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Fewer Computer Science Majors
skrysakj writes "USA today reports that there are fewer undergraduate students choosing computer science related majors in the USA. What really woke me up was their statement that only 6% of the worlds engineers are educated in the USA. Before there was a dot-com bubble to burst, I knew lots of *amazing* programmers and IT professionals who had non-IT degrees, so how is this new trend any different than before?"
And there you are wrong. The US univeristy system is the best in the world. It is not as in some ways as it once was, but by and large it is still the best there is. Lets for instance take a look at the medical field. What are the top med schools in the world? Where are these schools located. Now let's take a look at the hard sciences. Which schools are top there? The reason there are lots of foreign students doing the "ground breaking" work at US schools is two fold. 1)The average US student is not interested in doing this kind of work, while the average foreign student is in hopes of GETTING A JOB in the US when they are done with school, instead of going back to whatever country they are from. 2)The foreign students that actually get into the prestigious US schools are amoung the smartest in the world. They HAVE to be because of the skewed admission standards, so of course they make quite a contribution. It's the fact that they best and brightest students around the world WANT to go to US univeristies that makes it self-evident that they are the best.
> Bullbutter.
What does that mean?
> You are now claiming an MCSE == Industry Experience.
> It doesn't.
Where did I claim that? Suffering from problems with basic reading comprehension?
> If you take two people, neither one having worked before.
> One has an MCSE and the other has a BS in CS from an accredited University.
> Who gets the job?
Depends on who is hiring.
etc etc
Ahh, another arrogant computer science snob! Lots of jobs don't need computer scientists, and an MCSE or MCAD (or whatever) will suffice. Too many computer scientist have an overly self-important view of their place in the world. A lot of them take jobs working for businesses, and let's be honest, many scientists don't make good business people. Building some academically correct over-engineered solution isn't always the correct approach for a business when a nasty grubby unmaintainable hack will satisfy requirements and cost considerably less!
Yes, I have a Comp Sci degree. I think my education will last longer and is more transferrable. However, I realise that my skills aren't as vocational and I have a lot of gaps to fill to be successful software engineer in a business environment.
A lot of people have asked me why I didn't major in CS (I majored in Mathematics instead). There are so many reasons to not major in computer science, and so few reasons to do so.
First of all, the degree is nearly useless in the sense that everything gets outdated so fast. The program at my school when I started college was so extremely different from the program when I graduated, and it continues to change.
Next, you spend a lot of time studying algorithmic stuff you will never use. That's great that they have you write a bunch of array sort algorithms, but there aren't too many of us who will be using them very often in the real world.
I have met very few, and by very few I mean not a single one so far, computer science graduates that were worth their weight as a programmer. Most, in my opinion, are people who heard that you could make a lot of money as a computer programmer so they decide to study CS. Now I'm sure there are amazing programmers that have come out of CS departments, but it seems like the greatest come from Math, Physics, Engineering, you name it just not CS.
I don't know what definition of "computer" you're using, but under most definitions the first computer was invented either in Germany or in the UK.
$75k is INCREDIBLY OVER THE TOP for developer's wage. That's why jobs are going overseas. It's supply and demand (funnily enough, the same supply and demand the US loved when it was supplying its demand, not the other way around).
My post was just a quick point about the state of wages in the US with regards to outsourcing, nothing more ;)
The no child left behind act was Ted Kennedy's baby. Bush just co-signed and endorsed it. Funny how you retards seem to forget that little fact.