Computer Science

In 1989 I began at MSU getting a degree in Computer Science. This was before the big .com boom. We would follow the average starting pay for the degrees pretty religiously and in the College of Engineering, Computer Science was one step above Civil Engineering and below Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Computer Science guys were still considered geeks - not .com bazillionaires. My classes were made up 98% guys and the classes were hard. I got by not by being the smartest guy in the world, but by being able to get the smartest, most anti-social guys in the class into my study group and facilitating and lead the guys to the point that we'd actually get the stuff done and by not ostracizing the smartest guys, they were glad to help me with the toughest assignments. My Computer Science degree from MSU was one of the best decisions I ever made. I've been playign with computers for 25 years and I still love them.

Over the past 10 years, there are fewer and fewer people getting computer science degrees. The feeling is that the really technical stuff is being sent offshore. This is a very interesting article that describes how demand for the degrees is going up, but the number of people getting them is going down.