Those who have done Uni will tell you to do Uni and those that havn't will
tell you it makes no difference. Just like a C programmer will generally
tell you that C is better than some other language choice.
Let me just say that programming is a wonderful career and there are a
wide variety of programming jobs. Starting with automating system admin
stuff, onto business type applications and then the rocket science. There
is plenty of work in all areas you just need to find which fits your mind
set and interests.
The thing you need most is the ability to think in an abstract manner and
as everyone has said to keep learning.
The problem is that everyone elses experiences are theirs and you really
need to find out what might work best for you. If you are smart, hard
working and eager to learn whichever course you take should be rewarding.
I thought the interview with Brian Kernighan had a good question on what
Universities should be focusing on. Pasted below.
Rodos
P.S. I did electronics at tech but never finished. I did comp sci at uni
and never finished. I have worked ever since I left school in 4 different
countries and now do my own consulting which works very well. If you are
good at what you do you should always do well.
--
An Interview with Brian Kernighan
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mihaib/kernighan-interview/index.html
M: Speaking of academia, I saw that you have taught at least two classes
at Princeton. I would like to ask about your opinion on computer science
education, because I heard complaints coming from the industry that
undergraduates in computer science classes master too much useless
theoretical skills and they don't know enough about real program
development.
K: I've taught four courses at Princeton and Harvard in the last four or
five years, at various levels, but that's not enough to qualify me as an
``expert'' in computer science education. Those are two particular
schools and I've taught rather screwball things. I don't think
universities should be in the business of teaching things that you should
learn at a trade school; I don't think it is the role of a university to
teach people how to use, let's say, Visual C++ and its Integrated
Development Environment. I think the role of the university is to teach
students how to program in a particular flavor of language that has for
example object-oriented character, to help students understand the issues
and trade-offs that go into families of languages, like C, C++ and Java,
and how those relate to languages which slice it in a different way, like
functional languages. Teaching students skills so that they can step
immediately into a Windows development shop and are able to write COM
programs is just not right. That's not what universities should be
doing; universities should be teaching things which are likely to last,
for a lifetime if you're lucky, but at least 5 or 10 or 20 years, and
that means principles and ideas. At the same time, they should be
illustrating them with the best possible examples taken from current
practice.
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | The first 90% of the code accounts for 90% of the
Camion Technology | development time. The remaining 10% of the code
+61 2 9873 5105 | accounts for the other 90% of the development time.
| [Tom Cargill]
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