[aclug-L] Re: CS Degrees (Was: Re: Cool new fan site....hehe)

[Carl D Cravens <raven@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 14 Apr 2000, John Goerzen wrote:

> There are things that are taught at school that you do not necessarily
> pick up at a job.  Where was the last job that gave you on-the-job
> training of how to construct a linked list, a hash table, or a LZW
> compression algorithm?  Or told you why you might use shutdown()
> instead of close()?  Few do.  These are also non-obvious things that
> will not immediately reveal themselves to someone.

Of course, there are lots of things they teach you at school that you
won't necessarily ever use on the job.  And I learned linked lists and
hash tables from books... *I* taught my *instructor* tricks with linked
lists that he'd never considered.  The LZW compression algorithm can be
picked up out of a book.  Anything they teach at school you can learn for
yourself.  But there's a lot you learn on the job that never comes up at
school.  Especially at a school where instructors tell you things like,
"tape is rarely used any more," "I got a D in this class the first time I
took it," and, "I don't know what you're going to use calculus for in the
computer field, but it's a degree requirement and that's why you're here."
 
> What else do you learn that is of value?  I really enjoyed my
> philosophy classes, especially the one on Ethics and Computers.  And
> if you are planning on learning THAT on the job, you are sorely
> mistaken.  It gives you a broadening of horizons that you will not get
> on the job.

This is true.  But I could have taken the "broadening" courses piecemeal
and skipped all the BS (and that ain't Bachelor of Science) classes like
Calculus.  (Calculus... the stumbling block of my college career.  If I
find myself in a job that requires calculus, I'm in the wrong job.  I
don't ever plan on using it, yet I was required to take ten hours of
it.  I can do math, but I could never make myself get serious about calc
because I knew it was entirely pointless.) 
 
> Does this class help people?  Without question.  The lively
> discussions we had in that class were really useful.

Yeah... it was useful in pointing out to me how many of the upcoming
generation think that situational ethics is the norm and that there are no
absolute truths.  And it brings up lots of ethical questions that have no
clear answers.  I don't know if it was really useful to me or not.  But
that might have been because I took it at 28 instead of 18. 
 
> > In some areas, a degree is needed... I want my doctor or dentist to have a
> > degree!
> 
> What is unique about certain areas?  Note that computer programmers
> sometimes write programs that people's lives depend on.  Or more
> frequently, millions or even billions of dollars ride on.

Doctors can't read a book and experiment in their field at home without
risk.  There's no room to practice without knowing what you're doing.  A
doctorate in the medical field is a sort of guarantee that the doctor has
received a certain amount of training and experience... becoming a medical
doctor requires hours and hours of on-the-job, real-life experience before
the degree is granted.  I know CS students who managed to get out of
college without being able to write a program more complex than Hello
World.  A CS degree is no guarantee of competency.  
 
> CS programs, at least, encourage creataive and unique solutions to
> problems.

I never saw this at WSU.  (Unless you count the "unique solution" being
the realization that the TA was grading programs with a script and you
could hard-code the expected results into a simple program and get an A on
the assignment without even understanding the problem. :)
 
I got my CS degree for one thing... to get me in the door and to be a
deciding factor in promotions.  It's a simple fact that a degree makes a
difference. 

A degree is important out in the world... it opens doors.  And once you
get in that door, you have to be able to pull your own weight.  I don't
think the degree alone prepares you for that.  Especially in the systems
administration world, which isn't taught at all at WSU. 

--
Carl D Cravens (raven@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Hey! We're out of wine, women, and song! !@#$*!?% NO MERRIER


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