comment by mk

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comment by mk

mk · 4758 days ago · link · · parent · post: Questioning University

If my kid wanted to get a CS degree, I'd suggest that they get a degree in math or physics instead, and just teach themselves to program. IMHO, the concepts and theory of CS are near enough to anything you might get out of a math or physics degree, that you can catch up to anything you didn't learn in a few weeks. Most of that you would need to pick up is practical knowledge of time-dependent technologies, or terms of art. On the otherhand, the tools that you would get in Math or Physics that you can bring to programming are those that require nothing but time-consuming exercise. There are a lot of blocks in the foundation of mathematics. A CS major could pick them up as well, but it would likely be a much greater effort.

Most of my classmates in physics could program, and many could probably do so as well as most CS majors. In my physics undergrad, we were simply instructed to write programs to solve problems. No one told us how. It was expected that we'd figure it out. I took one C+ class at my university and it was almost useless. I learned more about programming in a week of undergrad research than I did in that class.

I'm not saying a CS degree isn't useful. I just think there is an even more valuable way to spend 4 years and the tuition.

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rk · 4757 days ago · link ·

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm currently earning my masters degree in geomatics engineering. I wanted a CS degree after but after reading your post, I think I'd get a math degree instead :)

+discuss+discuss

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mk · 4757 days ago · link ·

Ha, np. Like I said, I don't think a CS degree isn't worthwhile, but considering that the time and money spent is the same, I think you can get more bang for your buck. One problem I find with CS programs, is that people come into them with such a wide range of skill, and I think that is pretty disruptive. When you enter a math or physics program, they test you from the outset and make you take prerequisites without credit if you are not up to par.

My university's CS department didn't have any programming skill prerequisite as far as I know. It would be a different thing entirely if it were expected that every student should be intermediate programmer before taking classes for credit.