[sotojuan]

> I would argue that CS grads who do not spend some time learning practical skills on the side are idiots and completely misunderstand the industry they are trying to enter.

I agree, but then I realize I live in a bubble.

Here and in /r/cscareerquestions, everyone knows to do side projects. In my school, most people don't. Neither do my friends in other schools. They may get one internship but that's the only "practical" thing they do (usually good enough to get a job though). A lot of my friends are much busier than me and don't have time to teach themselves stuff on top of school and life, at least not well enough to get a job.

Perhaps we need to stress a bit more practicality in CS curriculum?

[dagw]

Perhaps we need to stress a bit more practicality in CS curriculum?

No, we need to stop telling people who want a career in web development to get a degree in Computer Science. And universities should stop convincing people who really want to be software engineers to study computer science. If you want to work as a structural engineer you'll probably get a degree in structural or mechanical engineering. You don't get a degree in theoretical physics and complain that since structural engineering is just a practical application of theoretical physics your physics curriculum really should be more focused on practical engineering.

[mywittyname]

> You don't get a degree in theoretical physics and complain that since structural engineering is just a practical application of theoretical physics your physics curriculum really should be more focused on practical engineering.

I sometimes feel like we should just call Computer Science what it really is, Applied Computational Mathematics. Because, you're exactly right, there is a disconnect between the teachings and expectations of most CS programs.

Then again, my CS program offered lots of 'practical' courses, like iOS and web development. They even created a BA program that removed most of the math requirements and replaced them with those vocationally related classes.

[dagw]

Then again, my CS program offered lots of 'practical' courses, like iOS and web development. They even created a BA program that removed most of the math requirements and replaced them with those vocationally related classes.

That sounds like great programs that all universities should offer. They just shouldn't call it a CS program.

[sotojuan]

> No, we need to stop telling people who want a career in web development to get a degree in Computer Science.

Also agree, but we tell people to do it because employers ask for it. I guess it's a cycle, but someone's gotta stop it one day.

[dagw]

I think that the Universities could and should be ones to solve this problem. They first of all need to start offering 2 year largely vocation degrees for people who just want to learn the basics of getting a programming job and in addition offer 4 year Software Design/Development/Engineering degrees in addition to Computer Science degrees and really differentiate between the two. Make it clear to the students (and by extension employers) that if you go for a software degree you'll mainly learn X but not so much Y and if you go for a CS degree you'll mainly learn Y but not so much X. Most people currently getting CS degrees should probably be getting a Software Design/Development/Engineering degree.

[sklogic]

> more practicality in CS curriculum

Rename it to SE first and stop pretending it's a "science". Or, alternatively, accept that it's really a science and stop moaning about the careers in the industry. There'll be a lot to moan around the grants, post-doc positions, publish or perish and all the other funny parts of an academic career.