Comments on: Educating new software developers

By: David Bardach

David Bardach — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:41:15 +0000

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By: Julio Skorupa

Julio Skorupa — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:20:59 +0000

Rather well put.

By: Carl Nelson

Carl Nelson — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:36:09 +0000

Maybe y’all need to understand what a university is and does. It is a non-profit seat of learning, not a commercial enterprise doing service tasks for profit. Which means you can make tax deductible contributions.

By: Paula Nelson

Paula Nelson — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:19:39 +0000

#5: That’s a real world solution and university prof’s aren’t about the real world.

By: TR

TR — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:00:36 +0000

Throw in some metrics and a little project management in a 4th year course. Use that slave labor to do the university’s easier computer and software upgrades rather than a contractor. Hold a professors’ salary raise hostage to the project outcome.

By: NewRob

NewRob — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:47:56 +0000

Yeah…I had to dust-off my carhart coveralls and jacket a few weeks ago. I miss wearing shorts in December and having healthy air to breath and living so far away from the in-laws

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:39:26 +0000

#1… My goals fall way short of CalTech. MIT would do fine. Or even Utah State (-:

#2… You did very well {new}Rob – we miss you! Note that we wear light jackets here still. Et Tu?

By: NewRob

NewRob — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:18:20 +0000

I agree Ken. The main reason that I studied CS was to be challenged and get my money’s worth out of college. The one thing I felt was lacking from the program though was the lack of real world software projects. In the more challenging classes we focused a lot on theory, which is important to a point, but the application was lacking. I think one reason for this was the faculty. Many of them had not worked outside of the academic setting and this was a detriment to the educational experience. Starting work with you after graduating was an eye-opening experience. There was a learning curve that I think could have been avoided with more practical software engineering projects in college. I guess they expect you to gain experience through internships and other jobs.

At which school are you joining the curriculum committee?

By: Carl Nelson

Carl Nelson — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:12:02 +0000

Stroustrup wants a trade school and you want a CalTech. The universities might actually be able to keep up their departments with excellent preparation if they could get all the motivated and bright foreign students who want to come. But for the moment, we are too xenophobic for that as we build our walls and demean foreign nations.

As you advise the colleges, remember that it has been more than twenty years since you left that world, and it has changed, as has the information world. You can speak about what you want to hire – today – while they have to run a college that needs a steady flow of customers who won’t be ready until four years pass.

NB: fewer graduates