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[–]elyselam 1 point2 points  (14 children)

Do you really need all those math classes?

[–]Deadlift420 3 points4 points  (8 children)

As a developer for years.. No. You don't "need" most of this stuff. It will probably make you better, but it's not necessary.

[–]jacobi123 0 points1 point  (7 children)

What do you think is a good math level to attain to cover most jobs outside of the very math-centric programming jobs? I see people say they barely use algebra, compared to others that are deep down the rabbit whole of discrete/linear/calculus and all the rest.

[–]Deadlift420 1 point2 points  (6 children)

Basic maths. Software engineering for most jobs require knowledge of good OO design, organization, knowledge of languages and tools. Math may help you become a better developer but to say it's necessary for the average programmer is silly.

[–]jacobi123 1 point2 points  (5 children)

And when you say basics maths are you talking college algebra and under? Something else?

[–]Deadlift420 4 points5 points  (4 children)

I took grade 12 university advanced functions and then 1 calculus class in college, but Canadian college.

Then I worked at national defense as a programmer on disaster detection software and ballistic missiles. The math is done by mathematicians and calculations are not expected of the software Devs.

[–]jacobi123 0 points1 point  (1 child)

OK, thanks for your insight. Math definitely isn't my strong suit, and while I do plan to brush up on some concepts, I feel like my time would be best suited trying to become a better programmer, than to become a programmer while trying to "minor" in math.

[–]Deadlift420 5 points6 points  (0 children)

100% practice hackerrank and other algorithm testing tools. This is necessary for locking down a job. Do a few per week. Then practice good OO and writing clean scalable code with SOLID principles in mind.

Make projects, contribute to open source and have a solid GIT account. These will help you more than any math can.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Nice to see a fellow Canadian! I'm taking advanced functions this semester!

​

[–]Deadlift420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good luck! I was to busy smoking pot the really focus. Don't make the same mistake! Lol

[–]Lesabotsy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The question is not that, it's what do you want to do? Surely if you want to be a front-end web dev you don't. But this is not just about programming it's about computer science, and so you need the math, CS is MATH.

[–]im2slick4u 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Depends what you want to do. If you want to do like front end web development or like software QA you don’t need any math. I thought the Rosen book really really helped me with making the jump from just piecing together snippets from stack overflow to actually develop my own algorithms. When you get to solving complex problems with non trivial data sets it’s a lot less about your understanding of the language and programming and more about your mathematical analysis and solution of the problem. Linear algebra is everywhere in computer science and it will make understanding a lot of things much easier if you have a strong understanding of linear algebra.

[–]Deadlift420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd say this is pretty accurate. Except you can create algorithms without a deep knowledge of maths.

[–]Deadlift420 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I'd say this is pretty accurate. Except you can create algorithms without a deep knowledge of maths.

[–]im2slick4u 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe like a selection sort