4 ms·

The best programmers I know have EE degrees. Just saying...

by mansr 16y ago

gaius 16y ago
Indeed. Perhaps a better question would be, how can a fresh CS grad convince a team of experienced software engineers he's not hopelessly theoretical...
protomyth 16y ago
I keep running into Music majors that are very good programmer.
mkramlich 16y ago
The very best programmers I've known personally have, mostly, had no college degrees, or, a degree in something other than CS or EE. But EE does seem to attract a higher average intellectual caliber than CS programs do, so that may explain what you've experienced. I know a lot of kids enter CS undergrad programs with the hope of making "easy money" as a Blub Developer later on, with many of them finding they hate it and dropping out before the end. You don't see that anywhere as much with EE. Also, I think there's this weird effect with degrees where if you're bad or mediocre but you have say a CS degree, you're more likely to stay working in the field than if you had no CS degree or no degree at all. Because if you suck, and you have no degree, there will be so little demand for you you'll have trouble staying continually employed. But by having a degree, especially in CS, you gain an edge and can get past more hiring and big corp HR-ocratic hurdles than you otherwise could. This last bit is just a theory, I could be wrong about it as a contributing force. But I'm confident in the first part of what I said, where I've seen a disproportionate of the best without CS degrees, or without any at all. Lastly, I know many guys who started programming as a kid and a common issue for them is you'd get to 18 and have to pick a undergraduate program, but much of CS, especially early stuff looked lame and child's play, whereas many other fields were equally or more interesting and the chance of getting to play with those other toys, and interact with those other professors, was way more attractive.

The best programmers I know have EE degrees. Just saying...

by mansr 16y ago

The best programmers I know have EE degrees. Just saying...

gaius 16y ago

Indeed. Perhaps a better question would be, how can a fresh CS grad convince a team of experienced software engineers he's not hopelessly theoretical...

protomyth 16y ago

I keep running into Music majors that are very good programmer.

mkramlich 16y ago

The very best programmers I've known personally have, mostly, had no college degrees, or, a degree in something other than CS or EE. But EE does seem to attract a higher average intellectual caliber than CS programs do, so that may explain what you've experienced. I know a lot of kids enter CS undergrad programs with the hope of making "easy money" as a Blub Developer later on, with many of them finding they hate it and dropping out before the end. You don't see that anywhere as much with EE. Also, I think there's this weird effect with degrees where if you're bad or mediocre but you have say a CS degree, you're more likely to stay working in the field than if you had no CS degree or no degree at all. Because if you suck, and you have no degree, there will be so little demand for you you'll have trouble staying continually employed. But by having a degree, especially in CS, you gain an edge and can get past more hiring and big corp HR-ocratic hurdles than you otherwise could. This last bit is just a theory, I could be wrong about it as a contributing force. But I'm confident in the first part of what I said, where I've seen a disproportionate of the best without CS degrees, or without any at all. Lastly, I know many guys who started programming as a kid and a common issue for them is you'd get to 18 and have to pick a undergraduate program, but much of CS, especially early stuff looked lame and child's play, whereas many other fields were equally or more interesting and the chance of getting to play with those other toys, and interact with those other professors, was way more attractive.