[ale] A Hal Fulton Blog article on CompSci degrees

[Steve Litt]

On Thu, 17 Sep 2015 13:29:34 -0400
leam hall <leamhall at gmail.com> wrote:

> A friend asked if his son should take CompSci. Hal talks about the
> differences 'then and now" and provides a opinion on the value of 4
> year degrees.
> 
> http://rubyhacker.com/blog2/20150917.html
> 
> I enjoyed it.

Yeah, it looks pretty factual to me.

I wish he'd written a couple paragraphs about foreign competition and
H1/B visas, and how and whether those add an element of risk to
spending four years and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars
getting a degree.

And then a paragraph or two explaining how, even with foreign
competition, the CS grad stands a much better chance of getting a job
that will pay for his car, gas, apartment, and health insurance than
the majority of college degrees.

He forgot to discuss the sheer, delightful fun of programming. How
sometimes you feel like you're getting paid to persue your hobby.

LOL, and of course, he also forgot to talk about the way-too-often
occrrences of ridiculous politics that screw up an otherwise fun
profession.

In my opinion, it all gets down to the advice I've been giving people
since the 1980's: If you love programming, do it regardless of the
marketplace, because doing it professionally is the only way you'll be
able to spend enough time programming. On the other hand, if you're
just in it for the money, become a lawyer, because programming when you
don't like it is one of the most distasteful ways to make a living.

The other thing I'd like to say is I have infinite respect for these
guys who take Drupal or Wordpress and slam out small business websites
quick and cheap. Their work product might never be featured in
Architectural Digest, but these guys are giving websites to businesses
that otherwise couldn't afford them, and these guys are creating (their
own and sometimes other peoples') jobs out of thin air. Quickie
websites are one of the last cottage industries in America.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
August 2015 featured book: Troubleshooting: Just the Facts
http://www.troubleshooters.com/tjust