Hi all, Just my two cents. Craig's viewpoint is good for american-like degrees. But there are many different education systems all over the world. For example, in my country (Brazil), Comp Sci bachelor's degree from public universities don't teach nothing more than old theory. We study Automata theory, Graph theory, Calculus, Algebra, Physics, Statistics and Algorithms as course basis and we have specialized disciplines where we study more specific theory like: DataBases theory, Operating Systems theory, Programming Language theory, Compilers theory, Data transmission, Computer Networks, Computer Networks Management, Artificial Intelligence, Functional programming, Logic programming, Object-Oriented programming, Object-Oriented analysis, Project management, etc. And at my university (University of Brasilia) we have to take some optional (not so much) courses to get our degree. They are: Management, Accounting, Economics, Sports, Political science, Philosophy, English, Operational research, Law science etc. Our professors don't teach programming languages like Java, C, Pascal, Lisp, Prolog, FORTRAN. They delegate this task to students. I think it is a hard course but it's worth it.
Best regards, Daniel. --- apachep2 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Sorry, I am not intended to offend any one subscribed to this list. I > just can't be more agreed with Craig's view. BTW, I was actually > forwarding this email to my boss but accidentally click the Reply. > > -----Original Message----- > From: apachep2 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: March 31, 2003 9:57 AM > To: 'Struts Users Mailing List' > Subject: RE: Does a degree matter? > > This guy always has a different but brighter/cleverer view than others. > No wonder why he is leading the development of many open source > projects. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Craig R. McClanahan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: March 30, 2003 12:45 AM > To: Struts Users Mailing List > Subject: Re: Does a degree matter? > > > > On Sat, 29 Mar 2003, Arron Bates wrote: > > > Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 20:36:21 -0600 > > From: Arron Bates <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Reply-To: Struts Users Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: Struts Users Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Subject: Re: Does a degree matter? > > > > Brandon, > > > > If you can do the deed (which it sounds like you can), I would hazard > offering > > my opinion in thinking that it wouldn't be the best use of your time. > By > > education I'm a graphic designer, not a computer scientist. First job > was web > > design, programmer ever since. Results... I've only had two places not > take me > > on because it's not a computer degree. Two interviews of hundreds. > > > > My personal experience (both for myself and for folks I have hired over > the years) mirrors this -- indeed, my personal opinion is that a Comp > Sci > degree is worth less (to me as an employer) than a degree in some field > that is more closely associated with the general needs of potential > employers. > > Why? A couple of reasons: > > * Many folks who go for Comp Sci degrees obsess over learning the > particular technologies being taught in their classes, at the expense > of courses to improve your general thinking skills. Any specific > technology you learn in your first year is going to be totally > obsolete by the time you graduate from the program anyway, so why > bother? The important skill to employers (at least from my viewpoint) > is that you've learned how to quickly adapt your existing skills to > new technologies as they become available. Also, the fundamentals > of good architecture and design practices tend to change much more > slowly than the favorite language de jour -- so if you decide to go > for Comp Sci, focus on fundamentals like O-O, design patterns, > and so on. > > * Many folks who go for Comp Sci degrees are so focused on the technical > things, and don't accumulate any domain knowledge along the way that > would make you *more* valuable to potential employers than another > Comp Sci graduate with similar skills. If you're building e-commerce > systems, do you know anything about the fundamental accounting > principles involved in tracking purchases? If you're building > systems to introduce novices to the world of online information, > have you ever studied any human factors engineering? If you're > building trading systems for a Wall Street broker, do you have the > slightest idea how stock and commodity exchanges work? > > It may surprise some of you to find out that I don't have a Comp Sci > degree at all -- instead, I got a BA in Business with a focus on > Accounting. This was ***tremendously*** helpful in setting me apart > from > everyone else who was learning programming and systems analysis in those > days -- I could immediately communicate with the end users responsible > for > the systems we were building, using their vocabulary, without having to > be > trained -- in addition to the fact that I was a fair-to-middlin' > programmer :-). > > If you are looking at going to college today (either because it's that > time in your life, or because the job market sucks right now), I would > suggest thinking about a primary major other than Comp Sci (with a Comp > Sci minor to keep your hand in on all the technical stuff). The name of > the game is making yourself more valuable, relative to everyone else out > there -- and, quite frankly, there are more interesting things in the > world than just computers and web apps :-). > > Craig > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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