Irrational Exuberance

You are writing a comment about A Comp. Sci Degree is What You Make Of It (repost), here is a quick summary:

This is the new home of an old entry from the now defunct original incarnation of *Irrational Exuberance*. These entries are almost two years old, and haven't necessarily aged well, but maybe that's a good thing. This article was written in response to a topical outcry on the value of computer science. What can I say, I was young back then.

You are responding to this comment written by xanx on July 31st 2009, 23:24.

I've read this blog, plus the original one ("doesn't hurt") and a counter-argument--"Computer science degree does hurt (much)" blog.

Well, honestly, I couldn't understand what that argument was about.. I believe CS that degree is a must, and in the future we'll see almost all employers demanding it. In one of the blogs, the poster was calling BS CS "useless"... how is it useless? There were some useless classes for sure, such as Physics, but all computer science major classes were extremely exciting and, I believe, important for me. People were complaining about Op. Systems as "useless" and boring... Damn, it was one the most exciting class I had! Certainly useful. Righ tnow, I'm 1 class short of graduating with bachelor's and plan to start my Masters in CS immediately after! :) I know I won't be sorry.

CS university degree gives: 1) damn strong analytical skills 2) abstract thinking (with all the math) --very helpful in all kinds of problem-solving and high-level design. I believe that nothing like the "math machine" in your brain can be as helpful for programming. For example, when I, ex-mathematics major, entered CS field--programming was an easy piece of cake from day 1, and I was mostly the best in my programming classes. 3) practical programing skills (especially if you pick the right classes/electives). The school I went to, University of Virginia--it was hard to stay afloat in programming classes for anyone, trust me you needed some real talent there, all-nighters were a routine. 4) breadth/exposure to a wide variety of CS topics 5) research skills 6) develops persistence 7) bachelor's teaches you good writing skills--yep, it's important to be able to write (especially if English is a 2nd language like in my case) 8) gives broad exposure to a variety of topics outside CS: art history, political science, social sciences/humanities, foreign language, etc. All of this is important. It makes you much more refined and interesting individual, and it pays off, only in indirect ways.

I might be somewhat biased because 2 generations before me in my family had Ph.Ds and my parents, in fact, were university professors in one of the top schools in the world (yep, one of them was a CS professor) but I firmly believe that the degree is important and I'm glad that I chose to go and get it. People say the same things about Masters... that it's kind of useless-- but again, I believe it takes one on a much higher level. Who knows, Ph.d wouldn't hurt either (much)...

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