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All this is needed for becoming a better what?
by switchb4 5y ago
All this is needed for becoming a better what?
- habibur 5y agoBalancing binary tree.
- switchb4 5y agoYou couldn't say computer scientist
- sdevonoes 5y agoDon't get it (was it a joke?) Answering your question: To become a better computer scientist.
- switchb4 5y agoYou can't call yourself a computer scientist by doing self taught education. That's the biggest problem with it
- alexeldeib 5y agoYou can't say you have a degree in computer science, but you can certainly learn and practice the theory and concepts just as well as anyone else. And to that end: I see lots of good material!
- larodi 5y agoat the end of all this self-thought modern approach to education i see only one thing - alienation.
- switchb4 5y agoExactly.
- alexeldeib 5y agoAlienation from? The academic community? I question whether those are the folks this content targets.
- switchb4 5y agoYes alienation from the academic community
- detaro 5y agoWho cares? The academic community is often alienating everybody who is not in academia, degree or not. And where it isn't, it doesn't care if you have a degree or not.
- throwawayobvs 5y agoThe hard truth is that there isn't much "science" in most computer "science" jobs. The world needs brick layers too. Nothing wrong with that as such, but confusing computer scientists with programming workers is one of the root causes for the software mess these days.
- larodi 5y agoself-educated know-it-alls are much more responsible for the appalling level of alienation of people in IT in general. since so many people are self-taught they are eventually not learned into exchanging knowledge with other humans.
- FranzFerdiNaN 5y agoI have multiple degrees in history yet I’m completely detached from the academic community because I don’t do research and don’t publish anything. So if I follow your logic it means I (and many thousands like me) have no degree at all?
- foolinaround 5y agothat does not seem to be the primary intention of the creators. Even if it is a side-effect, who cares?
- larodi 5y agovery much true. better computer scientist needs interaction with other people, needs to learn to respect their views or at least understand them, evaluate. perhaps needs to meet other scientists. to exchange ideas and approaches. this is what schools and academia is for. this whole self-taught thing is a time-bomb. we already have too many self-taught engineers, architects and what-nots who can only work with themselves, listen to themselves, and agree to their own designs. not okay. being good at anything more often than not means also being good in working with people. even though you can also call yourself better piper or better kiter, doesn't mean you actually are better at anything just like this.
- cinntaile 5y agoThis is a red herring. This is for improving your technical competency, not for improving your social skills. It doesn't mean social skills are unimportant, it just means that this doesn't focus on that part of the equation. Do you have any issues with the technical material they suggest you focus on?
- larodi 5y agoautomated tools are top for improving certain tech skills. like Duolingo is good for as a language starter. But only talking with other people will really teach you the language - people teach each other even if they don't have the intent to do it. Same with technology. Social skills are very important, cannot be more important in these times. 15+ years in academia, not as researcher, but as teacher, showed one thing - the best learners are those who are best at listening, at interacting with others, not the top-bookshelf-worms. Usually not the top kids, but most usually become top contributors to teams and companies at later point. Surely now and then an Einstein is born, but we also know of people who were very active in their social interaction without all the academia fuss about it. and academia is one place to find people to interact with. and academia is not only Oxford and MIT where entry level is very hard, nearly impossible. So all of this is not about academia, rather about being human with humans.
- wildgeodude 5y agosome interesting sweeping generalisations there...
- cyrksoft 5y agoWhy not?
- peferron 5y agoIs it a protected title where you live?
- wildgeodude 5y agoWhy not?!
- strangeattractr 5y agoMost people that do computer science degrees don't call themselves computer scientists afterward. In fact, the only people I've ever known that call themselves that title are those in academia.
- alexeldeib 5y agoAnswered further down, but this take seems very pessimistic. So what if this doesn't result in a computer science degree? It absolutely will result in a deeper understanding of the theory of computer science, its practical uses in software development, and a hardware level understanding of how computation works in practice. That's nothing to sneer at.
- switchb4 5y agoBut you can't use this knowledge to build something significant that community calls you a computer scientist.
- alexeldeib 5y agoWhy does that matter? Think of this from the perspective of a bootcamp grad working in tech, for example. That person might want to complement their practical skills with theoretical knowledge and deeper understanding. That understanding can help them hone their skills and develop professionally as an engineer. There are lots of people for whom this content is very valuable. Many of those people don't necessarily care about being able to use the title "computer scientist" is totally irrelevant. I have a degree in computer science but I don't call myself a computer scientist. I don't see the reason to disparage the content because it doesn't come with the title. Maybe I'm missing something you can share?
- switchb4 5y agoWhat is in CS that makes it a field that can be self taught? Can you become a self taught physicist? I think you can't. Then what is the difference between studies in CS and physics?
- fbcpck 5y agoThis comes back to your (or my) definition of science. To me it's just about furthering knowledge through provable explanations. Is it more efficient if you collaborate with other people with the same goal (e.g. Academia)? Yes. Is it a necessity to conduct science? Absolutely not; how do you think it was done in the past? Almost all of the early scientists were self-taught individuals.
- hestefisk 5y agoI personally find the algebra and infinitesimal calculus quite useful for general problem solving skills. Sure it doesn’t provide you with concrete skills in the latest JS framework but it does help in terms of ability to reason about abstract problems and generalisations. Each to their own but I find it quite useful (I used to be a dev but now work in strategy consulting and here I cherish my math skills every day).