There's a great post (and an even better discussion thread) by Janelle Godfrey titled If I Could Turn Back Time: Why I Wish I had Studied Computer Science/IT/Technology in College.
The gist of the post is that Janelle is hearing/seeing massive declines in enrollments in college CS degrees and is wondering why this is happenning.
“So, I am wondering why students are turning away from this major, and I came up with three main arguments:
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There are so many companies looking for technical hires that students think they can get a job without that degree.
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Students feel that what you major in isn’t as important as what your interests are or what you are talented in.
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Computer Science and IT courses are outdated, with old technology, so students don’t see the need to spend $30,000 a year on learning what they could learn from reading a book.“
Go read the post. Definitely read through the discussion comments, too.
I agree with Janelle's 3 points and I would add a 4th -- “college freshmen see the ridiculous offshoring of IT jobs and say 'forget it!'”
Discuss.
-Ben
--ps...my college degree is in music performance (jazz voice, jazz piano). 99.9% of what I learned about computers is self-taught or comes from reading manuals and books. Lots of my very accomplished tech friends and collegues have either no CS degree or no college degree at all.
posted @ Wednesday, April 25, 2007 6:20 AM