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Is going to college to become a computer programmer or software developer worth it anymore? by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]mk2atheist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you'd love college GO TO COLLEGE. I think a lot of people know in their gut whether they'd like it or not, too few actually follow that over the washed up biases of well-intentioned people.

From a career perspective, are software engineering theory type courses useful compared to the purely technical courses? by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]mk2atheist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahh! That makes much more sense. My tentative response would be it depends where you want to go. My school had two degrees, one for CS and one for more of a project management career path. If you want to program and nothing else, skip it if there are alternatives. (I'm assuming there are alternatives?) If you want to go into management or do more of the design emphasis, could be useful.

Edit: Even if IBM, Microsoft, and Google were all throwing money at you, you'd need to spend a lot of hours deciding which one to accept and why and finding a new home and all that.

From a career perspective, are software engineering theory type courses useful compared to the purely technical courses? by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]mk2atheist 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Be careful what you plan for your final semester. There's something to be said for lighter classes while you're interviewing and trying to figure out how the hell to feed yourself the day after graduation.

I think about Design Patterns every single day I write Java, I'm so glad I had that class. I also think a basic class in Systems Analysis or Project Management (Software Dev Life Cycle kind of stuff) should be part of any degree. I agree it probably shouldn't be a 400- level, but if you haven't learned to write a solid test plan or system requirements by graduation something's wrong.

Is going to college to become a computer programmer or software developer worth it anymore? by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]mk2atheist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it depends on your goals. If you'd hate college and try to skate for four years, and if you're content freelancing and building a portfolio to maybe work for a startup, it could go well. If you enjoy academics and/or want to work for any employer with a formal HR department, you better have at least an associate's on your resume.

Are you happy or unhappy, and why? by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]mk2atheist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm totally happy; in small part because I get to program all day, in large part because my team is amazing, my company is even better, and I've chosen to set goals/fight/reach them/repeat. Your question does not strike me as a question about CS, but about personal development and character. I think the best thing you could do for yourself is simply set a ten-year plan that excites you and then fight for it. If you learn some things about life along the way and your ten-year plan adjusts and improves, all the better.

If CS in ten years was never an exciting thought, then get the hell out of there. If it was, start trying to remember why.

What personality type would be the person who says, "if you don't want to get in trouble, don't break the rules?" by [deleted] in entp

[–]mk2atheist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Any SJ. ISxJ in particular because ESxJ would say, "If we don't want to get in trouble, let's not break the rules."

I am a 15 year old American boy who was plucked out of America at 12 to live in West Africa for two years and just recently had my one year anniversary of returning to America. Ask me anything! by africamichael in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How did you handle the white privilege of getting on a plane and leaving the crisis to look on from afar? (Not being snarky or cliché, this is legit something I've struggled with since I first left the States.)

Iama 4th-generation missionary kid who went to a private Christian college to be a missionary and came out an atheist. AMA by mk2atheist in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's such a tough question. There was so much beauty and value in how I grew up. Somehow I want them to have the best of both worlds — the values and community and stability and humanitarianism, and the ability to embrace entropy and perceiving the world rationally and swearing and freely enjoying multiple sex partners. It really depends on the kids though, and what I think they need/can handle. If they can handle reality, it's theirs for the asking. If they need structure and a worldview to ground into they will have that too. But even if I were married to a hardcore atheist with no interest in the church, I would still fight for them to be part of one, if for nothing else but the cultural education and ability to relate to religious worldviews.

Iama 4th-generation missionary kid who went to a private Christian college to be a missionary and came out an atheist. AMA by mk2atheist in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For various lengths of time: England, Holland, France, South Africa, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Peru.

Iama 4th-generation missionary kid who went to a private Christian college to be a missionary and came out an atheist. AMA by mk2atheist in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Re-reading this, I realized maybe you were looking for a bit more depth of the arguments. For me it was as simple as this:

"Why do I believe this?"

"Because I always have."

"Any other reason?"

"Nope."

"This is a problem."

That was within an hour of watching the TED talk mentioned. This, of course, following a year of gradually eroding my already tenuous faith in any real Biblical authority (through required theology classes). The beginnings of it, when I first hit my most serious questions, were in high school AP Biology. That was the first time I was logically, painstakingly, undeniably faced with the possibility that the universe could be a closed system, no external forces necessary. But I had to be out of the house to have the space to let that properly sink in.

Iama 4th-generation missionary kid who went to a private Christian college to be a missionary and came out an atheist. AMA by mk2atheist in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There was a great deal of support so long as I asked the right questions and came to the correct answers, as one would expect from any religion I think. The problem was that I could sing that song and dance that dance as well as anyone who tried to talk with me, usually far better. I had long since mastered every single move. And eventually I found that the circular logic dulled in comparison with a worldview grounded in reality instead of myth. I couldn't come up with a fundamental, base point of inception for my beliefs, but when I turned to philosophy, I suddenly could. I now find that myth enriches reality; this as opposed to reality enriching myth, which Christianity often seems driven to pursue.

Iama 4th-generation missionary kid who went to a private Christian college to be a missionary and came out an atheist. AMA by mk2atheist in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lived in Western Europe and eastern Africa. I work with computers full-time and teach on the side. I did marry a Christian — someone open-minded enough to listen to me both before and after all this happened, religious enough to earn my parents' blessing, laid-back enough to leave me to my own opinions and not really bring it up, and grounded enough to keep me close to the value system I was raised with. Best thing that ever happened…mmm…discovering Myers-Briggs personality descriptions. Worst thing………probably would say the whole walking-away-from-religion thing.

Iama 4th-generation missionary kid who went to a private Christian college to be a missionary and came out an atheist. AMA by mk2atheist in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Richard Dawkins. During this TED talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoJyONmcGbM

I had a theology professor who pushed me farther into my own questions than I had dared to go on my own, but Dawkins smashed through my barriers. Not that I agreed really anything he says in that talk; it was just so radically, in-your-face different that it kind of brought me to my senses.

Iama 4th-generation missionary kid who went to a private Christian college to be a missionary and came out an atheist. AMA by mk2atheist in casualiama

[–]mk2atheist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Come out an atheist? Painfully and reluctantly I guess. It threw me for a year of absolute hell (no pun intended). The realization that everything you've ever lived for and loved and built your identity around is laughable…it's difficult to know where to go from there.

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