Journal Trolling4Dollars's Journal: Ask TrashSnot: Is a CS Degree Worth it? 12
After having worked professionally with computers since 1997 and having gotten only one professional certificiation (an NT4 MCSE which was dead simple to get), I've often wondered about going back to school to get a CS degree. But is it worth it for a 34 year old guy to do this?
My college degree was a BS in Communication (Telecomunication with emphasis on audio production) and was basically just to appease my folks. I've been out of college for over ten years now and the degree only really helped me in terms of being resume helper. Considering that it wasn't a hard science and I suck at math, I imagine I probably have a good deal of catching up to do before I could even pursue a Master's in CS. The thing is that over the past seven years, I've picked up a lot about networking, general OS support, scripting in CMD, Bash, Perl, a little TCL and programming in C (my big project is to really do a lot of C after the kid is born). Computers as a profession never occurred to me before because I mostly used them for music and graphic design. But once I moved to Linux, I got bit by the bug and started to play with computers at a much more advanced level and found it to be enjoyable. The whole D.I.Y. feel of the *nix OSes is much more fun than just using applications on Windows. So... the big question, should I try and take this interest and really hone my skills by getting a CS degree.
Finally, the setback. Like I said earlier, I suck at math. Not that I don't understand it, but I have a severe problem seeing my own mistakes unless someone points them out to me. Once, when I was taking a geometry class in undergrad school, I would literally check my work five times over. This made what should have been a 45 minute homework session more like 4-5 hours. But, I STILL couldn't catch my mistakes. When I would go in to talk to the teacher, they would instantly spot the error. usually a set of transposed digits or a minus sign instead of a plus sign. Even today, when I write something in Perl or Bash, I will make mistakes that I can't see... until the machine points them out. Fortunately, since the machine points them out, I "get" the problem and can usually fix it about 99% of the time. But working with computers hasn't required much actual math for programming in C or writing scripts in Perl/Bash. Instead it seems that logic is much more important and at that I excel. I knew this back in undergrad when I took a deductive logic course and aced it without trying while the rest of the students bemoaned their Cs Ds and Fs. So... in the "real world" of programming, how much math (as in figuring out the calculation before the computer can tell you that you made a mistake) is required?
Depends (Score:1)
If you're going to be doing business apps like billing management, there's a lot of business math. Basic arithmetic, ratios, and formulas. Doing scientific design is extremely math intensive. Doing "business support" type programming usually doesn't require much, but I've found that when it does, it requires some serious doozies.
I'm a college dropout. I have about half an associate's in "web development" finished, but dropped it in favor of getting work experience. I've mainly been doing the business suppo
Degree (Score:1)
Contradiction? (Score:1)
As for a Masters, if you have identif
Re:Contradiction? (Score:2)
I would point out though that being bad at math and good at logic can get you very far- I never got much better than a C in any math class until I got to Numerical Me
Let's clear this up (Score:2)
What I am trying to say is that Math is not what you think Math is. The part you struggled with is more like assembly in programming, which can simply be a sign of mild case of dyslexia. To prove this you could simply use Mathematica (from Wolfram, or Matlab, etc) for doing the part you had problems with. Math is more abstract, it simply relies on that you learn the mechanical part as a skill. My fellow PhD students which were good at math were usually te
no (Score:2)
If you already have a basic science degree don't bother. Programmers are commodity items, CS will only get you so far. To make dollars these days concentrate on *concept development* (see de Bono [edwarddebono.com] about thinking and ideas) and building a business for yourself. This way is hazardous but ultimately more rewarding. If you want to learn more CS then do some MIT online [mit.edu] courses.
Will add more about this latter gotta go.
My advice, worth what you paid for it :-) (Score:2)
Depends what you mean by "worth it" (Score:2)
Re:Depends what you mean by "worth it" (Score:1)
I went to a public university and paid in-state tuition of less than $2k/semester. I also worked throughout school and was hired (pending graduation) in my current position before starting my last semester.
As far as math goes, I wouldn't worry about it.
I'm really slow at math and I got through Calc II with a C. Th