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I wonder how much of the "CS degrees are BS" argument dominating my TL right now can be motivated by the US' complete inability to do higher education.
The argument goes: "Anything in a CS curriculum you can learn more efficiently and effectively by just being a full-time programmer for a couple of months".
Now, I have a math degree. Absolutely no job I'll ever have will require me to know about topological spaces or… (1/12)
Now, I have a math degree. Absolutely no job I'll ever have will require me to know about topological spaces or… (1/12)
…the residue theorem. Thus, by that logic, getting my degree was a waste of time. Yet, without getting it, I almost certainly wouldn't work in tech today.
Studying math introduced me to @zekjur, @9b17fe and so many others that ultimately motivated me to learn about tech.
Studying math introduced me to @zekjur, @9b17fe and so many others that ultimately motivated me to learn about tech.
It gave me an abundance of time to develop programming as a hobby.
It gave me the freedom to sit in a dark room until 6am with three other nerds, high as a kite and hacking on the wildest ideas. Teaching me more about computers than any curriculum or any job could ever do.
It gave me the freedom to sit in a dark room until 6am with three other nerds, high as a kite and hacking on the wildest ideas. Teaching me more about computers than any curriculum or any job could ever do.
It politicized me, by placing me at the right parties where I talked to the right people about the right ideas, making me a devoted leftist and feminist.
It encouraged learning in a way that I never experienced before or after - and actually managed to motivate me.
It encouraged learning in a way that I never experienced before or after - and actually managed to motivate me.
And to be clear: Even though nothing I learned is useful in my career *directly*, I also do benefit from my field of study itself. Being able to recognize and formulate a proof is immensely useful for technical writing. And nothing teaches good abstractions as well as 7y of math.
But ultimately, almost none of the value I took from my degree had anything to do with what's in the curriculum.
"You need a CS degree to be a good programmer" is elitist, sure (though so is "look at all those PhD types, they can't even code properly", just to be clear).
"You need a CS degree to be a good programmer" is elitist, sure (though so is "look at all those PhD types, they can't even code properly", just to be clear).
But "you can just learn what a degree teaches you on your own" is reductionist. And deeply misunderstands the value of higher education.
A CS degree *absolutely* teaches you things that are *very* hard to learn on your own. So does a liberal arts degree, in much the same way.
A CS degree *absolutely* teaches you things that are *very* hard to learn on your own. So does a liberal arts degree, in much the same way.
Somehow, it is widely agreeable that working in the service industry for a couple of years teaches you skills that are useful in almost any job, even if it's not about brewing a latte or whatever. But somehow, the value of a degree is reduced to "what does the textbook say?".
Now, of course, nothing in this says anything about the value of bootcamps and the like. They, too, teach you skills that are very hard to learn on your own (for example, I find it impossible to learn anything about frontend development on my own).
But no, I don't think they provide equivalent value to a degree (CS or otherwise). They don't teach you all the skills a degree would. And, yes, they teach you some skills that a degree won't.
*If you have the choice* I'd personally recommend a degree. I just feel that more of the value it provides is long-term. But of course, very few people do and if you try to break in from another field, you're *very* unlikely to. So go for the bootcamp, by all means.
(And FTR: I'm very suspect of people who say "I got a degree and it was a waste of time". I find it impossible to even imagine who I would be without the 7y I spend in university. I don't understand how you think you can separate yourself from your experiences that way) (fin)
(PS: So, what does that all have to do with the US? Maybe nothing. I was "wondering", after all. But maybe, spending tens of thousands of $ on something shapes your understanding of what that something is or is not supposed to be)
