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Why Computer Science

When I went back to school, I did not major in Computer Science. This has not ended up being a negative in terms of finding a job, but I do regret not taking Computer Science. My major did provide some advantages. I learned to make presentations, work on teams, organize a project and generally do many of things programmers are known to have difficulty with. The problem is, in my quest to become a better communicator, I ended up missing a good portion of the raw skills that would have most likely been more helpful.

The biggest aspect I think I missed out on was the typical "hard" CS course. I never really had a defining course that blew my mind in its difficulty, while opening my eyes to a higher level of thinking. Many folks say things like operating systems or algorithms is this kind of course, so it is no wonder that these are two areas that I feel lacking.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I've met many computer science people who have no clue as to what programming is really about. They simply press F5 in Visual Studio. Little do they know that their tools almost always function through a command line application that could be used without a bulky, 60 second loading IDE with Intellisense. So, in some ways, I'm glad that my schooling did teach valueable lessons such as version control, project management, and presentations.

Things are definitely going well for me, so I really don't have any room to complain. I work for a great company doing something I love. What's more, is I get to work from home and keep a relatively flexible schedule, which helps trying to keep a musicians schedule. So, if I had to do it over again, I'd probably have done Computer Science, but seeing as things turned out OK, the bigger point is to make your own luck by working hard doing what you love.

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