So if CS undergrads are pretty much code monkeys, what's graduate school like for CS? Like, what general areas does the research focus on and how rigorous is it? Are CS grad students actually innovative and talented?
I literally knew nothing about programming until a few weeks ago when I started taking this beginner course as an elective and it turns out I'm actually good at it and enjoy it greatly. I'm thinking aboit majoring in CS but I don't want to be a code monkey.
>>8011711
>I'm thinking aboit majoring in CS but I don't want to be a code monkey.
You literally cannot do anything else with a CS degree other than code.
Not even manage teams of programmers because the only degree that actually teaches this is software engineering. CS is literally codemonkey studies.
All CS are codemonkeys but not all codemonkeys are CS majors. This is a really sad truth of computer science, anyone else can get your job and will probably get paid more than you.
As a math major working as a software developer, I advice that you find something else that you like and study that, and then just learn programming on the side or take programming electives.
If you find that you are an empty shell of a human being and have no other talent or interest then go right ahead into CS.
>>8011711
Many CS advisers will tell you the major in something else in undergrad and then do CS in grad school.
>>8011711
Discrete Math
Data Structures
Algorithms
I would supplement those courses with Calculus I-III, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, Analysis, Mathematical Logic (Advanced course)
Are the three "most important" CS courses you need to take. Ignoring OS, and other "applied" courses.
You can go into many different areas:
Artificial Intelligence; Computation and Language; Computational Complexity; Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science; Computational Geometry; Computer Science and Game Theory; Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition; Computers and Society; Cryptography and Security; Data Structures and Algorithms; Databases; Digital Libraries; Discrete Mathematics; Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing; Emerging Technologies; Formal Languages and Automata Theory; General Literature; Graphics; Hardware Architecture; Human-Computer Interaction; Information Retrieval; Information Theory; Learning; Logic in Computer Science; Mathematical Software; Multiagent Systems; Multimedia; Networking and Internet Architecture; Neural and Evolutionary Computing; Numerical Analysis; Operating Systems; Other Computer Science; Performance; Programming Languages; Robotics; Social and Information Networks; Software Engineering; Sound; Symbolic Computation; Systems and Control
http://arxiv.org/
>>8011758
This is a really misleading post.
First you post undergrad CS topics, trying to make OP believe that this is what he'll need to work in the areas you mention later.
But good fucking luck getting a job in any of those areas without a Masters or PhD. I mean
>Mathematical Software
>Robotics
>Neural and Evolutionary Computing
>Operating Systems
No company would ever allow an undergrad or mere graduate to touch their OS topkek.
Undergrad CS major will almost directly lead you to UI design for facebook-type stuff and if you are an actual genius with a 4.0 GPA then you might get picked up to do some code monkeying for more interesting stuff, but you will never lead anything without a specialization.
CS, as a degree, is too fucking broad.
>>8011770
if im doing an ece major (taking the ce track) and a major in cs is it worth doing graduate to get to the interesting stuff? I want to work more on the hardware side, and am thinking about doing the VLSI capstone
>>8011770
So what's a better alternative if you're decent at coding and it's one of the few things you don't hate?
>>8011770
Those 3 core courses will lead OP to be prepared for graduate school in CS. You're right, a mere BS in CS isn't enough to do work in those specialized fields. You need a MS, preferably a PhD. My aim was to tell him what he needed to pick up to get into grad studies. Otherwise you'll be taking grad courses in those subjects seeing it for the first time when everyone else is already familiar with it and OP has to play catch up quickly
>>8011785
I'm pretty confident in that no one will let you touch their hardware without a masters or doctorate. That said, graduate school for CS is purely theoretical so you might want to stay in CE and then do grad school in CE.
>>8011786
Whatever your other talent is.
An actual science degree + programming experiences = unlimited job opportunities.
Nobody wants to hire a programmer that will have to be bossed around and will need to have everything explained to him. But if you study biology while you are good at coding, then you will most likely be getting jobs in research modelling, simulations, etc.
>>8011813
would shooting to get a PhD fellowship in CE be good?
The folks in this thread are idiots. First programming is quite different fro computer science, programming is to computer science as synthesizing or whatever is to chemistry. If you like programming you may not like computer science, and vice versa. There is no set path to grad school, or what you want to do. If you're interested in computer science, take courses that expose you to more of what you like. don't take things that you think will give you a stronger background knowledge, when you get to what your actually interested you'll spend most of your time playing catch up, rather than to have the actual depth in the subject to be competitive. If at some point it becomes apparent you need to learn abstract algebra, or quantum mechanics, then learn it then, don't spend your one learning a bunch of other loosely related things, then go to what your actually interested in.
>>8011843
>First programming is quite different fro computer science
This is completely irrelevant because there is nothing else a CS graduate will do other than be a programmer. It literally trains you to do nothing else.
>>8011847
>finance
>strats
>quants
>data analysis
I mean I guess, but it's still true.
>>8011847
Damn you have an impressive inferiority complex. I'm sad your math major didn't work out for you and you ended up being a programmer.
>>8011843
You didn't read the thread well. There are people telling OP that programming literally isn't all of CS
>>8012530
There are people saying the opposite too. Half the thread is people saying he should do something other than cs to do cs. That's counterproductive.
>>8012530
But thats like saying engineering is just all math. Different types of disciplines require different types of programming
>>8012577
In my mind CS isn't programming. It's a sub-field of mathematics. The purer the mathematics the better. Keep me out of software engineering shit.
Look OP you're really not gonna get the best career advice on 4chan. Talk to some type of adviser, go out into the real world and try and get some concrete advice from someone that's actually been working for a while and isn't someone that could be spewing nonsense on a Saskatchewanian icepicking forum.
