To handle this, programmers have come up with increasingly abstract patterns. I can relate about teachers in early schools (I don't know the American education enough to know which levels) not knowing programming enough. The amount of discipline and patience required to study and work in CS is enormous and it is not for everyone. Quantum computing has a formal theory and is just starting to develop working hardware that instantiates quantum architectures. While computer science doesn’t have a reading list, it has some of the highest contact hours and toughest exams – there’s much more to a computer science degree than people realise. In addition to analyzing how a problem can be solved, the theory of computation teaches students to analyze whether these methods and algorithms will effectively solve problems. Others even are afraid of science! What Area of Economics Focuses on the Interactions Between Individual Consumers and Producers? Like any STEM field, CS is technical, detail-oriented, and has objectively right and wrong answers (at least in terms of what counts as a syntactically valid program, a program that produces logically correct results, and so forth). Homogenous systems and all the millions of software packages interacting with each other can be frustrating, but it's nothing compared to users who can't be … $\endgroup$ – J.G. Computer science is hard because it’s a branch of symbolic logic and logic is hard. and lets not forget that simply. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Service. I don't think the general public generally knows what CS is. This is the "CS is misspelled math" fallacy. Nowdays, what I think makes CSci so hard is that the primary thing we do is operations that have to get repeated many many many many times. He wants to be out there on the construction site, driving nails and cutting wood. None of that was taught in the courses available to me. @RonJohn Computer programming per se is not CS. ), (As an aside, there is a small added difficulty. I find myself doing anything just to step as far away from the computer as possible. We also need people who write programs just like we need people who pick up a hammer and a saw and build the things the architects and engineers design. Academic languages are rarely used. And it is the same effort and work ethic that is essential to eg. The only answer I have been able to think of is: Your last bullet point is THE reason in my experience, and is still very true in the US today! He goes on to explore a total of 11 possible contributing factors. Programming is currently a lucrative, expanding field. It will take a lot of effort to graduate, and that’s a fact. Another is the creative ability to build strong abstractions that are both powerful and useful. This dropout rate is considerably higher than in other majors. Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California also offers a Computer Science Major, along with a Computer Science and Math joint major. Everyone should be computer-literate, able to be safe online, spot malware and so on. Starting off the top 3 hardest GCSEs, we have GCSE English Literature. A lot of people who I've worked with who claim CS isn't helpful for programming make very naive choices that lead to inefficient, overly complex, and inefficient solutions and have no idea how poor their choices were or why. (Trinity News, 2016) ... Computer science is hard because it’s a branch of symbolic logic and logic is hard. GCSE English Literature. First, I somewhat dispute the premise of the question. Nearly everyone uses computing devices to communicate on a daily,... Is computer science hard? i.e. Programming is hard for a few reasons. Inevitably, careers in this field are growing. Yes. Because the initial success was with a few very motivated and 'gifted' people. A short list of these patterns that programming students find hard to master might include: (in no particular order, and not comprehensive). Let me start an answer, but it might take several iterations to get all my thoughts together on the two ideas. Why are computer science drop-out rates so high? Maybe your program was a more rigorous CS program that what I experienced. The first is the economic motivation -- accumulation of wealth or even gainful employment. Reading these comments, I have a few things to mention. the language that you are using is a set of logic blocks as well. And while... You are probably familiar with the field of civil engineering. I was really thinking about Bem's theory of self perception. I have worked at brainless manual labor positions before and I find that so much easier and natural I don't feel drained after an 8 or 10 hour shift, instead I feel satisfied after a hard day of work. A computer science degree is clearly no walk in the park, but it is a vital field of study, and with the number of jobs rising every day, it’s necessary to have the right people in this field. There was nothing weird about these requirements. There needs to be a differentiation between those who want to study computer science (advance the state of the art) and those who just want to write programs (make use of existing techniques and tools.). The first is periodic and I don't know where we are in the period at the moment. The colossal growth of computing in the past few decades offers evidence … This branch is all about understanding the idea of computation, as opposed to the art. And without mastery of the previous tiers of mathematics, the theoretical computer science they teach is extremely difficult. @ScottRowe And many, many problems faced by the industry stem from the very questionable things C lets you do in order to work from page 1. Computer science focuses on complex topics such as computer theory, computing problems and solutions, programming and development, and much