get a degree in Computer Science

I have two degrees in Computer Science (BS and MS). I don’t regret a day that I spent in school earning them either. They have opened so many door for me.

I plan to graduate and get my bachelor’s of science in computer science. All I need to do is find a way to make it so that I can’t get on these forums anymore, and remove all distractions from my environment so that I can concentrate on getting my work done.

Anyone else struggling with ADD and still trying to go for a Bachelor’s degree in computer science?

I have an Honours level Bachelor of Science in Computing and Information Technology…

I miss college :(

My degree has given me an edge over others. Still, many employers are more interested in whether you know how to work a specific piece of equipment. A degree gives you more background into how something works, and prepares you to learn specializations on your own. But it doesn’t necessarily give you all the immediate skills than an employer mauy want. For instance, a computer degree does not teach a person how to be a UNIX administrator. If an employer is looking for a UNIX admin, who is he going to hire, the high school student who taught himself how to be an admin, or the degree holder who doesn’t know how to admin UNIX but understands how operating systems work. So, even with a degree you have to take it on your own to learn other skills. The degree gives you an edge when you have those other skills.

FIU. Jainedra Navlakha. Programming in C++. It was brutal! The entire degree was a great challenge, but this early class in the program was a killer for me. We started coding in C, actually, and I’d heard so many people crying about ‘look out for pointers!’ ‘pointers are complex!’ ‘pointers are dangerous!’ I went in with a fear. I was so dry on the first assignment, paralyzed. I procrastinated. Ended up with an F on it. It’s not like I didn’t know good programming skills from my intro class (Gregg Shaw was an inspirational adjunct professor!). I didn’t apply myself. The pointer fear had me because the first assignment dealt with pointers.

Where I went wrong
I neglected to start small in my code and write a single function, then test. Then expand it and revise it. Then move on to the next function. You know, the whole top-down design thing. I tried to code the whole assignment in one shot! Hunderds of syntax errors! I got it to compile though. Segmentation faults like there was no tomorrow.

Meeting with Navlakha
I decided I would take advantage of the office hours that I didn’t need from Shaw (other than to show-off).
“Professor Navlakha, every time when I run my program I get a segmentation fault. I don’t know what it means. Would you help me debug it?”
“Segmentation fault? Those are often very hard to find. I cannot help you with that.”
Not to make Navlakha sound bad, but basically he told me that I was on my own with that one. I did not (and still do not) hold it against him. Now, thankfully, I’m working in the field of programming. I have still caused segmentation faults, but now I understand what it is and why they occur. At that time I didn’t even know what the phrase meant!

Resolution
Tears? Boys can cry, too! At orientation they’d told us “many of you will change your degree 2 and three times before you graduate. Don’t feel bad about it.”
I decided that I didn’t want to be in that number. The thought didn’t even cross my mind when I hit this ‘wall’ in Navlakha’s class but it would have been the time to make such a change. I decided that I would give it my all to conquer the course.

I must admit, I had deliberately neglected reading the text. And, now I was behind. Since I wasn’t reading I wasn’t learning, so I was behind even in my knowledge. I put down a good cry when I’d realized what I’d allowed my fear to do to me. I took every minute I could from then till the end of the semester and went to the lounge and started copying the text book: “Programming in C++” by Dietel and Dietel. I literally copied all of the chapters that we covered in class, word for word. I worked out the examples with pencil and paper like Shaw taught us and taped that to the corresponding pages. I returned to the pratice of first doing assignments in psuedo-code on paper and debugging on paper before going to the machine. It was lovely! Soon, people were coming to me for assistance on understanding the assignments! Even semesters after that, people were referring the under-classmen to me for instruction!

I still have those pages of notes. My persistence paid off and I EARNED my Computer Science degree from Florida Intenrationl University! My mom reminds me of the sleepless nights. This has been a great point of encouragement for me since then.

i like to do this

My ideal career would be to study computer science.

If your institution’s program is good and challenging, it will help you dramatically throughout your career. As a talented programmer and creator, I toyed with getting a dot-com-bubble job and skipping school, but as it turned out, both the esteem accorded to me in the professional world, as well as the skills I acquired in my program have been tremendous assets.

I just can’t wait to finish getting my degree. :)

otherwise, this degree can be a weight around your neck…