 2002-01-17 at 03:33, Matt Shade wrote:
I have tried to keep my mouth shut on this particular topic but I guess
my better judgement has finally lost the battle.

There seems to be a general consensuse that computer science degrees are
mostly useless in the technical field. While it may be true that many
folks without computer science degrees are great programmers, blah blah
blah, do not fool yourself into thinking that folks without CS degrees
know the same things as folks with CS degrees.

I'm speaking from the stance of someone that has a couple of degrees in
computer science and trying desparately to finish off a third. Simply
put, a CS degree means is that you have supposedly been exposed to the
various theory and rationals behind much of what physical computers are
based on. And you ahve supposedly been given time to properly learn
these theories and think about them and ponder them in an environment
that isn't as harsh as the real world. While it is often true that the
academic environment is the least useful place to learn these skills, it
is sometimes the ONLY place some of these skills will be learned.

I'm willing to bet that most of the folks doing the really innovative
design work on motherboards, cpus, video cards and operating systems are
not the folks that dropped out of engineering school or just learned it
all in the basement. Don't fool yourself just because some folks can do
without a formal education does not mean that is useless.

V

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