more. I believe that particularly in CS our learners are being driven by the promise of extrinsic rewards. In some countries, like India, computer work has been touted as the way to earn a lot of money and many people rushed into it without being interested in the topic one bit. Getting Into Class. I am a programmer. This is of course as ridiculous as saying everyone must be an engine mechanic or concert pianist. Even though there's precious little math in most programming, there's a, Upvoted for pointing out that many of the techniques we learn only make sense when working on big systems and/or teams. If a student has been deprived of a wide range of learning opportunities about the world, then they will be further disadvantaged. And unless you get it, you can't get past that barrier, and often fail out. I can program most everyday business applications using existing tools and libraries, but I would be hard pressed if I had to attend university CS, which deals with the math underlying many of the libraries. Everything is a "word problem", and students must be proficient at reading, interpreting, asking for clarification (in a natural language, e.g., English), then designing, implementing, and testing, and finally documenting and explaining the design and code (again in English). People perceive "hard" to mean more difficult, whereas, in truth, it may be much more challenging to devise and interpret an experiment in a so-called soft science than in a hard science. It is also hard to get off the ground if you cannot walk through a complex chain of logic. Computer science is hard. : It's just a few conversational steps from thinking about worldwide internet protocols, to the need for check codes and error-handling, to the existence of cosmic rays in the physical universe that might corrupt transmitted data. Computer Science is an exciting, challenging, and growing field that impacts the world and everyday life in countless ways. That apparent correctness tends to rest on an assumption so basic that programmers don't even realize they've made it. Programming courses entail writing programming code to “teach” computers how to do tasks. In my time, there were the classic lectures like how to build a compiler for a programming language; or more theoretical topics like automatons, temporal correctness and such. While the difficulty (as evidenced by high fail rates) has been known for decades, no predictive educational theory as to why this is the case has garnered significant evidence. In order to do multiplication effectively, you have to not only be able to do addition, but you have to master it. Students are drawn to it not out of intrinsic interest or inclination, but because they want to make money at it. Here are some things Ive noticied about the market that influence how hard … Unlike many other college fields, students often have little to no formal background in the topic prior to entry -- in fact, many have little to no relevant background at all. That was just sort of the usual daily expectations. That wasn't what I wanted at all. You do need it in order to do certain kinds of applied computer science problems, so even in "professional" courses it is taught. But in certain combinations of economic factors and media hype, a lot of students go in to CS not really understanding what they are getting in to but are lured by the, perhaps elusive, draw of big salaries. The second major theme is that there is a lot of bad teaching around CS as has always been the case. This has a number of impacts. So it draws introverts; convincing introverts to have a career teaching students is an extra problem, reducing the pool of potential teachers further. Many of the students I have met do not understand the difference between Information Technology (IT) and CSE. E.g. There's great frustration in the handling of 330,000,000 slips of paper (give or take, depending on voter turnout) and getting them into the right places and making sure they're all done right. And its rare that we find places to use them outside of CSci, so there's not much room to develop intuition. However, it is hard to get off the ground in programming if you are unable to manage the syntactical exigencies of the language you are programming in. CS requires, as you say, ability in many areas at once. Actually, computer science is much more than what you suggest. I think there is a element where people are picking up on this 'everyone in the future must be able to code' attitude that has become fashionable in the last ten years or so. Graduating with a degree in computer engineering opens diverse doors to students. Online Schools Report aims to provide students with simple, practical, and accurate information about every online program available. But no single one of these factors fully explains why so few people study computer science, even when there are so … The answer of jmoreno states: Let people choose, by doing some of it when they are young. As someone learning programming, you end up building increasingly complex things. Computer Science, as taught, is a combination of Mathematics and Computer Programming. It’s … Prelude A: This is an area of ongoing research, and there's no consensus theory at this time. But when you try to do that in mathematics things just fall apart. Why is CSE much more difficult than IT? When you write an algorithm, your functions can't have errors, or the algorithm won't work. Official figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that the percentage of dropouts in computer science courses hit 9.8% during 2016-2017. It is a creative yet tedious process that involves solid concentration. So, the first two causes are the important ones, showing that... these students chose a major that didn't actually fit for them. Could it be that many of the dropouts just don't want what computer science has to offer? With intensive tutoring and dedication on the part of both the student and the tutors, many students who currently do not "survive" to a CSE ABET-accredited or equivalent diploma, can graduate. 