Computer Science Degrees - What’s Lacking

I’ve been continuing to take classes despite working as a full-time developer. I work in the .Net world, but my heart is more in Python. Still, I wanted exposure to plenty of others and I’m currently in my second class on C++.

What I have noticed in the various courses I have taken at institutions of higher learning is that they don’t teach anything remotely close to the real world. I know this is a common claim and people cry out against the undergraduate program not preparing people for the real world. I get that. But I have always dismissed them.

Higher Education Is a Gateway Drug

If you’re like me, then you’ve been told your whole life the same thing:

Be good. Get good grades. Get into a good school. Get a good job.

That’s a lot of repetition for the word “good.” But all of those conditions are not sufficient to produce the final result. This mantra is espoused by parents and society (teachers, advisors, etc.) as if it’s a logical conclusion: IF you’re good and get good grades and get into a good school THEN you’ll get a good job.