| A Programmer's Education [message #51707] |
Tue, 05 December 2006 08:58  |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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> Braedley writes:
>> Why don't I ever see these simple solutions?
> You are probably University-educated. Not your fault. :-)
While we are on this topic (and while I wait for SOLARSOFT
to finish downloading), what is the most useful class you
ever took in school?
For me, two come immediately to mind. The typing class
I took as a sophomore in high school because I was a shy
boy and the girl/boy ratio was 15:1. I use that knowledge
every single day of my life. (In, uh, more ways than one.)
And the freshman English Composition class I took in my
first semester of college from a hippie instructor who
gently taught a good evangelical Christian boy to question
everything.
Two great classes that changed my life! :-)
Cheers,
David
P.S. And for Braedley, it is possible to overcome a
University education, but it takes more time than you
might expect. :-)
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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| Re: A Programmer's Education [message #51789 is a reply to message #51707] |
Tue, 05 December 2006 13:53  |
James Kuyper
Messages: 425
Registered: March 2000
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Senior Member |
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David Fanning wrote:
>> Braedley writes:
>
>>> Why don't I ever see these simple solutions?
>
>> You are probably University-educated. Not your fault. :-)
>
> While we are on this topic (and while I wait for SOLARSOFT
> to finish downloading), what is the most useful class you
> ever took in school?
I flunked out of Caltech after my first year of study there. Flunking
out of school is NOT a good thing to have as the last item on your
resume. After wasting a year looking for a job with no results, I
enrolled in the Computer Programming and Operations course at Control
Data Institute. I already knew Fortran, APL, Basic, and C. I learned
almost nothing new in that class. I added Cobol and RPG II to my list
of languages, but I've never made any use of those two languages.
However, I did get a 97% score on my exams, and finished the 6-month
self-paced course in 12 weeks, and got a piece of paper that said
(incorrectly) that CDI had actually taught me how to program computers.
Because of the self-confidence that came from actually having succeeded
at something, and from being able to cite that success on my resume, I
was able to get a job within a couple of weeks of completing the
course.
I've always been a very stubborn person, so six years later I returned
to Caltech and finished my BS in Physics, with an average GPA during
that time period of 3.7. I learned a lot of very interesting things at
Caltech, and later at Cambridge University. However, the single most
useful course I ever took was one that taught me almost nothing.
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