[aklug] Re: AKLUG and others

On Thursday 04 March 2010, Christopher Howard elucidated thus:
> My twelve cents, as a UAF student and aspiring programmer: Nearly
> everything I've every learned about programming was learned /outside/
> of class. Everything they have tried to teach me about programming
> per se, I either already knew, or could have learned in twenty
> minutes through online tutorials.
>
> The CS program would be a complete waste of time and money for me
> except, as Josh mentioned, there are some useful classes that teach
> you about how a computer works. For example, understanding what goes
> on in the registers or how the various aspects of memory work can
> give you a better perspective on how to program well. (And of course,
> math courses and such are beneficial.)
>
> Not to say there aren't neat things you can learn to do in high level
> courses. I'm just convinced, more than ever, that you don't learn
> /how to program/ at a university. You have to do that on your own,
> with lots of trial and error practice.

I'm assuming you read the blog post. I agree totally with you. UAF is
very theory-heavy. Depending on who you talk to, that's a good thing,
or a bad thing. I know, personally, if I'm ever in a position to hire
programmers, I'm going to go for someone who was taught good theory,
and learned a lot on their own, vs. someone who was spoon fed Java, or
just crammed for a lot of MS certs.

j

-- 
Joshua Kugler
Part-Time System Admin/Programmer
http://www.eeinternet.com
PGP Key: http://pgp.mit.edu/  ID 0x73B13B6A
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