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Whilst you can learn programming from a book, you can't learn software engineering from a book. The difference is like being able to build a dog kennel in the

Whilst you can learn programming from a book, you can't learn software engineering from a book. The difference is like being able to build a dog kennel in the backyard or a forty story skyscraper. It takes serious knowledge and experience to build the skyscraper. If you get the kennel wrong, the dog will continue to sleep on your couch/bed, get the skyscraper wrong and ... If you don't have a passion for biology, then you might not enjoy it as a career. However, college experience and corporate experiences are very different. My vote for an engineering education is that it teaches you to be aware of how little you know and how much work it takes to increase your knowledge and experience just a little bit.

jamesbritt 17y ago
"Whilst you can learn programming from a book, you can't learn software engineering from a book." I have a CS degree, and I'm not so sure I learned software engineering in school. But I still think my time and money were well spent. I did learn a good deal of math and theory that has, over time, informed my progress as a developer. I was also exposed to things that helped me learn what I don't want to do as a career. I learned to be better writer, too, thanks to some kick-ass English profs. (No thanks to the guidance consoler who was against my minoring in tech writing, though.) BTW, I started off as EE, but didn't care for the abundance of physics courses (the math was kicking my butt). I was required to take an intro programming class, and that made me change majors. Why fight with the facts of the real world when software gives you your own opinionated reality? :) So, you never know ...