Re:Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
by treeman79 on Monday June 29, 2020 @01:56PM
(#23680209)
It was a very common opinion amongst the startup crowd at that time.
Now I would hear stories about MIT, and be impressed, but many schools had very out dated programs.
Breadboards were cool, but I wanted to learn software.
Assembly was neat, made me a better programmer. I’ve Never once used it.
Whole series of interesting but not practical skills. I ended up running school newspaper. That was super useful for getting career launched.
Re:Why do so few people major in computer science? (2017)
by honkycat on Monday June 29, 2020 @03:31PM
(#23681534)
That's a good perspective actually. I myself have been critical of University computer science programs for not teaching practical skills.
I always forget because I went to DePaul University which focus is on practical software development as opposed to making me take organic chem for no apparent reason.
Gate's parents had friends in high places, went to high quality schools, and he was a trust fund kid. He was in no danger of failing and didn't need to worry about money. He could always just go back.
Zuckerberg had a private tutor. They had basically already had a college education by the time they graduated high school.
Jobs was a smart, hard working dude who was in the right place at the right time. America in the 70s is a VERY different place than America now. The ladder has been pulled up.
Trying to emulate that is foolish.
Also, since we are throwing around anecdotes like "I find my untrained co-workers to be better than my trained co-workers": I have never worked with someone who does not have a college degree that I was happy with. It does not have to be in CS. I am well aware there are counter examples, but that has been my observation.