UW CSE’s Ed Lazowska is one of eight columnists featured in a New York Times “Room for Debate” essay series on education. Lazowska says:
“There are a few facts about education, employability and economic growth that we should keep in mind.
“A balanced education serves you best …
“The further out you are from college graduation, the less your success is attributable to the field in which you majored, and the more your success is attributable to a set of abilities imparted by any top-tier bachelor’s-level education …
“But let us not fool ourselves about what fields offer job opportunities, create jobs for others, and drive the economy …
“So what should today’s college students study in order to stay competitive? My take: A computer science degree is a great preparation for just about any field.”
Read Lazowska’s post, and others, here.
Update: Email received from a senior faculty member in Obstetrics and Gynecology at a top east coast university: “Indeed! I majored in computer science undergrad and then worked at Microsoft for four years (1998-2002) while living in Seattle. Then I moved into epidemiology: computer science is EXCELLENT preparation for (some aspects of) epidemiology. Both the specific skills and the way of thinking through problems that I learned in computer science are broadly applicable.”
Update: See UW CSE alum Sierra Michels Slettvet’s related blog post here. And an interesting comment in ITBusinessEdge here.