I didn't say that it did
FWIW algorithms aren't confined to mathematical libraries
... I guess some programmers just take things for granted....Becoming a software engineer from a Maths degree?
- Thread starter Ohnoezfail
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I didn't say that it did
FWIW algorithms aren't confined to mathematical libraries
... I guess some programmers just take things for granted....
On maths vs. programming. If you want to program, you don't necessarily apply any advanced maths. If you want to program anything non-trivial with any degree of competency, then you'll want to at least know about things like complexity theory, probability, permutations/combinations, finite state machines and so on. There are certainly roles which will apply more advanced maths skills (data mining, AI, computer vision, graphics), and some which require less (I suppose web based stuff, maybe some business applications, general scripting... I struggle to think to be honest!)
Caporegime
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I still haven't managed to get into really difficult programming, doing year 2 courses now and being honest they are really painfully easy. Maths in comparison is much harder and is most likely why its always considered very highly for a whole host of related and unrelated jobs... people see a maths degree and think "highly capable" and thats really whats important for a good job/career, people who think you are highly capable, intelligent and can learn to do anything they need. They don't want programmers who come out of uni and stay at that level of ability for life, they want people who get better. Learning programming is pretty easy(syntax wise and stuff its a breeze), maths pretty much indicates you think logically and the fact you've passed a maths degree tells them you can learn that... you can learn anything else they want you to know.
As someone else said, seems much better to do a maths degree and teach yourself or do a short course in programming than the other way around. I'm doing maths/computing now and am thinking about a masters maybe in a better uni with more prestige and decide in a year if I'd prefer to go more maths or programming for a career and do a related masters.
Personally I'm finding the maths FAR FAR more rewarding in terms of challenge and sense that I'm learning something difficult I can't pick up easily on my own compared to the programming. I can do whatever I want year three, all maths, all programming or a mix and I'm really leaning towards all maths or majority maths for that reason. I think it looks better career wise, better for getting into a good uni for a masters, and, tbh, wasting less time learning programming and paying for it.
Though its not massively deep and its fairly first year stuff, the edx(harvard/berkley/others being added) online courses are quite interesting in terms of content, I had a look to compare the what I feel is "meh" course compared to a top uni the Harvard based comp science introduction is definitely a good intro to programming and some comp science idea's if you haven't done programming before. Its relatively new, I don't know if they'll be adding effectively the next module every year. You can still sign up now and go through it at your own pace, if you have the spare time now. Its worth signing up just to see a couple lectures, see what you think.
https://www.edx.org/courses
Bunch more courses than the last time I checked, MIT based intro to comp science/programming should be really good, better than the Harvard one I really don't know. Some other computing courses there and more being added every semester it seems.
As someone else said, seems much better to do a maths degree and teach yourself or do a short course in programming than the other way around. I'm doing maths/computing now and am thinking about a masters maybe in a better uni with more prestige and decide in a year if I'd prefer to go more maths or programming for a career and do a related masters.
Personally I'm finding the maths FAR FAR more rewarding in terms of challenge and sense that I'm learning something difficult I can't pick up easily on my own compared to the programming. I can do whatever I want year three, all maths, all programming or a mix and I'm really leaning towards all maths or majority maths for that reason. I think it looks better career wise, better for getting into a good uni for a masters, and, tbh, wasting less time learning programming and paying for it.
Though its not massively deep and its fairly first year stuff, the edx(harvard/berkley/others being added) online courses are quite interesting in terms of content, I had a look to compare the what I feel is "meh" course compared to a top uni the Harvard based comp science introduction is definitely a good intro to programming and some comp science idea's if you haven't done programming before. Its relatively new, I don't know if they'll be adding effectively the next module every year. You can still sign up now and go through it at your own pace, if you have the spare time now. Its worth signing up just to see a couple lectures, see what you think.
https://www.edx.org/courses
Bunch more courses than the last time I checked, MIT based intro to comp science/programming should be really good, better than the Harvard one I really don't know. Some other computing courses there and more being added every semester it seems.
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The company I work for regularly hires mathematicians and physicists for programming positions because too many computer scientists simply do not have the requisite mathematical, algorithmic or problem solving background. Of course a good computer scientist is invaluable but are hard to find in general.
A mentioned previously it will be slightly harder to get the first job then after that it won't make much difference. There are done specialist areas that bed baths but in my experience in 25 years in IT in banks I've never needed any detailed background in mathematics.
Because I hate the industry and find the job boring and soulless.