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English major here. Leader of a tech team at a leading company. Derrida and David Foster Wallace were technically more challenging to my intelligence than wha

English major here. Leader of a tech team at a leading company. Derrida and David Foster Wallace were technically more challenging to my intelligence than what I do now. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, and it is not easy! But it is pretty entertaining (bordering on insulting) to see engineers huff and gruff that no one but engineers can be engineers. There's this weird rift in the developer world where only CS degrees are respected or only wunderkinds who dropped out of high school in their freshman year at a prestigious university are real engineers and everyone else is unworthy of the title. I suppose it is partly because it is a threat to the specialization of engineers (how can someone four years behind me be as good: impossible!). In my experience, however, some of the best people I have worked with are doing something other than what their degree is in because they are curious people who are passionate about lots of things and picked one in college because they had to for the sake of a major. Lots of people happen to be good with both sides of their brain.

fratis 14y ago
Structure, Sign, and Play > Why's Guide, hmm? ;)
michaelochurch 14y ago
The idea that "liberal arts are easy" comes from the grade inflation in many universities (specifically, the differential of inflation between LA and STEM) which actually gives misleading signals about peoples' chances in the job market. It's a lot harder to get a writing job than an entry-level programming job. If the grades were better market signals, English and history courses would be giving a lot more B's and C's, and people would stop thinking "I can't do math" after working their asses off for a B+.
alexbell 14y ago
I have a poli sci degree, about two years of CS at a community college. I am a techincal lead at post acquisition company, I started with them as an unpaid intern when the founders worked out of an apartment. Agree 100% about "curious people who are passionate". Interviewing people that have engineering degrees, I find a lot of people I could describe as bored or not curious. Sure it's not the case for everyone, but I think an engineer without an engineering degree is naturally going to be more prone to learn outside of their job. A lot of people with CS degrees seem to think the learning part of their job is done.
edderly 14y ago
It is sad that degrees have become 'character classes'. I think people lose perspective that a degree is at worst a piece of paper describing what you may have been studying for a very brief part of your life. It cuts both ways too. It's laughable that an English literature degree would somehow make you more empathetic than an electronics student.

fratis 14y ago

Structure, Sign, and Play > Why's Guide, hmm? ;)

michaelochurch 14y ago

The idea that "liberal arts are easy" comes from the grade inflation in many universities (specifically, the differential of inflation between LA and STEM) which actually gives misleading signals about peoples' chances in the job market. It's a lot harder to get a writing job than an entry-level programming job. If the grades were better market signals, English and history courses would be giving a lot more B's and C's, and people would stop thinking "I can't do math" after working their asses off for a B+.

alexbell 14y ago

I have a poli sci degree, about two years of CS at a community college. I am a techincal lead at post acquisition company, I started with them as an unpaid intern when the founders worked out of an apartment. Agree 100% about "curious people who are passionate". Interviewing people that have engineering degrees, I find a lot of people I could describe as bored or not curious. Sure it's not the case for everyone, but I think an engineer without an engineering degree is naturally going to be more prone to learn outside of their job. A lot of people with CS degrees seem to think the learning part of their job is done.

edderly 14y ago

It is sad that degrees have become 'character classes'. I think people lose perspective that a degree is at worst a piece of paper describing what you may have been studying for a very brief part of your life. It cuts both ways too. It's laughable that an English literature degree would somehow make you more empathetic than an electronics student.