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Re:No CS Degree – Interviews with self-taught developers by thanatropism on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @01:39PM (#20508596)
Effectively a "hard" degree is an IQ test. General cognitive skills exist and they're especially useful in software development.

ITT people are focusing too hard on the content of a CS program and too little on the more general goals of an undergraduate degree:

- expose you to multiple fields of knowledge while focusing on a main thread

- help you develop generic thinking skills that should translate to a variety of fields of application (there are many CEOs with art history degrees)

- lead you through a first approximation of a scientific project, qualifying you for graduate-level research

- signalling to the world that you have the chops and the work ethic to go through with a major project with many frustrating stepping stone

- etc.

Re:No CS Degree – Interviews with self-taught developers by ColanR on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @02:21PM (#20508944)
> signalling to the world that you have the chops and the work ethic to go through with a major project with many frustrating stepping stone

i.e., hazing.

Re:No CS Degree – Interviews with self-taught developers by willhslade on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @09:09PM (#20511581)
Or, less dismissively, commitment.
Re:No CS Degree – Interviews with self-taught developers by ColanR on Thursday July 25, 2019 @07:40PM (#20530959)
Eh, both.

You demonstrate commitment by surviving the hazing ritual.