Anonymous wrote:So… seems like every other child applying to college wants to major in computer science. If you have one of these kids, what are their specific reasons for wanting this major? Are all of these kids engaging in computer science activities currently or are they thinking that they will just try it out as a major and see what happens? It seems like the biology major equivalent for all of the premed students.

If its CS or pre-med, decisions of 75% of them are based in parental fears, not personal interest or passion.

I do feel for the next two graduating CS classes. The layoffs and economic headwinds are going to really hurt their job prospects, which looked so amazing when they started school. Meta rescinded some offers already this year and I'm sure they will be far more conservative with intern and new grad classes in the near future.

Anonymous wrote:The only questionable thing about CS majors I've observed in my big tech work over the last few years is that too many people have become so STEM focused in their education that they are not gaining enough of the writing, speaking, or soft skills that are so vital to moving up in a tech company.

The entry and mid-level coding roles are the ones that AI will eventually impact, so developing a wider skillset while you easily can in college is smart to do with that future threat too.

Agreed, pushed my son to do a combined major in CS and business taking writing and humanities classes.

The only questionable thing about CS majors I've observed in my big tech work over the last few years is that too many people have become so STEM focused in their education that they are not gaining enough of the writing, speaking, or soft skills that are so vital to moving up in a tech company.

The entry and mid-level coding roles are the ones that AI will eventually impact, so developing a wider skillset while you easily can in college is smart to do with that future threat too.

My kid has been obsessed with technology and programming since he was 5 hence he is majoring in CS/AI. I do not understand the people who think CS will be replaced with AI - laughable in near term. When it is, CS will be one of the best majors to adapt because CS is a hard curriculum of math, algorithms, logic, analysis. CS produces great thinkers- coding is one of the things they can do, of many.

By that same token, I could never major in CS- way too hard if you are not inclined.

I have two kids who want CS. One is already in college studying CS. Other is HS senior who plans to study CS. Both have logical minds and are good at math. The older kid enjoys his CS classes. He is not in it for the money or job prospects. There wasn't any other subject he enjoyed more. HS senior is very similar. The HS CS teachers thought they were both well suited for the CS field.

DS chose it for remote work opportunities, $$ and he’s smart enough to handle it. I think he would have enjoyed engineering which is a family major on my side.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s mostly about jobs and money. It’s today’s “engineering.”

Which is the most important factor

Money. There are lots of jobs, but not many that start at $100k+ out of undergraduate school and ramp to $300k a decade later. Marry your equal and you’re retired by 30.

Anonymous wrote:It’s mostly about jobs and money. It’s today’s “engineering.”

Which is the most important factor

It’s mostly about jobs and money. It’s today’s “engineering.”

DC has no idea about to major in, no passion or interest in any specific major, so why not apply to CS, at least it seems useful

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AI has issues with general things. It's been 15 years since the last spewing of AI taking over coding from humans.

Actually if anything AI helps programers from making stupid mistakes but that's it at least for now.

So plenty of CS jobs around.

You clearly haven't been following the latest AI developments. But I agree that for the next few years, CS jobs are safe. Which poses a problem for the kids in undergrad CS right now.

Have you? writing based humanity majors seem to be in great danger on top of already mediocre job prospects
ChatGPT can write very well.

Different person here. Only someone who does not write well would say the ChatGPT writes “very well.” It’s formulaic garbage. I grant you that it will get better, but it’s not replacing a good writer right now.

How is it that DCUM is filled with Shakespeares? There is an OpEd today in the Washington Post today from a philosophy professor at University of Wisconsin:

"This artificial-intelligence tool excels at producing grammatical and even insightful essays — just what we’re hoping to see from our undergraduates. How good is it, really? A friend asked ChatGPT to write an essay about “multiple realization.” This is an important topic in the course I teach on the philosophy of mind, having to do with the possibility that minds might be constructed in ways other than our own brains. The essay ran shorter than the assigned word count, but I would have given it an A grade. Apparently ChatGPT is good enough to create an A-level paper on a topic that’s hardly mainstream."[b]

LMAO

These days, various companies invite CS students to visit them for a couple of days and pay for their plane tickets and hotel. DD (CS freshman) told a NY investment bank that she can’t visit them because she has an exam scheduled for the same day, and they called her to ask if she can come for one day - on the day when she has no exam. They will buy her a plane ticket for that. DD currently has a part time job programming some self-driving agricultural machinery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours has always been deeply drawn to logic, puzzles, languages, and the creativity and imagination associated with a virtual world, with a healthy dose of math and philosophy. CS is perfect for all of this.

Also, he built his first PC at age 10 and never stopped digging into the world of what the technology side of science can do and may do.

So he's perfect for his field. He will make short work of all the people who pick that major with only superficial exposure and who think they'll have an easy career of it.

My own kid has the "mind to do well in CS"---very logical, great problem solver, math has always just come naturally to them, and it's the conceptualization/thinking that comes natural as they are slow as hell with the basic computations (math tables--they are a perfectionist). Did the CS AP courses in HS and a 2 week camp, but said no didn't want to major in it. Picked Chem Eng and enjoying that major. After a semester decided to add CS as a minor as they now see the benefits and how it will open up their interests for them. Helps that their advisor is focused on ChemE and CS and does computational research, so my kid can now envision themselves doing research in their lab.
Secretly, we are happy our kid picked to add the minor themselves---as having the basic CS coursework is almost as good as the major--once you have the underlying coding skills and algorithm development you can teach yourself almost anything coding wise. It will get you far in your career, but more importantly we are happy they came to that conclusion themselves.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AI has issues with general things. It's been 15 years since the last spewing of AI taking over coding from humans.

Actually if anything AI helps programers from making stupid mistakes but that's it at least for now.

So plenty of CS jobs around.

You clearly haven't been following the latest AI developments. But I agree that for the next few years, CS jobs are safe. Which poses a problem for the kids in undergrad CS right now.

Have you? writing based humanity majors seem to be in great danger on top of already mediocre job prospects
ChatGPT can write very well.

Different person here. Only someone who does not write well would say the ChatGPT writes “very well.” It’s formulaic garbage. I grant you that it will get better, but it’s not replacing a good writer right now.

How is it that DCUM is filled with Shakespeares? There is an OpEd today in the Washington Post today from a philosophy professor at University of Wisconsin:

"This artificial-intelligence tool excels at producing grammatical and even insightful essays — just what we’re hoping to see from our undergraduates. How good is it, really? A friend asked ChatGPT to write an essay about “multiple realization.” This is an important topic in the course I teach on the philosophy of mind, having to do with the possibility that minds might be constructed in ways other than our own brains. The essay ran shorter than the assigned word count, but I would have given it an A grade. Apparently ChatGPT is good enough to create an A-level paper on a topic that’s hardly mainstream."[b]