You know, I almost disagree with everything in this post.
a degree in CS is as far as I'm concerned silly
I don't know where you went to school, but a CS degree is not a cake major at my school computer science is about the ability to think algorithmically; to be able to analyze a problem and break it down into every conceivable step to get it mechanically implemented.
Computer Science is far too cobbled together from other disciplines right now
As opposed to what, chemistry? Chemistry has been around as a science separate from physics for about as long as Computer Science has been separate from math. While math and computer science do heavily overlap, math has just as much overlap in statistics, physics, and economics. Math is a very broad set of theories used in many areas of science. The ability to apply math to algorithmic processes and machinery is a part, but not all of computer science, just like applying calculus to real world situations isn't physics or economics in its entirety, just a piece of it.
I was hired without any experience(actually had never seen any of it before) in the language I was going to use and within two days I started producing useful code
Computer Science isn't about learning a programming language. That's what certifications are for! It's learning the theory behind the languages and how they interact with the computer. I've walked into a few jobs where I had never seen the language code before, but because of the computer science background, I was able to pick it up within a few days.
Programming languages aren't all radically different, they all do the same thing at some level. If you know the background, you know it all.
Computer Science is far too cobbled together from other disciplines right now, it honestly lacks identity. The formula now is, (some)Math + (a tiny bit of)Engineering + (a lot of)Programming = CS. CS should be a concentration under a Math degree.
Operating systems, database design, computer architecture, networking, and data structures all don't fall under math; rather it's part of what gives computer science its identity.
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Well that's my 2 cents. Programming and problem solving may be easy for you, but it's not for the vast majority of people. Like anything in life, some people are good at things, and others simply aren't. So just because it came easy to you and seemed like a joke at your school doesn't mean it's just a collection a crud.
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You know, I almost disagree with everything in this post.
a degree in CS is as far as I'm concerned silly
I don't know where you went to school, but a CS degree is not a cake major at my school computer science is about the ability to think algorithmically; to be able to analyze a problem and break it down into every conceivable step to get it mechanically implemented.
Computer Science is far too cobbled together from other disciplines right now
As opposed to what, chemistry? Chemistry has been around as a science separate from physics for about as long as Computer Science has been separate from math. While math and computer science do heavily overlap, math has just as much overlap in statistics, physics, and economics. Math is a very broad set of theories used in many areas of science. The ability to apply math to algorithmic processes and machinery is a part, but not all of computer science, just like applying calculus to real world situations isn't physics or economics in its entirety, just a piece of it.
I was hired without any experience(actually had never seen any of it before) in the language I was going to use and within two days I started producing useful code
Computer Science isn't about learning a programming language. That's what certifications are for! It's learning the theory behind the languages and how they interact with the computer. I've walked into a few jobs where I had never seen the language code before, but because of the computer science background, I was able to pick it up within a few days.
Programming languages aren't all radically different, they all do the same thing at some level. If you know the background, you know it all.
Computer Science is far too cobbled together from other disciplines right now, it honestly lacks identity. The formula now is, (some)Math + (a tiny bit of)Engineering + (a lot of)Programming = CS. CS should be a concentration under a Math degree.
================Operating systems, database design, computer architecture, networking, and data structures all don't fall under math; rather it's part of what gives computer science its identity.
Well that's my 2 cents. Programming and problem solving may be easy for you, but it's not for the vast majority of people. Like anything in life, some people are good at things, and others simply aren't. So just because it came easy to you and seemed like a joke at your school doesn't mean it's just a collection a crud.