4 ms·

double majoring is a hilarious waste of time and money. don't do it.

curiousllama 6y ago
Definitely not a waste of time. Learning to think in a non-CS way can be incredibly valuable. Will it make you a better programmer? Maybe not. Will it make you a more effective employee, founder, or person? Yes.
- andreilys 6y ago
  Why do you need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to for a second degree when you can just go to the source material yourself? Project Gutenberg exists, as does Youtube, Khan Academy, and many other free resources.
  - helicalspiral 6y ago
    In most (all?) universities/colleges in America a double major doesn’t cost extra financially. You might have to give up taking more electives in one or the other programs however.
    - blaser-waffle 6y ago
      Yeah I can't speak to other Uni's but I went to a very large school in VA, and we had plenty of extra credits for electives. With a some creative picks, and a couple of summer courses taken for fun, I was able to tack on a 2nd major and a minor. Disclaimer: I was former military and had a GI bill, plus a job with reasonably flexible hours while in school. This might not be a universal case for folks with lots of loans in an isolated college town.
  - httpsterio 6y ago
    0 extra here where I live. I actually get paid to study (not enough to actually live full time on that). The only real expense I get is that I need to supply my income either by working or taking a student loan (with an interest rate of approx some ten-twenty dollars a year). Also, when comparing what one would or wouldn't benefit from, I think money should be removed from the discussion. Obviously, you gotta live when you study and the longer you study, the less you're earning through work = time spent in school is a loss of income But as this is obvious, it's enough to focus on whether a double major is worth your time or not.
  - Larrikin 6y ago
    There are dozens and dozens of articles about students demanding their money back from colleges precisely because an online lecture where you can't or barely can interact with the professor is absolutely not the same thing as a classroom and campus setting. This is across the board in all majors. In a field like philosophy where discussions and exploring different viewpoints from others is one of the main points I can't imagine a more poor substitute.
javajosh 6y ago
False. I was a physics/philosophy double and I haven't regretted it for a second. Physics was profound (although somewhat disappointing!) but philosophy is the home of ethics, and lots of writing, and the study of both of those will serve you in good stead.
- andreilys 6y ago
  You don't need to double major in philosophy to be exposed to it. For a fraction of the money you paid, you could've tapped into free online resources and paid for a philosophy tutor to walk you through the classics.
  - javajosh 6y ago
    How do you know how much money I paid? I was a bit of an overachiever and took a lot more units per quarter than average.
- cableshaft 6y ago
  Why not major in one and minor in the other? Even though my only major was Computer Science, I still took enough English classes to minor in English. Took a class on the History of the English Language (learned how to read Old and Middle English), two American Lit classes, a Middle Eastern Literature class, the Technical Writing course I needed for CS anyway, and a couple of composition classes (maybe one or two others, I don't remember). And it didn't take any more time than I needed anyway.
bigfoot675 6y ago
It depends on what your goals are. Perhaps from a purely practical standpoint, there are diminishing returns, but we should also consider the plummeting job market people graduating in the next couple years will be coming into. Having something to help you stick out might be useful, even from the practical standpoint. Of course, there are points of view outside this too, and it is ridiculous to dismiss these perspectives as objectively wrong. Some people actually enjoy the liberal arts, the fine arts, entrepreneurship, etc.
saalweachter 6y ago
I mean, you can totally do fine as a straight CS major, and there are plenty of CS/math majors who can report successful, productive, profitable careers as a programmer in this very thread. But there's a lot of programming to do where domain knowledge is absolute essential, and if it turns out you find one of those areas interesting, college is a great time to acquire that domain knowledge, in parallel with getting your certificate stamped that says you're safe to employ as a programmer. Biology, chemistry, linguistics, cognitive science, every flavor of engineering. All of it comes with programming work to do. Protein folding, genetics, natural language processing, computer vision, CAD software, control software... Being able to program is a useful skill, but you have to know what to program. And yes, there are plenty of companies who will happily hire a programmer to write SQL queries and copy fields from one protocol buffer to another. But those options don't go away because you also have a thorough understanding of, say, chemical engineering; you just also have another career path open to you where you can do a boatload of programming, just not with web frameworks.
_hardwaregeek 6y ago
Agreed. Taking non-CS classes? Definitely worth it. Getting the arbitrary extra words on your diploma? Less worth it
- saalweachter 6y ago
  To be clear, I'm not advocating taking a bunch of random classes to be a well-rounded person, although, sure, why not. I'm advocating taking enough classes in some other, specific topic that interests you (like, say, linguistics) that you can now apply for jobs where you program using your domain knowledge of this other field, as well as your CS skills. At most colleges, taking a bunch of classes in a single subject usually results in a major or minor; additionally, the extra lines on your diploma that say you also know a lot about, say, structural engineering will help you when your resume is on the desk of a firm developing CAD software.
  - _hardwaregeek 6y ago
    Oh yeah we're on the same page that taking classes in a different, specific topic is a great way to amplify your existing CS skills. I'm mostly making the point that going into college with the mindset of double major or bust can be counterproductive. The difference between a minor and a major can be a few extraneous courses, a lot more stress and a little less time to pursue your main interest. I know I came into college determined to do a double major only to realize that I probably should have made that decision after taking a few courses and evaluating my level of interest in the two subjects.

