Computer Programming Degree

[Anonymous No.5472282]

What's the best degree to go into computer programming and why?

CompSci, Software Engineering, or something else?

[Anonymous No.5472288]

Comp Sci if you plan on getting masters or higher.
Software Eng if you're going to work right after your bachelor's.

Software Eng is nicer looking when you go job hunting, but comp sci usually better prepares you for graduate programs. My school offers both. Only slight differences between the two, but comp sci takes a few more advanced programming and theory classes I think

[Anonymous No.5472291]

I do believe that CompSci is more theory and math and not as much programming as in software engineering.

It depends on what you like about programming, creating stuff or solving problems with clever algorithms?

[Anonymous No.5472309]

I've hired 10 programmers in the past few years. My thought process is this:

1) Toss all the business/IS resumes in the trash.
2) The difference in programmer productivity is huge. Toss the C students, they are slackers or dumb.
3) For the B students, try to determine why they aren't A students. Maybe they got all A's in comp classes, but blew off Renaissance History. If I conclude that B's were the best they could do, I put them in my "meh" pile. Maybe they can write reports or some other drone-like work.
4) My first choice is the A students or the B students who demonstrate a passion for computers.
5) After that it's personality. I expect nerds, but are they so dysfunctional that they can't work in a team environment? Are they overly arrogant?
6) During the interview, I ask lots of technical questions and architectural concepts to discern how well they understand computers.
7) I ask about gaming. If they are hard-core gamers I usually move them to the bottom of the list (sick of firing WoW players who are late to work every day because they were raiding until 2am).

Beyond that, I just look for hints that they would be a great employee.

[Anonymous No.5472319]

>>5472309
>6) During the interview, I ask lots of technical questions and architectural concepts to discern how well they understand computers.
>7) I ask about gaming. If they are hard-core gamers I usually move them to the bottom of the list (sick of firing WoW players who are late to work every day because they were raiding until 2am).

Sounds like complete bullshit and completely out of the norm when it comes to actually hiring programmers.

I've never had to do any hiring but I have a friend who works at a start up here in Vancouver and they don't look at resumes in the same way you do. Not grades.

They look at blogs, projects, twitter feeds.

They get an interview and actually ask them about the projects they work on, not a regurgitation of what they learn in their lectures.

But I guess that's because this guy actually is a programmer.

You don't sound like a programmer, you sound like a lowly HR worker.

[Anonymous No.5472345]

>>5472309
>picking people who waste their time on good grades instead of hacking side projects
>gamers not being the only kind of cs nerd out there who socializes and can into teamplay

0/10, wouldn't work. maybe if the pay was over-average.

[Anonymous No.5473667]

>>5472282
Computer Engineering. You learn how to code just as well as any CS major but walk away with an understanding of how a computer works.

CS is utter mindless garbage at the undergrad level. If you want theory then graduate courses are the only place where you'll find it. And no, you do not need to be a CS major to take CS grad courses.
Software Engineering isn't a degree at good schools, you don't need 4 years to learn UML, svn/git, and how to work in or manage a team. Co-Ops/internships are far better than a bunch of class projects when looking for jobs.

[Anonymous No.5473707]

[Anonymous No.5473945]

Is the degree a big part of getting hired as a programmer, or is it your knowledge of programming and experience that will get you hired?

I want to obtain a bachelor in software engineering, but this will put my under huge financial stress.

Or, by going to my local institute of technology I could gain a bachelor of computer systems without any major financial burdens.

So, is it worth having a less than ideal degree in exchange for financial security? Will going for the computer systems degree greatly impede my chances of being hired as a programmer as opposed to the software engineering degree?