6 ms·

Note that this doesn't mean completely self-taught! Most (good) developers are definitely at least partially self-taught, but those who are employed in the ind

Note that this doesn't mean completely self-taught! Most (good) developers are definitely at least partially self-taught, but those who are employed in the industry also tend to possess, not necessarily a CS degree but at least on in a related field.

razster 11y ago
Our developer went to Poly and it shows. He can think of a solution to our programs needs almost instantly, were as our other devs whom were self taught and no longer with us because they hit a brick wall. It pays to have a good programmer with degrees.
- fishtoaster 11y ago
  I suppose I can't tell you your anecdata is incorrect, since an anecdote is just an anecdote. I can counter it with my own, though. Of the top 10 best devs I know, about half were didn't get CS degrees. And I say this as someone with a CS degree.
- cylinder 11y ago
  He went to Poly because he is smart, he is a good developer because he is smart.
- grahamel 11y ago
  I can second fishtoaster and add that I've worked with people who've been to university, some who did computer related courses and others who didn't - more often than not an arts based course, and have also worked with people who didn't do a degree at all. All of those hasn't been a factor in if a developer is good or not. It's when they "hit a brick wall" and give up. The best developers ask for help when stuck and help others when they're stuck.
- mmgutz 11y ago
  The best programmers I've worked with are first and foremost problem solvers. One had a CS degree, the other was an accounting major and another a musician with a high school degree. There are very few CS courses I took at the university that prepared me for the real world. I'm sure there are certain fields like AI, DB algorithms, Math/Science applications, compilers that benefit from formal academic training but for the most part being logical and a a good problem solver are the most important skills.
  - Bahamut 11y ago
    I too have found problem solving to be the most important skill - understanding the problem so you can craft the proper fix or implementation is vital to saving time. Of the best developers I've worked with/know, only 1 has a CS degree. One has a liberal arts degree IIRC (works at Netflix), another is a college dropout (works at Google)...and the one with a CS degree has a tendency to overengineer systems with great flaws that the others I know wouldn't do (tries to be too clever). Myself, I have a MS in math from a top 15 program (PhD dropout).
  - jwhitlark 11y ago
    My Accounting degree has actually been really useful when working with distributed systems, as accounting systems were the original rigorous distributed systems. I only wish I'd gone heavier on the math.
andersen1488 11y ago
>related field. What exactly is a "related field" to programming though? I guess you could argue math and statistics, but even that's not really applicable to the average CRUD app developer.

razster 11y ago

Our developer went to Poly and it shows. He can think of a solution to our programs needs almost instantly, were as our other devs whom were self taught and no longer with us because they hit a brick wall. It pays to have a good programmer with degrees.

fishtoaster 11y ago
I suppose I can't tell you your anecdata is incorrect, since an anecdote is just an anecdote. I can counter it with my own, though. Of the top 10 best devs I know, about half were didn't get CS degrees. And I say this as someone with a CS degree.
cylinder 11y ago
He went to Poly because he is smart, he is a good developer because he is smart.
grahamel 11y ago
I can second fishtoaster and add that I've worked with people who've been to university, some who did computer related courses and others who didn't - more often than not an arts based course, and have also worked with people who didn't do a degree at all. All of those hasn't been a factor in if a developer is good or not. It's when they "hit a brick wall" and give up. The best developers ask for help when stuck and help others when they're stuck.
mmgutz 11y ago
The best programmers I've worked with are first and foremost problem solvers. One had a CS degree, the other was an accounting major and another a musician with a high school degree. There are very few CS courses I took at the university that prepared me for the real world. I'm sure there are certain fields like AI, DB algorithms, Math/Science applications, compilers that benefit from formal academic training but for the most part being logical and a a good problem solver are the most important skills.
- Bahamut 11y ago
  I too have found problem solving to be the most important skill - understanding the problem so you can craft the proper fix or implementation is vital to saving time. Of the best developers I've worked with/know, only 1 has a CS degree. One has a liberal arts degree IIRC (works at Netflix), another is a college dropout (works at Google)...and the one with a CS degree has a tendency to overengineer systems with great flaws that the others I know wouldn't do (tries to be too clever). Myself, I have a MS in math from a top 15 program (PhD dropout).
- jwhitlark 11y ago
  My Accounting degree has actually been really useful when working with distributed systems, as accounting systems were the original rigorous distributed systems. I only wish I'd gone heavier on the math.

andersen1488 11y ago

>related field. What exactly is a "related field" to programming though? I guess you could argue math and statistics, but even that's not really applicable to the average CRUD app developer.