They are there to teach you things about O notation, and data structures, and all the things in between that allow you to deal with things at a consistent theoretical level. IE: Can you mathematically PROVE your algorithm runs in this time? Not very useful for anyone writing code, but great for those cases where it absolutely must ben proven.

To put it in a practical context lets say you are designing some system, based on requirements. Pre coding. Part of this system is something like say.. a spell checker? How do you actually write a spell checker. How do you determine if a word is in your dictionary or not? How do you create suggestions if the word is misspelled.

Without data structures and knowledge of some pretty slick algorithms you have to spend a lot of extra time figuring it out. Someone with a CS degree can probably tell you that you could very easily store an entire english dictionary in a Trie tree with a great memory space savings. Your lookup time will be O(n) where n = the length of the longest word in your dictionary. They could then easily tell you that a less memory efficient approach, but more processor friendly approach is using a basic hash, its lookup time is O(1). In real world terms, a worst case performance if 15 iterations is fine, so we choose the Trie tree for the space savings. Away you go implementing it if you already know the data structure. Else you may struggle with it longer. That is where the value of the CS degree comes in.

Something to think on.

Random

As for whether you need a CS degree, it’s a clear no from my experience. However, I noticed that my experience with computers in general (I started programming when I was 9 with a Commodore C64) gives me some in-depth knowledge that can make quite a difference: the company I work for has an ongoing policy for hiring apprentices, and I have been able to compare my experience with theirs. In general they have a completely different approach to the subject – they simply don’t care about the internals, they just use what they find. The knowledge that I was able to learn by myself over the years by testing a lot of different technologies they still have to learn, and can mostly only learn in theory.

To sum up, I think having a CS degree is not needed of you are experienced, but can be helpful to strengthen your current position. If you are just starting in the business, it is IMHO quite an asset unless you are a wizard

For you I would say that getting a degree is more a matter of dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s (not too mention making you more marketable in the work force). I say get it – doesn’t hurt much and you may occasionally learn something. And you may be able to get more money for it.

Online vs. traditional classes. Hands down – traditional. Names sometimes count not to mention the whole “college experience”. Yeah – I went back to school at 25, married, with a kid – and I still joined a fraternity (delta sigma pi) and a couple of associations (AITP, ACM). Any networking helps. If not for this job – then the next.

(I have an ABET accredited (as if it matters) CIS degree rather then CS – less math :), but it minors business.)

That said my university hasnt thought me that much, but I do know functional programming and some other stuff. Will they ever come in handy? Dunno.

I value my computer science background enough that I’ve been trying to decide how I can afford to pursue a Masters or PhD in it.

A few years ago I was at a Christmas party with one of the guys in accounting department at the university I was going to attend. He’d had a few too many so he was willing to lay it on the line for me – “but it’s not about getting an education, it’s about getting your “dues card”.” I couldn’t have summed up my thoughts on a diploma better. I’ve seen too many messes created by “professionals” to put much stock in what papers decorate their walls.

I’ve always been the independent learner-type, so what has worked for me, might not work for you, but for someone with the focus, I would recommend educating yourself. It requires more discipline, but for me the payoff has been much better. When I feel there’s an area I need improvement on, I go down to the local Barnes & Noble or get on Amazon.com and pick up a book targeting that area.

Ir was either law school or hacking for me. I’m happy with my choice…most of the time.