[ale] [OT] ?Thoughts? on "CS degree Necessary?"

[Bao C. Ha]

Just to contribute a tidbit into the discussion.

I have advanced degrees in Chemical Engineering.  I
am doing software engineering in Linux-based
distributed autonomous wireless network embedded
systems.  It ain't no IP!  Totally ad-hoc.  We are 
building our own network protocol stack.  I have 
backed off from coding and am doing the boring stuff: 
code reviews, testing/debugging, build/release, ...

You don't need a college education to be successful.  
But it does provide the extra push, the initial 
impression of credibility to get through the first 
door.  And it teaches problem solving and other 
life-long survival skills in the workplace. 

Bao

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thompson Freeman [mailto:tfreeman at intel.digichem.net]
> Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 1:25 PM
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> Subject: [ale] [OT] ?Thoughts? on "CS degree Necessary?"
> 
> 
> 
> I watch these periodic threads on academic training vs. solid 
> experience
> with admittedly jaundiced eyes: I got an advanced science 
> degree, only to
> find myself eventually needing to be a full-time mommy (the 
> pay is lousy,
> and results will not be known for twenty-thirty more years). 
> Go figure...
> 
> Because the future is unknowable from the present, no single strategy
> appears to be optimal for all individuals, or even fairly 
> small subsets of
> all people. As such, everything I hope to add to the 
> conversation must be
> glittering generalities, and recognized as from an unusual viewpoint
> also. Your milage will vary - variably.
> 
> As an example of how the future arrives in its own way, I ran 
> into one of
> my neighbors in graduate school in the laundry. She was quite 
> concerned
> and put out about the requirement (which she was starting on that
> semester) physical science, specifically chemistry. Why study 
> chemistry
> when the career goal is to be a playwrite and poet? (Really, it is a
> pretty good question). My response was, and remains, since we 
> can not know
> the future before it gets here, getting a broad background 
> gives the tools
> which _might_ be needed. No promises, and no way to guess ahead of
> time. Cut to the end of the next semester, and we met
> again in the laundry (students with children do that a lot). Her last
> project was centering on the imagery of the atom from her 
> first semester
> chemistry lecture. Did she show a profit from the experience? 
> I have no
> idea, but she was proud of the range of imagery she obtained from us
> chemists.
> 
> >From the background of how unpredictably practical things 
> can be, let us
> address the value of acedemic training in two steps:
> 
> First, and definitely in general, "Is finishing a degree program
> desireable?" On average, the answer seems to be "yes". 
> Although since the
> majority of people don't stay in their degree field, I don't
> see much value to demanding that degree and career match up. Obvious
> exceptions include Medicine and Law, but I don't think that 
> need concern
> this list.
> 
> Within the academic community, who and where you study can be 
> every bit as
> important to launching your work career as anything else. 
> This seems to be
> more important the higher the degree, but should hold true 
> through out the
> academic progression. If you are not meeting professionals in your
> interested field(s), and the influences that hired them, 
> getting started
> can be a challenging time. As such, if the school doesn't seem able to
> bring in/attract people to meet (and many/most don't do a 
> good job), it is
> in the student's interest to get out and meet these people. 
> Co-op programs
> and the like should really help. Organizations like ALE (or 
> ACS, AChE, or
> AAAS) are another way to meet the people, and learn from them.
> 
> Second, "Is completing a degree program necessary?". (Note 
> the change of
> emphasis). No. Getting started and getting the needed 
> experience may be
> more challenging, but not vastly. Getting to know good people to learn
> from and work for will be more important, but also the value of these
> people will be more obvious. The risk of pure work experience is a
> somewhat greater chance of narrow exposure to the field, but 
> again, the
> individual experience depends heavily on the luck of the draw...
> 
> Cutting to the chase, and IMHO, YMMV, IANAL, etc....
> 
> Go to school, but emphasize studying subject(s) you are 
> curious about, or
> have a solid interest. If you know you want to try a 
> particular field, get
> courses in the field, even to the point of major if it interests you
> enough. But since the future is unknown, ground yourself in 
> as many skills
> as you can afford the time for. Invent/find ways to meet 
> people, and learn
> to like them (and have them like you). Part time/Full time; the choice
> really depends on finances and location.
> 
> In school, seek to work some for the job experience and the learning
> opportunities. Work fulltime and school part time if that is 
> what finances
> and location require, there is no shame in doing things 
> backwards if you
> touch all the bases.
> 
> Ultimately, there are three things you need to study at the 
> beginning of a
> career (and for the rest of your life, you don't get off
> easy). Yourself: how you work, think, learn, react. Others: 
> how to like
> and be liked, cooperate without selling out, and other social 
> skills. The
> Job: the skills that actually do the work. (The social skills 
> seem to help
> determine the pay 8-/)
> 
> My deep appreciation to the list for allowing me the 
> opportunity and the
> bandwidth to sound off. Hopefully, I made some/much sense. 
> And, yes, I can
> use the help to sharpen and correct my ideas.
> 
> -- 
> ===========================================
> The harder I work, the luckier I get.
>                     Lee Iacocca
> ===========================================
> Thompson Freeman          tfreeman at intel.digichem.net
> 
> 
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