4 ms·

I had a professor from hell while doing my BS in CS. I was generally a straight A student. I really tried to do my best and cared about my grades. It was the fi

by avgDev 4y ago

I had a professor from hell while doing my BS in CS. I was generally a straight A student. I really tried to do my best and cared about my grades. It was the first and last time when I went and talked about a professor to a department head. Said professor came to class often unprepared. Deviated from the syllabus. He talked to some students that he wants to build games and not teach. This was an AI class. Throughout the course he kept telling us to keep our quizzes as they will be helpful for the midterm and final. He hasn't graded or returned any quizzes by midterm, and returned quizzes like a class before the final. His teaching style was pathetic. All our curses were in Java, on first day he told us to install Visual Studio and write this program just to warm up. Then he gave us a problem to solve. 90% of class was installing the IDE and figuring out how to write programs in C# and VS during the duration said class. Literally one guy was doing alright who was a professional game dev using c#. He would read straight from a book, sometimes using visual aids. Then would give a problem to apply said algorithm to and say "GO, if you have problems ask for help". 30 people were asking for help and he could barely help one by end of class. Handful of times we got an email that he won't make it to class. One time 15 minutes into the class. That game dev scored below passing grade on midterm and final. Same as rest of the class. The curve was so high my total 60% got me to an A. Still majority of the class failed. I wish never to have a professor like him again and from what I heard he moved to a private sector.

Calavar 4y ago
Most of my CS faculty in undergrad were great, but there were a couple like the guy you describe. And I wonder why in the world they took jobs as lecturers. If you don't have a passion for teaching, why take a job that pays substantially less than what you get in industry? CS isn't like, say, English where there aren't enough nonacademic jobs to go around. In contrast, most of my faculty in medical school were terrible teachers. But there it made sense why. They were either there because they wanted to work at a large quartenary referral hospital or because they wanted to teach residents (not students).
- bena 4y ago
  You take a job that pays substantially less than what you can get in the industry because it either pays more than other industry-adjacent jobs you can get. Or, you take a job that pays substantially less because you are required to teach as part of your post-baccalaureate degree requirements. Some people teach because they want to. They have a strong desire to instruct and mentor people. To help others get better. Some people teach because they have to. Primary education has different requirements than secondary (at least in the US). Typically, in primary education, you need a degree in education specifically and to be certified to teach in the state you wish to teach. To teach in secondary education, you need whatever requirements are set forth by the institution. Typically, you'll need a post-baccalaureate degree or be working towards one. But as far as being "good" at the thing you're teaching. That's not necessarily required.
- daxelrod 4y ago
  > And I wonder why in the world they took jobs as lecturers. If you don't have a passion for teaching, why take a job that pays substantially less than what you get in industry? I don't know about this specific situation, but many professors enjoy and are good at research and see teaching as necessary overhead in their jobs. Professors tend to have much more freedom than people doing research in industry and for some people that's worth it.
  - Merciernmon 4y ago
    Yes, that is the standard bargain for tenure-track professors at U.S. research universities. You pay a little bit of teaching time (0-2 courses a semester) and get an abundance of research time. Tenure decisions are mostly based on research success. Teaching plays almost no role. Essentially, you're on a six-year clock to get X number of top journal publications. That provides a massive incentive for professors to focus almost exclusively on research over teaching. PhD students face similar incentives. While they might have to teach a course in order to earn their stipend, their job market success is based almost entirely on their dissertation. Every hour teaching is an hour not writing. Adjunct professors ("lecturers") are different. Just speculating but... some professional flaws might only be tolerated in a university environment. You can go years as a lecturer without returning class quizzes. You can't go a month as a SWE without returning your boss's emails. Caveat: American economist with experience working for governments and universities. Other countries may be different.
Maursault 4y ago
Had a Calc II course that was going well until the instructor left midway through for maternity leave. The replacement instructor was a young, attractive and buttoned-up Indian national who's English was borderline unintelligible. She took great personal offense when asked to repeat what she just said. I got A's in first year 5 hour Calc I, but I had to eat the C for first semester 3 hour Calc II.
nyokodo 4y ago
> All our curses were in Java Freudian slip?
- avgDev 4y ago
  Hah good catch and I definitely prefer C# over Java these days.

by avgDev 4y ago

Calavar 4y ago

Most of my CS faculty in undergrad were great, but there were a couple like the guy you describe. And I wonder why in the world they took jobs as lecturers. If you don't have a passion for teaching, why take a job that pays substantially less than what you get in industry? CS isn't like, say, English where there aren't enough nonacademic jobs to go around. In contrast, most of my faculty in medical school were terrible teachers. But there it made sense why. They were either there because they wanted to work at a large quartenary referral hospital or because they wanted to teach residents (not students).

bena 4y ago
You take a job that pays substantially less than what you can get in the industry because it either pays more than other industry-adjacent jobs you can get. Or, you take a job that pays substantially less because you are required to teach as part of your post-baccalaureate degree requirements. Some people teach because they want to. They have a strong desire to instruct and mentor people. To help others get better. Some people teach because they have to. Primary education has different requirements than secondary (at least in the US). Typically, in primary education, you need a degree in education specifically and to be certified to teach in the state you wish to teach. To teach in secondary education, you need whatever requirements are set forth by the institution. Typically, you'll need a post-baccalaureate degree or be working towards one. But as far as being "good" at the thing you're teaching. That's not necessarily required.
daxelrod 4y ago
> And I wonder why in the world they took jobs as lecturers. If you don't have a passion for teaching, why take a job that pays substantially less than what you get in industry? I don't know about this specific situation, but many professors enjoy and are good at research and see teaching as necessary overhead in their jobs. Professors tend to have much more freedom than people doing research in industry and for some people that's worth it.
- Merciernmon 4y ago
  Yes, that is the standard bargain for tenure-track professors at U.S. research universities. You pay a little bit of teaching time (0-2 courses a semester) and get an abundance of research time. Tenure decisions are mostly based on research success. Teaching plays almost no role. Essentially, you're on a six-year clock to get X number of top journal publications. That provides a massive incentive for professors to focus almost exclusively on research over teaching. PhD students face similar incentives. While they might have to teach a course in order to earn their stipend, their job market success is based almost entirely on their dissertation. Every hour teaching is an hour not writing. Adjunct professors ("lecturers") are different. Just speculating but... some professional flaws might only be tolerated in a university environment. You can go years as a lecturer without returning class quizzes. You can't go a month as a SWE without returning your boss's emails. Caveat: American economist with experience working for governments and universities. Other countries may be different.

Maursault 4y ago

Had a Calc II course that was going well until the instructor left midway through for maternity leave. The replacement instructor was a young, attractive and buttoned-up Indian national who's English was borderline unintelligible. She took great personal offense when asked to repeat what she just said. I got A's in first year 5 hour Calc I, but I had to eat the C for first semester 3 hour Calc II.

nyokodo 4y ago

> All our curses were in Java Freudian slip?

avgDev 4y ago
Hah good catch and I definitely prefer C# over Java these days.