First day of CIS Courses | The Coffeehouse

Cybermagellan
Live for nothing, or die for everything

I'm working on finally getting that silly sheet of paper that says I can do all the things that I've been doing for the past 8 years....software dev. After talking to the chairman of the CIS department I decided to skip CIS 129 and 131 in favor of CIS 141: Introduction to VB .NET. It's not bad, but boring....

I'm trying to pay attention in hopes of learning some stuff I haven't caught before....seems alot of the course is "The way that I do it is..." maybe not the right way though.

Thoughts??

TommyCarlier
I want my scalps!

Is it CIS Miami or CIS New York? Isn't that where they use Visual Basic to build a GUI to track an IP address?

Edit: yes, that's the one:

CannotResolveSymbol
{insert caption here}

Probably should have skipped 141, too... if you're programmed for any time at all, an "introduction to x" course most likely won't have time to get to anything that you might not have seen before.

Data structures and algorithms courses are where you've most likely missed out because you don't have a degree. Unless you're actually developing the database yourself, much of the material in those classes won't be material you've needed to learn on your own. You don't really need to know about B-trees, graph theory and A* search to program a CRM application on top of SQL Server.

Cybermagellan
Live for nothing, or die for everything

In reply to TommyCarlier

#Sep 3rd @ 10:33 PM

It's CIS Tucson....

They build a UI using sticks, cactus, and some scorpion spit to track how many Los Betos there are in relationship to Taco Bells...

I got the reference Tongue Out

Cybermagellan
Live for nothing, or die for everything

In reply to CannotResolveSymbol

#Sep 3rd @ 10:49 PM

Yeah I thought about it, BUT, the course description mentions using ADO .NET and Visual Basic in Web environments, and that whole concept I said *pfft* to and went with PHP/MySQL...I figured it would be nice to learn how to do it, thus sticking with 141....

Alot of the procedural stuff I talked to the chairman about and his feeling was "Whatever, you know places don't care about that stuff, you do things the way they do it, right or wrong it's the managers call..."

And from my experiences, I'd have to agree with that....though it makes me feel guilty...the silly degree doesn't care how I feel.

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to Cybermagellan

#Sep 3rd @ 10:53 PM

An an autodidactic developer (look up it), I'm always aware that I might have missed something, so if I have the time and the opportunity I'm always happy to go to an 'Introduction to x' course to make sure that I did cover everything. Plus, of course, they're easy which will give you a good confidence boost if you haven't been on any courses in a while.

Just think about how easy the assignments and exams are going to be Big Smile .

Herbie

Cybermagellan
Live for nothing, or die for everything

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Sep 3rd @ 11:54 PM

Yeah I always wanted to take the "Introduction to X" just incase I miss something, plus, while you can get the job, while you can work the job, doesn't mean that it's the way everyone else was taught...and it's nice to say you did it as well.

I finished my first two weeks of homework in class today, met all the grading guidelines and included a few features in 4 hours....*sigh* scares me that I might have missed something though...I keep going back over the requirements and I got it all, it can't be this easy though Tongue Out this is college.

mikexkearney
Only when trust is earnt can sex and free discounts be exchanged.

In reply to TommyCarlier

#Sep 3rd @ 10:33 PM

joechung

Courses like these are really good places to learn what sorts of cognitive difficulties people new to programming face when trying to learn how to program. It might be edifying if language and tools designers watched how people learn how to program. Think of them as usability labs but for software development.

It's important to have that sort of perspective, especially if you're such an expert in your field that you will not be able to recall what it's like to be a newbie.

JeremyJ
The pioneers would be appalled!

In reply to mikexkearney

#Sep 4th @ 1:15 AM

Ummm... why exactly was that a video? A screen-shot would have worked just as well.

Bass
www.spreadfirefox.com/5years/

In cases like yours I think there should be a way to skip all the "Intro to X" classes. But think of it this way, you'll have a high GPA. Smiley

For electives I would recommend you take as much theory classes as possible. The "practical" electives are more designed for people out of high school so they can put practical knowledge on their resume, but the theory stuff is where the interesting stuff is that you probably won't learn on the job, until maybe 20 years from now.

Bass
www.spreadfirefox.com/5years/

In reply to Cybermagellan

#Sep 4th @ 12:31 AM

No it really is that easy. They design CS/CIS intro classes around the idea that the person taking the class never programmed or maybe even touched a computer before. So the intro classes should be a joke for you, but you will see many people who never programmed really struggle through the intro classes. They are not easy for people with no programming skill. The classes will get challenging when you get into theory and math.

kettch

In reply to Bass

#Sep 4th @ 10:20 AM

In some of those classes you will see people drop like flies as the term goes along. Somehow they decided that they wanted to make a career working on "the computer" without really knowing what they were getting into.

In principle it's cool that everybody has opportunity, but it's kind of ridiculous that people are being pushed into high tech jobs because *cue reverb* "it's the future". There is such a thing as aptitude people need to realize that.

The upside is that there may be plenty of opportunity for tutoring. I paid for some books with just a few hours a week before/after classes.