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I agree. I went through my junior year of a CS degree and dropped out because it wasn't worth it. If I was to do it over again, I would definitely have chosen a

I agree. I went through my junior year of a CS degree and dropped out because it wasn't worth it. If I was to do it over again, I would definitely have chosen a different degree. I'm 100% certain that doing a different degree, I would have turned out a better programmer and better at something else. CS (or any programming degrees) are not as intellectually challenging as they should be. If you want to learn how to program than, I have yet to find any degree that will teach you much about becoming a good programmer, so I would recommend going to school for something else.

mechanical_fish 16y ago
I got a degree in physics which I regret not at all. I recommend the hard sciences: Physics, biology, or chemistry. Or a similarly 'hard' engineering degree: EE, ChemE, MechE, or whatever the engineering equivalent of biology is. ;) (The name for that is still being invented. "Biomedical engineering" is one term you'll hear.) Take plenty of lab courses; try to get some summer science internships involving programming -- science labs need programmers, so that should not be hard to find. I'd get a minor in CS, maybe. But, frankly, if I went back to school today I might still prefer to take courses in art and design -- a subject that would sure be handy for my career -- or statistics, and teach myself the CS in the evenings.
- nostrademons 16y ago
  I always figured I'd do that - I entered as a physics major and spent six semesters as one - but ended up graduating in CS and really wishing I'd done CS from the beginning. I wanted to be a physicist, I didn't want to do physics; conversely, I didn't want to be a computer programmer, but I liked to write computer programs. If I were giving advice to incoming freshmen (which, I guess I am, since there're bound to be some reading), I'd tell them to try out a whole bunch of different courses, and then major in the one where the homework makes them come alive. Because when you end up spending a good chunk of your life in a field, the important thing is that you enjoy the day-to-day work, not that you enjoy the trappings of success. (Of course, you should probably keep an eye on how marketable the field is - I don't recommend choosing a major just so you can get a high-paying job, but if you find you like CS and you find you like Beowulf, being a programmer will net you a much more comfortable life than being a Beowulf scholar.) Incidentally, I also took the "don't take courses in subjects you can teach yourself" approach. It worked very well for things where teaching myself involved reading a book, like history or economics. It worked not at all for things where teaching myself involved working out problems, like statistics and linear algebra. I suspect CS is closer to the latter than the former.

mechanical_fish 16y ago

I got a degree in physics which I regret not at all. I recommend the hard sciences: Physics, biology, or chemistry. Or a similarly 'hard' engineering degree: EE, ChemE, MechE, or whatever the engineering equivalent of biology is. ;) (The name for that is still being invented. "Biomedical engineering" is one term you'll hear.) Take plenty of lab courses; try to get some summer science internships involving programming -- science labs need programmers, so that should not be hard to find. I'd get a minor in CS, maybe. But, frankly, if I went back to school today I might still prefer to take courses in art and design -- a subject that would sure be handy for my career -- or statistics, and teach myself the CS in the evenings.

nostrademons 16y ago
I always figured I'd do that - I entered as a physics major and spent six semesters as one - but ended up graduating in CS and really wishing I'd done CS from the beginning. I wanted to be a physicist, I didn't want to do physics; conversely, I didn't want to be a computer programmer, but I liked to write computer programs. If I were giving advice to incoming freshmen (which, I guess I am, since there're bound to be some reading), I'd tell them to try out a whole bunch of different courses, and then major in the one where the homework makes them come alive. Because when you end up spending a good chunk of your life in a field, the important thing is that you enjoy the day-to-day work, not that you enjoy the trappings of success. (Of course, you should probably keep an eye on how marketable the field is - I don't recommend choosing a major just so you can get a high-paying job, but if you find you like CS and you find you like Beowulf, being a programmer will net you a much more comfortable life than being a Beowulf scholar.) Incidentally, I also took the "don't take courses in subjects you can teach yourself" approach. It worked very well for things where teaching myself involved reading a book, like history or economics. It worked not at all for things where teaching myself involved working out problems, like statistics and linear algebra. I suspect CS is closer to the latter than the former.