Do software engineers need a computer science degree?

This article is from my translation on infoq Chinese siteArticle, Original address is: http://www.infoq.com/cn/news/2012/05/sweng-cs-degree

The role of a software engineer does not necessarily require a computer science degree. However, the recent resignation of Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson due to a computer science degree fraud has aroused heated discussion. Do we need a university diploma. For example, a piece written by Andrew Binstock for dr. Dobb is "software engineers all !" The article mentioned whether software engineers really need a computer science degree to complete their work.

Binstock said:

The new term "software engineer" does not match the actual meaning. Early in the year, the title of "analyst" was widely quoted. In the old world of data processing, the entry level is"ProgramMember ". When you need to change the title to reflect this position, the programmer is promoted to "Programmer/Analyst", and the final level is "analyst ". This change shows that employees have left their programs far behind. But in fact, most analysts do more programming than their junior colleagues. Analysis is often not a major component of a job except for some jobs that need to supplement programming.

The article mentioned that Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates are both software engineers. They are very successful, but they do not have a degree in computer science. Therefore, the Binstock conclusion is:

This ambiguous equation provides a lot of space for those who have good programming skills but lack academic accomplishments. All in all, you should understand what I mean now. Dear reader, you are software engineers!

Not all readers agree with Binstock's conclusion. For example, pjmlp says:

For each profession, there is a learning path to prove that this person has the required skills and can complete his/her work. My experience is that self-taught programmers cannot deliver high-quality products that most software companies expect, because their skills can only be learned in their spare time.

Russg has different points of view:

Unfortunately, a computer science degree cannot guarantee that a person can become a good programmer. Generally speaking, computer science and computer programming are two different things. Most graduates hope to have a place in the academic world after graduation. They do not want to develop millions of rows.CodeApplication Team.

Another important point of discussion involves more specific roles in software engineering, such as software architects. Does a software architect in charge of system architecture need a computer science degree? Can he be a self-taught software engineer? Do engineers need both academic education and many practical experiences? Einstein once said, "theoretically, the theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are different ".

View Original English text:Do software engineers need a degree in computer science?