What do computer science engineers do?

[sbrothy]

That would be funny if it weren't so true

NOTE: to be fair, it IS an exaggeration (but an exaggeration of a very real phenomenon)

Don't get me started about "refactoring" (a de facto euphemism for "complete rewrite")....

 

[Death Metal]

i my college they are teaching python and c but by learning algorithm and stuff how can i use it. what can i build with it. i am to blank somebody help me

For starters, learning C and a pragma-oriented language like Python are good things. With that basis, you can do anything.

My recommendation is time-honored: (1) find a charity and volunteer, and (2) consider contributing to open-source projects.

You will want to learn operating systems, networking/telecommunications (yes the latter is still useful), and bare hardware at some point. You will specialize.

But people need tons of stuff done, and any of it can lead you to make things by learning first to fix things. Walk before you run IMHO.

 

[geekynerd]

ok thank you for the reply so much. And a help. if you are currently working on a open source project can you reccomend me that which is begineer friendly and actually useful for us. and again thank you for the reply

 

[sbrothy]

For starters, learning C and a pragma-oriented language like Python are good things. With that basis, you can do anything.

My recommendation is time-honored: (1) find a charity and volunteer, and (2) consider contributing to open-source projects.

You will want to learn operating systems, networking/telecommunications (yes the latter is still useful), and bare hardware at some point. You will specialize.

But people need tons of stuff done, and any of it can lead you to make things by learning first to fix things. Walk before you run IMHO.

Though we agree overall, a little warning about "contributing to opensource projects" though:

In reality you risk running into dysfunctional "teams" trying to maintain a program whose user base is (or managers or developers are) either non-existent, dwindling or misaligned with the project's original intent.

Or you risk running into some pensioned CS professor desperately trying to make random programmers make his failed idea succeed after his students gave up long ago.

As you might have guessed I speak of personal experience, and I have more examples. Not that opensource cannot be a rewarding experience, you just need to go into it with open eyes and not commit fully before you've had a good look and understanding of the underlying social dynamics.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[DaveC426913]

Though we agree overall, a little warning about "contributing to opensource projects" though:

In reality you risk running into dysfunctional "teams" trying to maintain a program whose user base is (or managers or developers are) either non-existent, dwindling or misaligned with the project's original intent.

Or you risk running into some pensioned CS professor desperately trying to make random programmers make his failed idea succeed after his students gave up long ago.

As you might have guessed I speak of personal experience, and I have more examples. Not that opensource cannot be a rewarding experience, you just need to go into it with open eyes and not commit fully before you've had a good look and understanding of the underlying social dynamics.

Just my 2 cents...

You sound like you might be in a position to make some good recommendations to the OP.

 

[sbrothy]

i have no idea about colleges and degrees in high school so i randomly chose a course iin college. and this course has higher placements than any other so i joined this course

This choice might seem devious now but it may backfire later on if you find that you learned something (however easy it came to you) that you realize later you don't want to use.

Best advice is to follow what interests you, specifically something you can see yourself doing 20 years from now...

Sorry if that sounds cynical.

(EDITED: broken idiom)

 

[TensorCalculus]

Both my parents are CS engineers and have been for 20-30 ish years, and have worked in many different companies over the years...
One thing that A lot of aspiring software engineers (I know a few) do not know of but that my parents both 100% agree is true is that even in a technical job like a software engineer, you need to be able to talk well. They say communication is like 80% and the technical stuff is just 20% - that might be something to keep in mind.

 

[CrysPhys]

Both my parents are CS engineers and have been for 20-30 ish years, and have worked in many different companies over the years...
One thing that A lot of aspiring software engineers (I know a few) do not know of but that my parents both 100% agree is true is that even in a technical job like a software engineer, you need to be able to talk well. They say communication is like 80% and the technical stuff is just 20% - that might be something to keep in mind.

I'm not a computer scientist, but I worked with many of them across a broad spectrum of positions in the telecommunications industry. I agree that for any technical job (not just software engineering), communications ability (not just verbal, but also written and visual) is also necessary, not just technical ability. But the split (communications - technical) needed for success varies widely with the position. E.g., if you're hired into a funded research position, it might be ~80% technical - 20% communications [this assumes, e.g., that you communicate well enough to be hired in the first place, and communicate well enough to successfully interact with peers and management, but are not responsible for acquiring funds for the research]. On the other hand, if you're providing engineering support to a marketing team, e.g., the split might be ~80% communications - 20% technical.

 

[sbrothy]

Both my parents are CS engineers and have been for 20-30 ish years, and have worked in many different companies over the years...
One thing that A lot of aspiring software engineers (I know a few) do not know of but that my parents both 100% agree is true is that even in a technical job like a software engineer, you need to be able to talk well. They say communication is like 80% and the technical stuff is just 20% - that might be something to keep in mind.

I can recognize this. A huge part of every software project (especially the larger ones) is an endless stream of meetings. And that's not even counting communicating with the customer!

 

[TensorCalculus]

oh, and this communication skill... along with emotional intelligence, these skills are going to become more and more important as AI starts doing those more mediocre tasks like entry level coding... or at least that's what my parents think.

 

[geekynerd]

This choice might seem devious now but it may backfire later on if you find that you learned something (however easy it came to you) that you realize later you don't want to use.

Best advice is to follow what interests you, specifically something you can see yourself doing 20 years from now...

Sorry if that sounds cynical.

(EDITED: broken idiom)

yeah. actually i was looking into the field of the computational physics and i am working on it. i dont have any specific plans for future but i will look into it. thanks for the repy

 

[sbrothy]

I'm not a computer scientist, but I worked with many of them across a broad spectrum of positions in the telecommunications industry. I agree that for any technical job (not just software engineering), communications ability (not just verbal, but also written and visual) is also necessary, not just technical ability. But the split (communications - technical) needed for success varies widely with the position. E.g., if you're hired into a funded research position, it might be ~80% technical - 20% communications [this assumes, e.g., that you communicate well enough to be hired in the first place, and communicate well enough to successfully interact with peers and management, but are not responsible for acquiring funds for the research]. On the other hand, if you're providing engineering support to a marketing team, e.g., the split might be ~80% communications - 20% technical.

Communication skills and emotional intelligence is probably important whichever profession you decide upon. An insurance salesman needs both, as do programmers or physicists writing a paper with 20 coauthors. Heck, even a drug-pusher will probably get "offed" if he/she doesn't master social situations.

In fact, completing a job interview without a basic mastery of both will probably get you nowhere.