I got into CS by taking an intro C class. I declared my CS major the next semester and loved it...for a while. Unfortunately, I found out what has been mentioned here already: it's hard to hire effective, informed teachers at the salaries a school offers.
At the University of Missouri, we are subjected to some of the worst instructing I have ever seen. I've had 3 good classes (2 C, 1 UNIX) and the rest have been mediocre, at best. My only good instructor was a grad student TA, who has since moved on to better things. As far as I'm concerned this CS department is a mess. They've gone so far as to eliminate non-PhD teachers (regardless of quality) to achieve some damn accredidation!
If it wasn't my last semester, I, too, would consider leaving school to go "pro.":-)
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I got into CS by taking an intro C class. I declared my CS major the next semester and loved it...for a while. Unfortunately, I found out what has been mentioned here already: it's hard to hire effective, informed teachers at the salaries a school offers.
:-)
At the University of Missouri, we are subjected to some of the worst instructing I have ever seen. I've had 3 good classes (2 C, 1 UNIX) and the rest have been mediocre, at best. My only good instructor was a grad student TA, who has since moved on to better things. As far as I'm concerned this CS department is a mess. They've gone so far as to eliminate non-PhD teachers (regardless of quality) to achieve some damn accredidation!
If it wasn't my last semester, I, too, would consider leaving school to go "pro."