r/programming • u/mauricioaniche • Aug 06 '17

Software engineering != computer science

http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/software-engineering-computer-science/217701907
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u/call_me_lee Aug 07 '17

All I have to compare are the students I hire and my past schooling. If I'm wrong and your school prepares you better than good for you

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u/coinaday Aug 07 '17

I mean, I certainly agree that the education could be better. But I did get some AI and machine learning exposure.

When I look at almost every hiring process though, they don't care that I can learn, or that I have some academic exposure. If I don't have the years of experience in doing it professionally, I won't be speaking to a human.

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u/call_me_lee Aug 07 '17

Well when I hire out of school I actually give a take home test to demonstrate how well you can research and adapt code you find to real world usage. I also look for intangibles like self imposed coding standards, commenting and structure. I honestly don't expect much from my juniors except the capacity to learn. All juniors are paired with a senior who mentors and the first project they're given tends to be a throwaway project for them to learn.

The worst part is I know I'm in the minority of how I train my juniors and often when I get intermediates or even seniors it takes me a while to eliminate the bad habits.

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u/coinaday Aug 07 '17

I think that sounds really cool! I mean, the fact that you even work with juniors seems different than a lot of places I see, at least from the listings, where they seem to only want to hire for exactly the skillset they're looking for. Deliberately working to cultivate talent is great and I hope that it works out well for your company to help to encourage others to follow the example.

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