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>Like, there was a time where this kind of personality type would just go get an MBA One nuance that may help explain how the change happened is how the status
by bumby 4y ago
>Like, there was a time where this kind of personality type would just go get an MBA
One nuance that may help explain how the change happened is how the status of CS has changed in the last 20 years. Maybe its just my age bias, but there seems to be a perceptible change of how CS majors are viewed by society and that changes the type of people attracted to that curriculum.
It used to be that CS and engineering majors were the nerds who, as you say, "simply thought making stuff was cool." Nowadays, though, as CS commands a disproportionately large salary, it has higher status. This tends to attract more people who are in it the reasons of status and money, rather than for a fascination with the work. Anecdotally, when I ask people why they got into CS a surprising number now say something along the lines of "because it pays well."
It's my opinion that change in perspective can bias how one views cheating. If the curriculum is just a means to an end (i.e., if school is just a means to a degree, which is just a gateway to a job/paycheck), it seems to make cheating more palatable.
- JohnFen 4y ago> Anecdotally, when I ask people why they got into CS a surprising number now say something along the lines of "because it pays well." Yeah, I've noticed that too. It's utterly depressing.
- asimpletune 4y agoI don't know the history of the bar exam, but I could imagine something like that one day being instituted to protect our repetitional interest. Even though we're both talking about SWE, whereas CS is a different thing altogether.
- bumby 4y agoNCEES has tried to create a Professional Engineer license related to CS. It died out from a lack of interest.
- randcraw 4y agoI think computing in the 1980s was a very different enterprise than it is today. Back then it was about exploring a new world whose horizons were expanding fast, as processor speed and O/S capability grew seemingly without bound. IMHO it was the transition of the cutting edge away from technical to social after the web arose that changed the tenor of computing. Devices became secondary to connected apps, and the focus among the players shifted from love of innovative hacks to fascination for megabuck payouts, meanwhile 'coolness' described _using_ computers rather than making them dance.
- danaris 3y agoDespite how it often feels, "20 years ago" wasn't the 1980s.
- bradlys 4y agoIf you want people to take on jobs purely for non-socioeconomic reasons then you might need to fix the underlying socioeconomic problems. (e.g. cost of housing) I don't see any real movement from older generations to do anything about that. They just keep complaining about the youth chasing money instead of some "passion." (Which ignores that the material conditions have completely changed in the last 20 years)
- bumby 4y agoI don’t think this dichotomous thinking accurately captures the nuance and may just show a personal (and understandable) axe to grind. It’s definitely not an either-or choice. Somebody can still quite easily work in CS and find affordable and high quality living. But maybe not in SV. I’d even argue you can work on more interesting problems. But people overwhelmingly want to work in SV because of the status it confers.
- wanttocomment 4y agoI think the shift we have seen is from high status/upper classes suddenly taking an interest in CS. Not lower class people moving into middle class.