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Imagine trying to teach philology, while also teaching them their first language! This is exactly the problem that CS program directors face. I work as a researcher in the computer science department at the University of Alabama, and I can tell you this is an ongoing conversation/debate not only here, but at many schools across the southeast. Unlike the valley, we have a tremendous shortage of developers, and that pressure ends up being felt at the university level. To combat this, classes have been opened that expose the students to software engineering principles while not losing the theory that differentiates computer science from programming. This is largely helping, but is still, in many respects, an experiment. Also at play is the notion that there are people in computer science that fall more into the design disciplines (i.e. HCI, UI, UX people). Right now, we have nothing for these people except double majoring with art/phycology and the occasional HCI class, but this may change soon. There are certainly frontiers in this area yet to be explored! Either way, it's a big problem worth discussing, so I am happy I see it here. *Edited for clarity |
Whenever I read articles about social network-type sites that are doing UI changes it seems like there's pretty extensive use of data analysis based on A/B testing for different changes that are being made. Wouldn't a practitioner still need solid coding skills and a strong base in statistics?