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CS isn't a career. CS is part of all careers. I imagine when cuneiform was first invented, there was a group of people who were the first writers and they prob

CS isn't a career. CS is part of all careers. I imagine when cuneiform was first invented, there was a group of people who were the first writers and they probably worried that it would get saturated. How can we all be writers? There are only so many things to write down: recipes, shopping lists, the kings desires, and heroic tales. What are the rest of us going to do? But of course writing is just a way of expressing and recording. Writing becomes an essential skill for law (and law itself is hundreds of professions), or science, or "business" (which is a catch all). Even within CS, I don't consider "machine learning", for instance, to be a single field. Whether you are using machine learning to apply astrology to the financial markets, or using it to diagnose diseases, makes a huge difference to your career. CS is a skill, but your career will involve other things: a specific set of problems, a specific set of attempted solutions, a network of people who might help you, brands you will want to be associated with, and half a dozen other things.

giancarlostoro 7y ago
> CS isn't a career. CS is part of all careers. This right here. I was in awe when I realized that software engineering affects all industries. Even farmers, it might not be necessary, but it can make a huge difference. Also I too have been coding for a long time because I love programming. The way I see it, if I ever tire of it, I can switch careers. I'd still code regardless of who pays me to do what.
- randomdata 7y ago
  > Even farmers, it might not be necessary, but it can make a huge difference. As a software developer by day, farmer by night, I'm not sure there is much overlap. Some of the problem solving skills I learned on the farm have made me a better programmer, I expect, but I don't see much advantage in building software for my farm. Anything you can dream of is available commercially at a fraction of the cost it would take to build it yourself. As the saying goes, technology is developed in the military, adopted by agriculture, and then exposed to the rest of the world. That said, the story is quite different for my new side venture in a consumer market, however. I could easily turn development into a full time job in that industry. There is a lot lacking in what already exists.
  - thfuran 7y ago
    I'm not sure that's a saying outside of agriculture.
    - randomdata 7y ago
      It was on HN that I first heard it. I'm not sure it is a saying within agriculture. We take for granted the advanced technology that we get to play with.
      - klipt 7y ago
        Advanced compared to what? Probably not microchip factories...
      - krustyburger 7y ago
        Do you have a link? It seems like an interesting idea.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - imron 7y ago
    > As a software developer by day, farmer by night, I'm not sure there is much overlap Depends what you need it for https://tractorhacking.github.io/ https://tractorhacking.github.io/
    - dejv 7y ago
      Once you get into level of assets that require tractor like this your main job is financial planning.
  - lern_too_spel 7y ago
    > I don't see much advantage in building software for my farm. Controlled environment agriculture is heavily data driven and is a fast growing field. Same with genetically modified crops.
cmauniada 7y ago
Thats very beautifully put. I am definitely going to be using this analogy the next time this topic comes up. Thanks.
jacobolus 7y ago
> I imagine when cuneiform was first invented, there was a group of people who were the first writers and they probably worried that it would get saturated. How can we all be writers? There are only so many things to write down: recipes, shopping lists, the kings desires, and heroic tales. When cuneiform was invented the things to be written down were tax records, business transactions, beer recipes, legal codes, poems for various gods, lists of military spoils, multiplication tables, customer service complaints, teachers griping about their students being lazy, and students griping about their teachers being hardasses. e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvgz3NOuo5EC&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230 https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvgz3NOuo5EC&pg=PA230&lpg=...
- StavrosK 7y ago
  No complaints about how spoilt the younger generation was, with their fancy tablets everywhere?
0xffff2 7y ago
Whether this is true or not, it's distinctly unhelpful for a high school student trying to pick a college major.
- ghostpepper 7y ago
  I interpreted this comment as saying that CS will always be a useful skill and will never be saturated so therefore pick CS as your major if you are passionate about it, without a fear that it will be saturated
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    The CS market has definitely been saturated over the years, it has booms and busts just like any other hot field. The 80s in particular were very hard on programmers, not to mention the years after the dot com bust. Long term it seems fine, but just beware it can be a riskier if more rewarding choice.
- ken 7y ago
  The question was about a career, not a major. It's not like "pre-med" or "pre-law". You don't need to decide this in high school.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
MaxBarraclough 7y ago
> CS isn't a career. What is it that computer science professors are doing?

giancarlostoro 7y ago

> CS isn't a career. CS is part of all careers. This right here. I was in awe when I realized that software engineering affects all industries. Even farmers, it might not be necessary, but it can make a huge difference. Also I too have been coding for a long time because I love programming. The way I see it, if I ever tire of it, I can switch careers. I'd still code regardless of who pays me to do what.

randomdata 7y ago
> Even farmers, it might not be necessary, but it can make a huge difference. As a software developer by day, farmer by night, I'm not sure there is much overlap. Some of the problem solving skills I learned on the farm have made me a better programmer, I expect, but I don't see much advantage in building software for my farm. Anything you can dream of is available commercially at a fraction of the cost it would take to build it yourself. As the saying goes, technology is developed in the military, adopted by agriculture, and then exposed to the rest of the world. That said, the story is quite different for my new side venture in a consumer market, however. I could easily turn development into a full time job in that industry. There is a lot lacking in what already exists.
- thfuran 7y ago
  I'm not sure that's a saying outside of agriculture.
  - randomdata 7y ago
    It was on HN that I first heard it. I'm not sure it is a saying within agriculture. We take for granted the advanced technology that we get to play with.
    - klipt 7y ago
      Advanced compared to what? Probably not microchip factories...
    - krustyburger 7y ago
      Do you have a link? It seems like an interesting idea.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- imron 7y ago
  > As a software developer by day, farmer by night, I'm not sure there is much overlap Depends what you need it for https://tractorhacking.github.io/ https://tractorhacking.github.io/
  - dejv 7y ago
    Once you get into level of assets that require tractor like this your main job is financial planning.
- lern_too_spel 7y ago
  > I don't see much advantage in building software for my farm. Controlled environment agriculture is heavily data driven and is a fast growing field. Same with genetically modified crops.

cmauniada 7y ago

Thats very beautifully put. I am definitely going to be using this analogy the next time this topic comes up. Thanks.

jacobolus 7y ago

> I imagine when cuneiform was first invented, there was a group of people who were the first writers and they probably worried that it would get saturated. How can we all be writers? There are only so many things to write down: recipes, shopping lists, the kings desires, and heroic tales. When cuneiform was invented the things to be written down were tax records, business transactions, beer recipes, legal codes, poems for various gods, lists of military spoils, multiplication tables, customer service complaints, teachers griping about their students being lazy, and students griping about their teachers being hardasses. e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvgz3NOuo5EC&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230 https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvgz3NOuo5EC&pg=PA230&lpg=...

StavrosK 7y ago
No complaints about how spoilt the younger generation was, with their fancy tablets everywhere?

0xffff2 7y ago

Whether this is true or not, it's distinctly unhelpful for a high school student trying to pick a college major.

ghostpepper 7y ago
I interpreted this comment as saying that CS will always be a useful skill and will never be saturated so therefore pick CS as your major if you are passionate about it, without a fear that it will be saturated
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  The CS market has definitely been saturated over the years, it has booms and busts just like any other hot field. The 80s in particular were very hard on programmers, not to mention the years after the dot com bust. Long term it seems fine, but just beware it can be a riskier if more rewarding choice.
ken 7y ago
The question was about a career, not a major. It's not like "pre-med" or "pre-law". You don't need to decide this in high school.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

MaxBarraclough 7y ago

> CS isn't a career. What is it that computer science professors are doing?