Reply to I Dropped Computer Science at CMU: Here's Why

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[quote=Anonymous]I have a BS Computer Engineering (VTech) and an MS Computer Engineering (UVA) in 2010.  I am currently working for a cybersecurity company and I am going to try my best to answer.  My experience might be different from other CS folks and my salary is about 350K per year.  Here we go:
- I use less than 1% of what I learned at VTech and UVA for my current job.  One can say that I could have done it just as well without degrees from VTech and UVA.  99% of what I do I learn on the job,
- I was an Oracle Database Administrator in my previous position and again, one doesn't need a degree to be a good DBA, certainly not a fancy degree.  HOWEVER, if you're the one who writes the code and designs the actual Oracle database (i.e. working for Oracle), yes, those CS courses at VTech and UVA are a must.  For a regular DBA, the answer is NO,
- I am currently in CyberSecurity and I don't use those advanced CS courses for my daily work, far from it.  Most of the cybersecurity courses taught at universities are very "academic" and have very little usage in the real world.  For example, reading packet capture is very sophisticated but 99% of the time, you do NOT need to go deep into that level.  
- Even those "software" engineers who work for AWS, they are more like "coders" and nothing else thus making 99% of what you studied in college unnecessary, unless you work for companies like Cisco Sytems, Palo Alto network, Checkpoint where you actually build the actual software.  In that case, yes a lot of what you learn in college will apply,  
In summary, 99% of CS classes do not apply to most people who work in CS field, only a very few.  YMMV.[/quote]

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