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The Water Walker (wilsonch@newt.CS.ORST.EDU) wrote:
: I personally have learned more from reading books and
: coding on my own than from any class I've ever taken. I've seen people
: come out of thier first CS class, an intro to C++, writing program
: involving polymorphism and not understanding what they were actually
: doing. Alot of them barely even understood the basic syntax and what the
: reserved words even are. The system is designed to just run you through
: the material and be able to regurgitate enough info to pass an exam.
: They don't care if you actually know what to do with the knowledge.
Speaking as a university lecturer turned programmer, I think the universities *do* care that you know what to do with the knowledge. I know that a lot of the students who graduate are really pretty mediocre programmers, and there are a
lot of them I wouldn't employ. On the other hand, I would rather employ a
bright guy with formal training than a similarly bright guy who learnt by
reading Microsoft manuals, and I would rather employ a dope who has been
taught what to do than a dope who hasn't. I guess people who teach themselves
are usually capable, as if you weren't interested and couldn't do it, you
wouldn't bother to teach yourself. Having a degree shows some ability,
teaching yourself shows some motivation. Programmers should have both of
course! Programmers with just a degree should be treated as drones, and should