50% of the students in my cohort dropped out during the first two years as well. Way back when I was young, I learned to program on home computers. Some people realize this time commitment and determine they either don’t have, or don’t want to spend their time this way. Self perception theory. Despite this, all nighters were a given, and some labs even had couches to crash on. This question originally appeared on Quora: Why don't more people work as programmers?. Computer science at the time was more about the theory, the mathematics of how computer logic and algorithms work. The student, whose goal was "get a highly paid programming job", finds this abstract computer science both hard and difficult to connect to their goal. Do you have solid math skills? Although I have been working in industry for a year, I am still looking at only entry level jobs. So: don't try to write a symphony if you can't write for any single instrument. And if you combine that with asking them to write programs that they find boring, they aren't likely to stick around for long. That is only a part of CS. Great! That does not generalize. Renee earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2006 and a Master of Arts in Teaching, with a specialization in English in 2011, both from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. I want to make things with the tools and materials available, not develop new tools and materials. That article links to this one: Where an English interpreter writes code on the fly... https://twitter.com/sharifshameem/status/1283322990625607681, 2020 Stack Exchange, Inc. user contributions under cc by-sa, many factors but maybe a big one is the high mathematical content, and some abstraction, etc. I have been a professor of computer science and engineering (CSE) in the USA for a number of years in ABET accredited CAC and EAC undergraduate programs (graduate programs do not have ABET accreditation in CSE as I recall). And as academics are teaching it, often it is included anyhow, as the theoretical computer science often is needed to expand the entire field of knowledge of computer science. I make a good living writing programs. My experience with computer science was that I want to make things, but all I was learning was how to someday be qualified for research. I think tech is one of them. Students tend to be unprepared for the constructive nature of the Computer Science discipline. Your last paragraph, is true in general. Experts are harder to convince to be teachers, as not-teaching is lucrative, and teaching is difficult. This topic... Why are music and movement important for early childhood education? I'm in the "just write programs" camp. IT is by comparison "easy" -- CSE requires mathematics, some of it developed by CSE persons, not "mathematicians", and the use of other fields to understand CSE whereas most IT-trained (and vendor "certified") persons know specifics of installing and "maintaining" a particular technology from a particular vendor (more or less the equivalent of "how-tos"). I agree with your observations that CS is grossly misunderstood and teaching CS is grossly underestimated. The computing student also needs fairly high-end reading, writing, and communication skills. With other fields, we know millions of ways not to teach it; with computer science, we haven't had time to make as many mistakes and refine our education. In addition to the many good answers on here, as a past student, TA and instructor in CS — most programming assignments and projects often take large amount of time, even if slimmed down to just fundamentals. When I started taking university courses, the options were MIS (management information systems - managing computer systems) and computer science. The problem with software engineering is that there is so much to learn to be sufficiently competent for the reletively unskilled tasks that apprenticeship style teaching only really becomes relevant once you reach the level that CS undergraduate course teach to. Are you good at science? That's why mathematicians still have to think so much. Maybe some of those who "fail" should have been somewhere else rather than funneled into computer science. Coding is not too difficult, but algorithm design and then establishing that the algorithm is provably correct is not as easy. WRT the second theme, it might even be that the current push to teach "CS" in elementary schools is actually part of the problem, not the solution. However, computer science students should be good at math and science, have superb critical thinking skills, pay close attention to detail, and most of all, be driven and eager to learn computer science. What Is Computer and Information Science? "because it’s a branch of symbolic logic". Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania is another great option; students in this program have won robot contests at the annual American Association of Artificial Intelligence Conference and have qualified for the International Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery programming contest. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that over half a million new jobs will be added in the computer and information technology field through 2028! Better approaches to breaking down problems. My point is this: in addition to the stated classical unsolved problems, completely different approaches to computation are being proposed and actually developed into physical machines (with the understanding that biological systems are, in this sense, physical machines -- no supernatural invocations involved).