The logic here is completely faulty. (And yes I am a CS major)
What the author said for CS can easily be replaced by leadership, communication skills, analytical skills, integrative thinking, and many other things. Majoring in CS because of this? Hell no.
Yes, for centuries literacy has been crucial to individual success, but that did not mean everyone must major in literature. Instead, it simply meant those studying engineering, business, and etc had to take a class or two in communication. The business major going into management consulting has to have excellent communication skills, but at the core, it's his business, analytical, and business communication skills that really matter.
Perhaps in the future everyone will be required to code to some degree, but that does not mean completely going out of your way and spending endless hours for a CS degree "just because you will have to code". The fact that the author mentioned you are concentrating on the "hack aspect" of CS makes the argument even more ignorant. The argument might have been semi-valid had it been for the validity of studying machine learning, data mining and pattern recognition, and other more mathematical aspects.
But hacking? Hell no. Ask the financial analyst whom has to code. Is "hacking" more important, or his/her mathematical skills. Going back to the literature example: ask a senior executive: is his strong ability in literature what got him there?
As someone who has studied and taught computer science in three different universities in three different countries (and therefore three different educational systems— France, UK, US), I can tell you from experience that you won't learn hacking by being a CS major.
As a CS major, you will learn a various amount of "theory" and "physics" (to reuse pg's terminology) depending on your university (for example, the university in France where I did my undergrad had a lot of mathematicians amongst professors, so we had a lot of math + cs theory classes, whereas some of my friends elsewhere had more EE-style courses). But no "hacking".
You will learn the hacking part by hanging out with the kids who like to code, grad students in the labs, by working on open source projects in your spare time, etc. — but one needs not be a CS major to participate in those.
If I had to start again, I would probably choose to study mathematics or philosophy. CS is a fascinating topic, but the way it is taught is antiquated, and it is one of the easiest topics to teach to oneself.
Of course, this is all based on my own personal experience, so it is a completely subjective opinion.
I have to agree with what's been said here. I too am majoring in CS, but I'm majoring in CS because I love the field, not because of what I believe may happen in the future to make my skills useful. The fact that you say you don't know if you like CS is fairly alarming if you're choosing to study it and pursue a career related to it.
You're better off doing what you enjoy the most; you can find work related to pretty much any major if you look hard enough and you'll enjoy doing that work much more than you would anything else (especially something chosen for its earning potential or future usefulness). From a practical standpoint, if you do what gives you the most joy you'll naturally be more willing to put in the time necessary to become accomplished in your chosen field, making your chances at success and (more importantly) happiness far more likely.
I know this is heresy around here, I find this mentality extremely irresponsible. Irresponsible for those promoting it and those who would follow it. The fact is, its so easy for us in this field to say "do what you love, and the rest will work itself out!". To be a CS major while pushing this mentality on everyone is completely self-serving. We get to be smug about doing what we love, while also being paid very well for it. We "live the dream", and we're going to make sure everyone knows it. Sure, that advice works swimmingly for CS; not so much for art majors and history majors who can't find jobs.
The only people who are qualified to give this advice are those who can't find a decent job after years of searching, yet would still not change their field of study if they could do it over again.
I wholeheartedly disagree. Only major in CS if you genuinely love it. I am a cold logic machine about nearly everything, but when it comes to your career and your life's work, you gotta follow your heart--not your head! Plus learning is easy when you find the subject matter fascinating.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 36.4 ms ] threadWhat the author said for CS can easily be replaced by leadership, communication skills, analytical skills, integrative thinking, and many other things. Majoring in CS because of this? Hell no.
Yes, for centuries literacy has been crucial to individual success, but that did not mean everyone must major in literature. Instead, it simply meant those studying engineering, business, and etc had to take a class or two in communication. The business major going into management consulting has to have excellent communication skills, but at the core, it's his business, analytical, and business communication skills that really matter.
Perhaps in the future everyone will be required to code to some degree, but that does not mean completely going out of your way and spending endless hours for a CS degree "just because you will have to code". The fact that the author mentioned you are concentrating on the "hack aspect" of CS makes the argument even more ignorant. The argument might have been semi-valid had it been for the validity of studying machine learning, data mining and pattern recognition, and other more mathematical aspects.
But hacking? Hell no. Ask the financial analyst whom has to code. Is "hacking" more important, or his/her mathematical skills. Going back to the literature example: ask a senior executive: is his strong ability in literature what got him there?
CS ain't everything.
As a CS major, you will learn a various amount of "theory" and "physics" (to reuse pg's terminology) depending on your university (for example, the university in France where I did my undergrad had a lot of mathematicians amongst professors, so we had a lot of math + cs theory classes, whereas some of my friends elsewhere had more EE-style courses). But no "hacking".
You will learn the hacking part by hanging out with the kids who like to code, grad students in the labs, by working on open source projects in your spare time, etc. — but one needs not be a CS major to participate in those.
If I had to start again, I would probably choose to study mathematics or philosophy. CS is a fascinating topic, but the way it is taught is antiquated, and it is one of the easiest topics to teach to oneself.
Of course, this is all based on my own personal experience, so it is a completely subjective opinion.
You're better off doing what you enjoy the most; you can find work related to pretty much any major if you look hard enough and you'll enjoy doing that work much more than you would anything else (especially something chosen for its earning potential or future usefulness). From a practical standpoint, if you do what gives you the most joy you'll naturally be more willing to put in the time necessary to become accomplished in your chosen field, making your chances at success and (more importantly) happiness far more likely.
The only people who are qualified to give this advice are those who can't find a decent job after years of searching, yet would still not change their field of study if they could do it over again.