Ask HN: Why do many CS graduates lack foundational knowledge?

Re:Ask HN: Why do many CS graduates lack foundational knowle... by LegoZombieKing on Monday March 20, 2023 @10:21AM (#35231875)

As a 21 yr old, 3 years into my computer science degree, I (for the most part) agree.

If I were just following the course material I wouldn’t expect too much from what you can learn from course work.

I have even become slightly addicted to learning everything I can about building software. From reading (3 of Robert C. Martins books, and a few other popular ones from hacker news’ top 100 reads) and taking Udemy courses[0] in my free time.

I also have been working at a small teacher resource website for the past few years, to get some on the job knowledge.

Even then I still don’t feel like I’ve got the best understanding of SQL, networking or concurrency. I spent most of my time learning specific languages and practices and principles like Agile and spec docs. I’m working on building my own web app and have been creating a dev log for it[1], as well as building an arguably crappy personal website[2].

[0] https://www.udemy.com/user/legozombieking/ [1] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeFBzv7SGgs903uH6Mfm34J94... [2] https://www.cadleta.dev/

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Re:Ask HN: Why do many CS graduates lack foundational knowle... by oska on Monday March 20, 2023 @05:16PM (#35238887)

I don't mean to be rude here but hopefully as some useful feedback this whole comment reads like a 'humble brag'

(But after saying that, congrats on the learning you've been doing)

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Re:Ask HN: Why do many CS graduates lack foundational knowle... by LegoZombieKing on Monday March 20, 2023 @06:49PM (#35239964)

Thanks, I mostly wanted to illustrate that there are some who fall into the age and education range mentioned that also spend time to teach themselves outside of class. My main point being that its difficult to attribute knowledge directly to an age and time spent in a degree path. However, I also fall in the subset that just seem to enjoy this type of learning, with probably too much time on their hands.

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Re:Ask HN: Why do many CS graduates lack foundational knowle... by urthor on Monday March 20, 2023 @11:03PM (#35242068)

The value of book learning/straight ordinary education is underrated in software.

Software engineers consistently overvalue the benefits of "I need to be a crazy outlier," and consistently undervalue getting to bed on time, using a visual debugger, and "normal work habits."

Still, gotta actually do the thing.

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