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The first time I ran into somebody who was in charge of a technical department but had only degree in Applied Theology my jaw hit the floor. Applied theology.

The first time I ran into somebody who was in charge of a technical department but had only degree in Applied Theology my jaw hit the floor. Applied theology. By the third time I had to seek out existential comfort.

emptysongglass 5y ago
This upsets me a bit because I graduated from art school but got into DevOps because I was a Linux nerd since I was in my early teens. There is room for us. It doesn't make us terrible fits for the job. On the contrary, I think people with unconventional backgrounds can offer unconventional insights into software architecture. What you got a degree in shouldn't be the make or break of your career.
- throwawaygh 5y ago
  > DevOps because I was a Linux nerd since I was in my early teens You are an exception. In the military and certain parts of the corporate world ("enterprise" companies mostly), there is a wide-spread and systemic problem with horrendously unqualified people managing software/IT groups. E.g., Susan Mauldin for a recent example. We can allow space for self-taught people without opening the flood gates. No one should be in charge of IT security without first developing deep technical expertise at some point in their career.
  - derivagral 5y ago
    > Susan Mauldin For anyone as confused as I was, this is probably referring to the Equifax security officer. My local search engine mostly brought up a murder case.
    - canadianfella 5y ago
      You have a local search engine?
- StrictDabbler 5y ago
  I've never objected to being managed by anybody with an arts degree and never will. English, communications, philosophy, have at it. Some of my best technical managers majored in English. Theology says something specific about how you process reality.
  - mavelikara 5y ago
    > Theology says something specific about how you process reality. I will point out that one of the founders of a core CS discipline have written books [1] on what can be called theology. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth#Works_regarding_his_religious_beliefs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth#Works_regarding_h...
    - plussed_reader 5y ago
      Ok, but that wasn't his focus. Your point? We all have musings that cross domains; why does this persons book hold significance to you for this thread?
      - mavelikara 5y ago
        Sorry, this wasn't clear enough to you in my original comment. My point was that judging someone's ability to do CS negatively by their interest in theology, as presented by the person I was replying to, is refuted by a well-known example. Makes sense now?
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    Not necessarily - theology is just philosophy. Biblical literalism is an almost uniquely American phenomenon, there are plenty of Christians around the world and in the US who don't believe the earth was literally created 6000 years ago.
    - StrictDabbler 5y ago
      Theology is just philosophy. Applied Theology is an American evangelist field of study that focuses on shaping your life and the world around you to operate according to the will and word of the Christian Evangelist god.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  FWIW, I read it as a joke in part about how common it is in their experience to run into people without CS degrees who are in this field. (And in part just an opportunity to play with language. I grew up in the Bible Belt. Gentle humor about religion/spirituality is something I am no stranger to.)
- longhairedhippy 5y ago
  I totally agree with this and for a entry-level job, with no experience, I would be totally cool with ignoring the degree is the person was right. For a manager or higher level engineer, I believe some amount of prior experience is necessary, the degree is not a requirement but it may influence how much experience I am willing to accept as requisite for the position.
enkid 5y ago
How do you apply theology?
- Me1000 5y ago
  Pray your infrastructure is secure?
- maxrev17 5y ago
  Pray your infra is secure haha brilliant!
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  Practice what you preach?
krisoft 5y ago
In Vernor Vinge’s scifi novel “A Fire Upon the Deep” applied theology is the study and appeasement of superhuman sentient AIs. :) Its a field where the study subjects either completely ignore the practicioners, or squashes them like bugs. Also by the sound of it it involves a lot of software archelogy. Who knows, if they studied, and survived, that kind of applied theology they might be good for technical leads.
lowbloodsugar 5y ago
Could have been Computational Demonology but you didn't have clearance.
- galangalalgol 5y ago
  I was trying to use rust to write a hyperdimensional version of Conway's game of life and sone suits showed up with papers for me to sign and said if I hadn't used rust we'd have all been dead.

emptysongglass 5y ago

This upsets me a bit because I graduated from art school but got into DevOps because I was a Linux nerd since I was in my early teens. There is room for us. It doesn't make us terrible fits for the job. On the contrary, I think people with unconventional backgrounds can offer unconventional insights into software architecture. What you got a degree in shouldn't be the make or break of your career.

throwawaygh 5y ago
> DevOps because I was a Linux nerd since I was in my early teens You are an exception. In the military and certain parts of the corporate world ("enterprise" companies mostly), there is a wide-spread and systemic problem with horrendously unqualified people managing software/IT groups. E.g., Susan Mauldin for a recent example. We can allow space for self-taught people without opening the flood gates. No one should be in charge of IT security without first developing deep technical expertise at some point in their career.
- derivagral 5y ago
  > Susan Mauldin For anyone as confused as I was, this is probably referring to the Equifax security officer. My local search engine mostly brought up a murder case.
  - canadianfella 5y ago
    You have a local search engine?
StrictDabbler 5y ago
I've never objected to being managed by anybody with an arts degree and never will. English, communications, philosophy, have at it. Some of my best technical managers majored in English. Theology says something specific about how you process reality.
- mavelikara 5y ago
  > Theology says something specific about how you process reality. I will point out that one of the founders of a core CS discipline have written books [1] on what can be called theology. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth#Works_regarding_his_religious_beliefs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth#Works_regarding_h...
  - plussed_reader 5y ago
    Ok, but that wasn't his focus. Your point? We all have musings that cross domains; why does this persons book hold significance to you for this thread?
    - mavelikara 5y ago
      Sorry, this wasn't clear enough to you in my original comment. My point was that judging someone's ability to do CS negatively by their interest in theology, as presented by the person I was replying to, is refuted by a well-known example. Makes sense now?
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  Not necessarily - theology is just philosophy. Biblical literalism is an almost uniquely American phenomenon, there are plenty of Christians around the world and in the US who don't believe the earth was literally created 6000 years ago.
  - StrictDabbler 5y ago
    Theology is just philosophy. Applied Theology is an American evangelist field of study that focuses on shaping your life and the world around you to operate according to the will and word of the Christian Evangelist god.
DoreenMichele 5y ago
FWIW, I read it as a joke in part about how common it is in their experience to run into people without CS degrees who are in this field. (And in part just an opportunity to play with language. I grew up in the Bible Belt. Gentle humor about religion/spirituality is something I am no stranger to.)
longhairedhippy 5y ago
I totally agree with this and for a entry-level job, with no experience, I would be totally cool with ignoring the degree is the person was right. For a manager or higher level engineer, I believe some amount of prior experience is necessary, the degree is not a requirement but it may influence how much experience I am willing to accept as requisite for the position.

enkid 5y ago

How do you apply theology?

Me1000 5y ago
Pray your infrastructure is secure?
maxrev17 5y ago
Pray your infra is secure haha brilliant!
DoreenMichele 5y ago
Practice what you preach?

krisoft 5y ago

In Vernor Vinge’s scifi novel “A Fire Upon the Deep” applied theology is the study and appeasement of superhuman sentient AIs. :) Its a field where the study subjects either completely ignore the practicioners, or squashes them like bugs. Also by the sound of it it involves a lot of software archelogy. Who knows, if they studied, and survived, that kind of applied theology they might be good for technical leads.

lowbloodsugar 5y ago

Could have been Computational Demonology but you didn't have clearance.

galangalalgol 5y ago
I was trying to use rust to write a hyperdimensional version of Conway's game of life and sone suits showed up with papers for me to sign and said if I hadn't used rust we'd have all been dead.