Unfortunately, concerns regarding the decline in undergraduate computer science enrollment are already being realized.
InformationWeek summarized the report released by the AeA as stating that the United States has lost its competitive edge just as other countries are becoming more aggressive in technological pursuits. But the 32 page report is not all doom and gloom. It includes both immediate and ongoing recommendations to alleviate this crisis.
Some more good news is that is seems like federal legislators want to make technology more of a priority. Hopefully it is not too late to regain that competitive edge.
An article by InformationWeek asks “Where are the Programmers?” The future of computer science in the United States is in peril as indicated by a sharp decline since 2001 in college undergraduates choosing computer science as a major. Furthermore, this decline comes just as a new challenge of programming tomorrow’s multicore processors arrives. As a degree holder in computer science, I feel a personal concern at the prospect of a skill vacuum in my industry.
InformationWeek quotes Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research:
We are at a low point of interest in computer science. Jobs will go begging in the next few years because we don’t have the people willing to take on the field.
Researchers and large technology corporations are looking for tomorrow’s talent. This shows a marked difference from just a couple of years ago when I earned my bachelor’s degree and entered a saturated market. During my undergraduate academic career I regularly became concerned about the prospect of encountering difficulties finding a job once I graduated. (Luckily, these fears were not realized.) In a future post I will divulge a little more about why I chose a path in computer science. For now suffice it to say that technology has been an interest of mine since receiving a personal computer as a gift for my seventh birthday.
But I happened to declare my major at the peak of computer science undergraduate enrollment. Dot com hype had not yet given way to dot bomb fallout. Indeed, there were quite a few classmates who unabashedly proclaimed they were only studying CS for the money. These “insincere” techies of course were the least successful. But in addition to diluting the talent of the workforce, those money grubbers may have also contributed to the watered down image of computer science as a viable industry. Barely muddling their way through programming classes and not bothering to learn the fundamentals of the subject matter, they concentrated instead of finding ways to pass their classes. They then emerged into the workforce lacking fundamental computer knowledge. One stands out in my mind as not knowing how to access the volume controls on her computer and needing help with her sound problems.
Is it any wonder that computer scientists are viewed by the general public more as technical support operators than as research scientists? I may be more interested in discovering how Noam Chomsky’s theories in linguistics apply to programming languages, but others see a degree in computer science as a help ticket in setting up a wireless network.
An undergraduate major in computer science no longer means a guaranteed comfortable paycheck upon graduation. The fluff is gone. So are the unskilled tech wannabes who are only interested in making an easy buck. For me this trend is a good thing. Highlighting the enrollment decline can be seen as stripping away the veneer and exposing an underlying problem. That problem is an overall public ignorance of what computer science is. Until that image is made more clear the aforementioned “insincere” techies won’t be the only ones staying away. If the genuinely talented youngsters out there are unaware of the challenges offered in computer science, they will continue to stay away as well.
It’s still hard to believe that the little brother who used to barely reach my navel has now grown into a mature young man. Here’s a video of him on the speedbag. It’s pretty amazing how skilled he’s gotten in such a short amount of time. One would think he had started ages ago.
New Jersey City University will be presenting a Women’s History Month Closing Celebration. Here are the details:
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
6:30-9:00PM
Ingalls Recital Hall ~ Rossey Building 101
Featuring “Carol Lester and the World Womenâ€
Four Generations of Women Musicians From Three Continents Performing World Beats
Women Artists Speak About Their Experiences
Nathalie Pham, Doris Caicolo, Avani Patel, Vivian Warfield, Tara Thierry, Catarina Racha, Daphna ElRoy and Carol Lester
Refreshments will be served
This event is FREE and Open to the Public
This program is offered in conjunction with NJCU’s Women’s History Month. For further information please contact Renata Moreira at (201)200-2269 or Karen DeAngelis at (201) 200-3189
Although I have yet to begin publicizing this blog, a couple of spam comments have already popped up. Thankfully, WordPress (the engine which powers my blog) held these comments in moderation. In future posts I’ll get into why I chose a self-hosted WordPress solution.
If spam comments are already rearing their ugly head, I chose to implement a stronger spam control feature now instead of later. Akismet is a highly recommended plugin. It is installed automatically for WordPress versions 2.0 or later, but if for some reason it isn’t you can download the official plugin. If you use WordPress and haven’t activated Akismet yet, then take a couple of minutes to activate it now.
If your WordPress blog is the freely hosted version hosted by WordPress.com you are already using Akismet and don’t need to do anything else to protect yourself from spam comments.
If, like me, you host your own blog, you need to do a few more steps to activate Akismet. Essentially, although you have a WordPress blog already you need to establish an account with WordPress.com and use the API key which comes with this account. In response to user requests, now one can open an account without creating a separate, to-be-unused blog.
Sign up for an account with WordPress.com (you can opt for a sans-blog account)
Activate your WordPress.com account
Ensure that Akismet is installed and listed in your blog’s Plugins
Find your WordPress.com API Key – you can get either from your welcome email or from your My Profile page
Activate Akismet in your blog
Enter the API Key when prompted
That’s it! Now spam comments will be filtered!
Personally, I will join the ranks of those who would prefer not having to create an account with WP.com just to use its API key. I would love to one day see a way of creating one’s own API key. Until then, this is the method to follow. But for an effective but free solution for controlling spam, I won’t be picky!
The Compete.com Blog has posted a heated debate between two extremists: Ryan’s is an avid Netflix user while his counterpart, Andy, is a diehard Blockbuster fan.
The opening arguments from both Ryan and Andy stuck to fact-driven statements, with each one backing up their claims with statistics. But their “parting jabs” were just that. Instead of continuing with a civil debate the conversation devolved into more of the “my service rocks, yours sucks!” variety. Comments from supporters of both sides of the argument drew the conversation further away from logical debating. The blog moderators had to clean up some of the more heated comments before making those comments live. Kudos to the moderating team for taking the extra step of cleaning up the language and doing what they could to keep the discussion resembling a debate.
One thing is clear from the post and subsequent comments: users of these services are adamant about their support. Poll results showing reader support of the opposing views are very close to equal. 53% agree with Ryan’s arguments for Netflix while 47% agreed with Andy’s statements for Blockbuster. Civil and fact-driven debating may have given way to fan-thumping, but it is interesting that there were almost no participants stating they didn’t have a preference for either movie rental service. They ardently prefer one over the other.
Personally, I have been a long-time customer of Netflix. And yes, I am an ardent fan of Netflix.
Bluffton University’s baseball team was involved in a bus accident yesterday morning. The bus drove off of an overpass and came crashing down onto the highway below. Four players, the bus driver, and the bus driver’s wife were killed. My prayers go out to the victims and their families.
As a former high school softball team captain, I remember how tight-knit the team was. Some of my closest friends today include members of that high school team. Hearing news of any young person’s untimely death saddens me. This news hit home because of the closeness I felt and still feel with my teammates. It really is like being part of an extended family. I can only imagine the devastation felt by Bluffton’s baseball team. The university is small with even fewer students than at my high school. So the entire university community is probably more deeply affected than if it happened at a larger university. I’m not saying that this makes the news more tragic, but I am saying that everyone at Bluffton probably knew these victims, and probably knew them well.
Hopefully the shared pain and struggle to come to terms with this grief will strengthen the Bluffton University community and they will emerge even closer than ever.
