> Beyond a few general requirements, most CS programs do let you focus on what you’re interested in, and to much greater depth and pragmatic application than trade school.
Not that few. Here's what mine has:
- Writing x 2
- Discrete Mathematics (a few concepts in there are really needed - the rest is mostly not)
- Public Speaking
- Humanities x 4
- Calculus x 2 (I doubt even 10% of SW folks use this)
- Linear Algebra (as few as calculus use this)
- science course (e.g. chemisty, bio, phys - you pick) x 2
- Non tech seminars x 2
- Probability and Statistics (I'd argue one should take this, but I'd still wager less than a quarter of developers use this)
What's worse: The majority of the above are in the first two years - so if you don't have the discipline to do courses you feel are irrelevant, you just want get to the fun stuff. Only 6 out of the first 20 courses are related to computers.
> “I never would have cut it in college” is not a free pass from needing a well-rounded education, appreciation of art, literature, business, ethics, etc., and good writing, communication and organizational skills well beyond what’s taught in trade school. This is becoming increasingly critical in business software settings, where developers are often working directly in tandem with product managers.
Look - I think I gained quite a bit from the well rounded education I got. And my general advice is that people should go for it. However, I also have the reality of experience: Most of my peers who have degrees are poor at writing, poor at communication, poor at ethics, and poor at business skills. I see nothing differentiating them from trade school folks in this regard - and these all matter in the work place.
So yes, I gained quite a bit from those courses. But the reality is most grads do not.