I'm jumping in a bit late, but I hope I can add something to the conversation. I work as a sysadmin at a small ``liberal arts college of science and engineering''. I've also worked for a couple of other organizations and companies as a sysadmin. I have a B.A. in anthropology. So having a particular degree doesn't necessarily equate to getting a particular job, at least outside of fairly rigid organizations that focus more on paper achievements than actual interests and skills. (Even in those organizations, if you could get past the human-resources barricade, someone with a less traditional background could probably still get a job if their skills fit.) In the U.S., ``computer-science programs'' at colleges and universities vary in exactly what they cover. Some programs are very focused on theory, to the exclusion of practical skills. Some are practically job-training programs, aiming to turn out students with all the ticked boxes they'll need to walk into a mid- or entry-level programming job. Most are somewhere in between, trying to balance practical skills (e.g., Java, C++, database design, software development, etc.) with theoretical chops (operating systems, theory of computation, logic, programming languages (at the meta-level), etc.). The more ``elite'' a school considers itself, the more likely that its program will lean toward the theory side, although even many of those schools tilted the other way when students (or their parents) were scrambling for jobs in the dot-com boom economy. (Post-Crash, programs are heading back to the theory side.) There's also a second tier of schools (e.g., DeVry, ITT Tech) that cater exclusively toward people who want a job programming Java, or doing web development, or whatever. I gather that there is a similar split in the U.K. and some of the other Commonwealth countries, with ``computing science'' on the theory end of things and ``IT'' on the practical side, often in the same institution. Claire -- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Man cannot be civilised, or be kept civilised by what he does in his spare time; only by what he does as his work. W.R. Lethaby +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ C.M. Connelly c@eskimo.com SHC, DS +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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