4 ms·

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

by 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.

4 ms·

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

by fish45 6y ago

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.