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Comment by const_cast | Hacker News Reader

> No front but a "CS degree" is, for 99% of the people that have one, factually useless

I just don't understand how people can believe this. I learned most of my programming skills in college, and everyone I know did too. I could program before, but really poorly, because I didn't have fundamental computer science knowledge. Taking algorithms, theoretical comp sci, discrete structures - these transformed me from a code monkey to a real programmer.

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>I learned most of my programming skills in college, and everyone I know did too. I could program before, but really poorly, because I didn't have fundamental computer science knowledge.

This, a lot of the self taught folks that sneer at degrees often struggle with things that were essentially solved by algorithms that are very familiar to people with an education.

> Taking algorithms, theoretical comp sci, discrete structures - these transformed me from a code monkey to a real programmer.

That's what I meant! Companies don't want "real programmers". They want cogs who mindlessly implement what some "architect" dreams up, no questions asked.

Land the architect role and you're set for life (or at least until AGI appears), but everything else is just destined to be either moved off to AI or be replaced by some sort of offshoring venture.

Being able to tell your architect that their design does not scale and provide evidence why is something companies do actually want.

…but does the hiring manager? They probably don’t want to deal with the political issues that arise from that situation. Besides, if someone has that capability, they’re looking for an architect position themselves.

I don't think you need to be an architect to do algorithmic complexity analysis.

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