3 ms·

Skill up in the humanities. Pick topics outside of technology that interest you, and learn how to communicate about them. Take as many seminar discussion and wr

by mshron 6y ago

Skill up in the humanities. Pick topics outside of technology that interest you, and learn how to communicate about them. Take as many seminar discussion and writing-heavy classes as you can. From a career perspective, programming skill is relatively easy to come by. Programming AND speaking AND good writing will put you on a better career path. You won't get stuck after a job or two when you know the tools of the trade but not how to handle things outside the compiler. But also, just as a person who has to make it in this world, you need more than one frame of reference to make sense of things. Humanities students are enriched by taking science and math classes, and getting a new way of seeing things. STEM undergrads who learn to tolerate ambiguity and learn some history are rounder humans.

ck425 6y ago
I'll plus one this and recommend you also try doing things outside of class. Uni is an amazing time to try a load of hobbies and new non-academic skills. I personally did a ton of theatre and event planning for fun at uni and learned a loads of useful skills such as: - How to coordinate a team - How to write a good email - How to interview people (helps for being interviewed) - How to clearly communicate my ideas to others - Public Speaking - How to give feedback - Conflict resolution Beyond the basics technical skills tend to vary by job. Soft skills are universal.
psidebot 6y ago
On the flip side, if a degree program is at a liberal arts institution it may have plenty of humanities builtin and you may want to add a few extra CS courses to round things out.
bproven 6y ago
>Programming AND speaking AND good writing will put you on a better career path. This is very true. If you are a decent developer AND have this "speaking AND good writing skills" you will go much further - it really separates you from the pack...
vegannet 6y ago
I emphatically agree. Very few programmers are so talented that their soft skills don’t move the needle. For the majority of programmers, soft skills will be the single greatest differentiator between being a middle of the road software engineer or excelling and being _the_ engineer people adore. An average programmers job is 90% writing code that anybody with a year of experience could write, it’s the 10% where you’re bridging the gap between technology and business that can realise a whole new world of value — and that depends on soft skills.
fish45 6y ago
Man, to be honest I was looking forward to not having to take humanities classes now. I have my first advisor meeting for scheduling classes in a few days, so I'll be sure to find something with lots of writing. Thanks for the advice.
- bitbckt 6y ago
  Engineering is at its essence communication of ideas between you and others, be they computers, or other people, or yourself at some future time. Learn to communicate effectively, and you will not be sorry you did.
- alteria 6y ago
  Totally understandable, but I'd strongly recommend challenging yourself. Of course I'm a little biased having done a CS/humanites major at a liberal arts college but there are so many great reasons that people have listed and I fully agree with them. Sure there are very compelling professional arguments, but I would argue that the most important reason is that studying humanities can make you a more well-rounded person and give you diverse frameworks to look at the world with. Technology products have great benefits, but also great impacts on the world. Humanities can help you look beyond first-order technical rationale and link to historical, social, or political factors and themes that are relevant. This is especially true if you, like many (though not all) people that study CS, come from a generally privileged environment. edit: Also wanted to add that the "read a lot, discuss, write a paper, present the paper" grind can be hard at first, but really breeds good skills. Being able to read a text, synthesize it's meaning, and relate it to broader themes is one great skill. Then showing up to class and actively discussing the material is another great skill. Finally writing and presenting are skills that take a long time to build, but used continually throughout your professional life, both formally and informally.
andrewem 6y ago
Yes - people who only know technical things can become convinced that (a) only technical things are worth knowing, and (b) that their perfect logic can enable them to come to ideal conclusions about things they know nothing about. (I think some of the latter stems from experiencing years of education where a small number of factors needed to derive a perfect solution, as in a first-year physics problem. When you go to build things though, you discover that you have to understand the situation and its users to design and build what is really needed.)

by mshron 6y ago

ck425 6y ago

I'll plus one this and recommend you also try doing things outside of class. Uni is an amazing time to try a load of hobbies and new non-academic skills. I personally did a ton of theatre and event planning for fun at uni and learned a loads of useful skills such as: - How to coordinate a team - How to write a good email - How to interview people (helps for being interviewed) - How to clearly communicate my ideas to others - Public Speaking - How to give feedback - Conflict resolution Beyond the basics technical skills tend to vary by job. Soft skills are universal.

psidebot 6y ago

On the flip side, if a degree program is at a liberal arts institution it may have plenty of humanities builtin and you may want to add a few extra CS courses to round things out.

bproven 6y ago

>Programming AND speaking AND good writing will put you on a better career path. This is very true. If you are a decent developer AND have this "speaking AND good writing skills" you will go much further - it really separates you from the pack...

vegannet 6y ago

I emphatically agree. Very few programmers are so talented that their soft skills don’t move the needle. For the majority of programmers, soft skills will be the single greatest differentiator between being a middle of the road software engineer or excelling and being _the_ engineer people adore. An average programmers job is 90% writing code that anybody with a year of experience could write, it’s the 10% where you’re bridging the gap between technology and business that can realise a whole new world of value — and that depends on soft skills.

fish45 6y ago

Man, to be honest I was looking forward to not having to take humanities classes now. I have my first advisor meeting for scheduling classes in a few days, so I'll be sure to find something with lots of writing. Thanks for the advice.

bitbckt 6y ago
Engineering is at its essence communication of ideas between you and others, be they computers, or other people, or yourself at some future time. Learn to communicate effectively, and you will not be sorry you did.
alteria 6y ago
Totally understandable, but I'd strongly recommend challenging yourself. Of course I'm a little biased having done a CS/humanites major at a liberal arts college but there are so many great reasons that people have listed and I fully agree with them. Sure there are very compelling professional arguments, but I would argue that the most important reason is that studying humanities can make you a more well-rounded person and give you diverse frameworks to look at the world with. Technology products have great benefits, but also great impacts on the world. Humanities can help you look beyond first-order technical rationale and link to historical, social, or political factors and themes that are relevant. This is especially true if you, like many (though not all) people that study CS, come from a generally privileged environment. edit: Also wanted to add that the "read a lot, discuss, write a paper, present the paper" grind can be hard at first, but really breeds good skills. Being able to read a text, synthesize it's meaning, and relate it to broader themes is one great skill. Then showing up to class and actively discussing the material is another great skill. Finally writing and presenting are skills that take a long time to build, but used continually throughout your professional life, both formally and informally.

andrewem 6y ago

Yes - people who only know technical things can become convinced that (a) only technical things are worth knowing, and (b) that their perfect logic can enable them to come to ideal conclusions about things they know nothing about. (I think some of the latter stems from experiencing years of education where a small number of factors needed to derive a perfect solution, as in a first-year physics problem. When you go to build things though, you discover that you have to understand the situation and its users to design and build what is really needed.)