Definitely not a waste of time. Learning to think in a non-CS way can be incredibly valuable. Will it make you a better programmer? Maybe not. Will it make you a more effective employee, founder, or person? Yes.

andreilys 6y ago
Why do you need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to for a second degree when you can just go to the source material yourself? Project Gutenberg exists, as does Youtube, Khan Academy, and many other free resources.
- helicalspiral 6y ago
  In most (all?) universities/colleges in America a double major doesn’t cost extra financially. You might have to give up taking more electives in one or the other programs however.
  - blaser-waffle 6y ago
    Yeah I can't speak to other Uni's but I went to a very large school in VA, and we had plenty of extra credits for electives. With a some creative picks, and a couple of summer courses taken for fun, I was able to tack on a 2nd major and a minor. Disclaimer: I was former military and had a GI bill, plus a job with reasonably flexible hours while in school. This might not be a universal case for folks with lots of loans in an isolated college town.
- httpsterio 6y ago
  0 extra here where I live. I actually get paid to study (not enough to actually live full time on that). The only real expense I get is that I need to supply my income either by working or taking a student loan (with an interest rate of approx some ten-twenty dollars a year). Also, when comparing what one would or wouldn't benefit from, I think money should be removed from the discussion. Obviously, you gotta live when you study and the longer you study, the less you're earning through work = time spent in school is a loss of income But as this is obvious, it's enough to focus on whether a double major is worth your time or not.
- Larrikin 6y ago
  There are dozens and dozens of articles about students demanding their money back from colleges precisely because an online lecture where you can't or barely can interact with the professor is absolutely not the same thing as a classroom and campus setting. This is across the board in all majors. In a field like philosophy where discussions and exploring different viewpoints from others is one of the main points I can't imagine a more poor substitute.

javajosh 6y ago

False. I was a physics/philosophy double and I haven't regretted it for a second. Physics was profound (although somewhat disappointing!) but philosophy is the home of ethics, and lots of writing, and the study of both of those will serve you in good stead.

andreilys 6y ago
You don't need to double major in philosophy to be exposed to it. For a fraction of the money you paid, you could've tapped into free online resources and paid for a philosophy tutor to walk you through the classics.
- javajosh 6y ago
  How do you know how much money I paid? I was a bit of an overachiever and took a lot more units per quarter than average.
cableshaft 6y ago
Why not major in one and minor in the other? Even though my only major was Computer Science, I still took enough English classes to minor in English. Took a class on the History of the English Language (learned how to read Old and Middle English), two American Lit classes, a Middle Eastern Literature class, the Technical Writing course I needed for CS anyway, and a couple of composition classes (maybe one or two others, I don't remember). And it didn't take any more time than I needed anyway.

bigfoot675 6y ago

It depends on what your goals are. Perhaps from a purely practical standpoint, there are diminishing returns, but we should also consider the plummeting job market people graduating in the next couple years will be coming into. Having something to help you stick out might be useful, even from the practical standpoint. Of course, there are points of view outside this too, and it is ridiculous to dismiss these perspectives as objectively wrong. Some people actually enjoy the liberal arts, the fine arts, entrepreneurship, etc.

saalweachter 6y ago

I mean, you can totally do fine as a straight CS major, and there are plenty of CS/math majors who can report successful, productive, profitable careers as a programmer in this very thread. But there's a lot of programming to do where domain knowledge is absolute essential, and if it turns out you find one of those areas interesting, college is a great time to acquire that domain knowledge, in parallel with getting your certificate stamped that says you're safe to employ as a programmer. Biology, chemistry, linguistics, cognitive science, every flavor of engineering. All of it comes with programming work to do. Protein folding, genetics, natural language processing, computer vision, CAD software, control software... Being able to program is a useful skill, but you have to know what to program. And yes, there are plenty of companies who will happily hire a programmer to write SQL queries and copy fields from one protocol buffer to another. But those options don't go away because you also have a thorough understanding of, say, chemical engineering; you just also have another career path open to you where you can do a boatload of programming, just not with web frameworks.

_hardwaregeek 6y ago

Agreed. Taking non-CS classes? Definitely worth it. Getting the arbitrary extra words on your diploma? Less worth it

saalweachter 6y ago
To be clear, I'm not advocating taking a bunch of random classes to be a well-rounded person, although, sure, why not. I'm advocating taking enough classes in some other, specific topic that interests you (like, say, linguistics) that you can now apply for jobs where you program using your domain knowledge of this other field, as well as your CS skills. At most colleges, taking a bunch of classes in a single subject usually results in a major or minor; additionally, the extra lines on your diploma that say you also know a lot about, say, structural engineering will help you when your resume is on the desk of a firm developing CAD software.
- _hardwaregeek 6y ago
  Oh yeah we're on the same page that taking classes in a different, specific topic is a great way to amplify your existing CS skills. I'm mostly making the point that going into college with the mindset of double major or bust can be counterproductive. The difference between a minor and a major can be a few extraneous courses, a lot more stress and a little less time to pursue your main interest. I know I came into college determined to do a double major only to realize that I probably should have made that decision after taking a few courses and evaluating my level of interest in the two subjects.