

Ask HN: What is a minor in computer science worth? - gusgordon

I'm thinking about going for a minor in computer science, but already have good experience with PHP, HTML, and some Python.<p>If I were to apply for a non-engineer job at a startup, or begin my own startup, what would the minor do for me? I am leaning towards not going for the minor, and instead continue to program on my own, and tout that if I ever apply for a (again, probably non-engineer) startup job. BTW, I'm double majoring in Physics and Economics and not sure if I'm staying all 4 years, if that means anything.<p>Thanks.
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antiterra
Check out the actual curriculum and determine if you would be learning stuff
that you wouldn't easily be able to learn on your own. You can get by in
software development without ever writing a compiler, converting automata, or
hunting for K5 in a jumble of lines but I would argue those things can
contribute positively to analytic thinking and in those situations where there
is a parallel, you can have an intuitive edge.

Cross-disciplinary knowledge can be a great advantage as well, physics and
economics mesh quite well with computation.

In my experience, a CS minor is generally a plus on a resume if you are a
recent grad, less so if you graduated 10 years ago and haven't worked on
related projects or in development roles.

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gusgordon
Okay, thanks. It seems to me, though, that having done good work on side
projects would be much more of an advantage than a CS minor, especially if I
have something I built to show people. If I minored in CS, people might see,
for example, side projects as a result of my minor. If I did CS on my own it
would show I was more curious and entrepreneurial. I'm probably over analyzing
it, but I don't want to do a lot of extra work for something that is going to
do relatively little for me. I mean, I feel like if I just said, "I took a few
computer science classes", that that would be equivalent in most people's
minds to a minor. I'm probably over analyzing, but do you see where I'm coming
from? Still not quite sure.

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maplebed
Having a minor in CS means I understand conversations about algorithmic
complexity, have experience with parsers, can discuss data structure analysis,
and all those other things that you don't learn when you learn a language.
Computer Science isn't about building websites, it's about understanding
theory and reasoning about logic. It won't help you get your RoR site up any
faster, but it will definitely help you understand good engineering and create
a stellar product. You should stay all four years, or five if you can afford
it, and you should pursue the minor.

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jclos
I agree entirely and I would just add that if the OP is worried about the
time/gain ratio inherent to learning what is essentially an applied field of
mathematics he should check if having a minor in software engineering is
possible. My bet is that if he is taking a double major in economics and
physics, he will be proficient enough in computational thinking after
graduation to teach himself theoretical CS once he has a job secured.

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gusgordon
My main reason for getting a minor in CS would be not being blind to software
engineering, I think. Chances are if I want to design a product (or more
likely a prototype for a product) I can do that with what I know, and even
better after I eventually learn Python or some other more non-web language.

Where it seems a minor would definitely help me is in understanding and
designing for the low level systems of a computer. But I don't I would get a
minor for this reason alone - if I really needed/wanted to, I could probably
learn this stuff on my own.

The thing I'm not sure of how much it will mean on my resume. It would be
meaningful if I didn't do this stuff on my own, but I do, so I'm really
unsure.

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jclos
Well ideally there is nothing you could not learn on your own, given
sufficient time and resources. It depends a lot on your university I would
guess, so the best thing to do would be to ask older students who took CS
classes and left. Not only the successful ones, but also the others, if only
so you know what not to do. A good way to know what to do is to ask the people
who are where you want to be how they arrived here. You should also ask
professors for their opinion - they might not know about producing good
software, but they almost always know a lot of stuff, including other students
that might be able to help you.

Keep in mind though that CS is to Software Engineering what Physics is to
Engineering. Getting a CS minor (or even major for that matter) won't make you
a better developer, unless you are already a good enough developer that you
can absorb some abstract concepts and reapply them in creative ways.

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robotico
I'm a mechanical engineer, and I do a lot of stuff involving electronics and
programming (PLCs, so a little different than you would probably learn).

Anyway, in my job at least it would probably be quite helpful, especially
understanding some of the networking side of things. I'm not sure I even
considered it if it was even offered as a minor at my school.

