
Coding bootcamps question the need for computer science degrees - skadamat
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/software-engineering-daily-coding-bootcamps-question-the-need-for-computer-science-degrees/
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ArkyBeagle
If there is a thing called "computer science", it begins with Godel, moves
through Turing, von Neumann and on to the present day. This isn't some ivory-
tower thing. This is the key reason for the existence of the discipline. It's
not to produce learned papers per se; it is to educate people on this bizarre
set of problems.

If bootcamps serve to get somebody a job in "app development", then by all
means. Just don't confuse that with a background in the discipline.

And this really amuses me - in the same article we have "There isn’t a single
course in iPhone or Android development" along with "Computer science
curriculums place emphasis on proofs of correctness" and then - " yet
universities continue to treat CS firstly as a theoretical natural science
rather than an engineering discipline."

Oh, they sure do. To the extent that software is engineering, that breaks down
into work product hygiene - standards, configuration management, reviews - at
least a passing acquaintance with proofs of correctness and its application,
and how the classic toolchains work.

I would have no trouble at all with people getting certs in groups of skills
like mobile apps, Visual Basic plus database - and indeed, those exist. It's
called community college and I'm sure it's fine for this. that hiring managers
miss these details is somewhat tragic.

This article smacks of short-term thinking. We already see people in DSP
disciplines who think Matlab is the same thing as being able to derive the
equations of the transforms on paper. It is not.

