I see two sides of this. My degree is in applied math - the only comp sci I ever took was 101 - 102, plus one data structures course. I could do basic dev ops or web dev from now until the cows come home with 2 years in the industry. Computer Science was not a requirement at all.

On the flip side, I get frustrated by my lack of theoretical knowledge on things I deeply wish I knew. I've never taken an OS course, or a databases course. I don't feel like I know Big O as well as I should. I don't know ANYTHING about graphics. I don't know ANYTHING about AI work, or compilers, or anything beyond basic *nix sockets.

Right now I spend my days trying to do linear algebra in the cloud on demand. And I would be willing to bet a years worth of my paycheck that if I had doubled up in computer science I would be better at my job than I am right now.

While I don't disagree with you that there is an opportunity cost of education, it is nearly always better to invest in yourself at an early age[1]. Also, I'm coming from a U.S. point of view, might be different in other countries.

Also, after my time at university I noticed that I didn't need to be a .NET or PHP developer. I was a well rounded computer scientist with the capacity to learn anything I set out to, which is the point of degree. I learned what I wanted in my free time, the technologies you use shouldn't define you.

[1] http://crossbridge1.blogspot.com/2011/09/does-education-pay-...

The language you learn in college isn't important, it's the logic behind it.

Whats wrong with Java? I am focusing most of my time on it. Bad decision?

Not really. It's actually kind of funny that a .NET programmer said that because Java and C# occupy many of the same niches, which is to say, heavy enterprise-y apps. But then that may be his point, that it would be redundant for him to learn a language so similar.

Java isn't a bad decision but I 100% believe you should try as many languages as possible, especially from different paradigms. Every language has something to like and most have something you can bring back to your primary language to be more productive.

Happy trails!

Java is currently unfashionable, and is popularly associated with enterprise architecture astronauts who add too many layers of abstraction to everything.

It's about as good as any other language, and has more libraries than most. It's also mildly annoying to work with, but so is any language when used as more than a toy.

You can do the same kind of project and get the same kind of job with .Net or Java. It really doesn't add much to your toolbox, although picking up one after you know the other doesn't take much time.

It's not necessarily a bad decision. Many people would say it's a practical one. However, it limits your thoughts about programming to one very narrow style, and not a particularly good one. There are many other styles of programming that are worth learning (functional being likely the most notable of them), and that will make you a better programmer regardless of what language you end up writing in day-to-day.

It's not a "bad" decision if you focus on Android development or you are working for a big company with Java infrastructure (that pay's my bills :). How ever, as they say: "don't keep all your eggs in just one basket". Learn other languages and frameworks like PHP/Yii, Python/Django or Ruby/Ruby On Rails. And code for different platforms (iOS, Windows Phone) if you have the time ;)

there is absolutely nothing wrong with java. I just rather spend my time focusing on the technology I like more and I want to work with.

You might be surprised how little time you'd spend studying Java. I compared the curriculum at the little private college I graduated from almost a decade ago to the current curriculum of the local state-U today and you can escape typically with about 3 classes of pure software coding, the rest of the degree is "other computer stuff" aside from the liberal arts. For me it was two semesters of C++ and believe it or not, COBOL. I already had a job in the field and wanted to expand my horizons, so "learning" what I already do at work would have completely missed the point. COBOL was in fact a total trip and pretty wild experience, although I'm glad I don't have to earn a living coding it.

Over the last decade not much has changed. You'll have a data structures type class although most grads seem to completely forget everything taught. Typically some kind of theory of languages/theory of computing/computability/scaling. Everyone still suffers thru intro to databases complete with explanations of codd-normal forms and drawing E-R diagrams and such. Everyone suffers thru an intro to operating systems class. Everyone has some sort of intro to algorithms, aka welcome to Knuth, class.

"learn to code java" is probably less than 10% of the total class time. All the upper level classes I took demanded some form of working code but they didn't care what language. Remember its education not job training. They thought psuedocode was fine on tests.

Three notable changes: 1) No more discrete math. Huh? Even with discrete math most grads seem mystified by multiple simple conditionals. Maybe its rolled into the first lectures of theory of computing or whatever. 2) No more required systems analysis. Maybe its kinda rolled into "software engineering" ...perhaps. 3) Capstone project senior year type things seem very popular now a days. I donno if that's in addition to, or in replacement of, the liberal arts survey class I had to take in my last semester.