Before you read note that: Being an expert in computer science at UTA requires dedication, passion and hours of work.
Here are the top 10 things needed to be a computer science guru..
1) Be logical
When computer science professor James
O'Dell was asked what the important basics to master for computer
science were, the first thing he said was to have a good foundation in
logic.
“It really does go a long way,” he
said. “When you are discreet with logic, it works well in developing the
skills needed for algorithms and coding when it comes to computer
science.”
2) Be mathematic
Math is also an important factor in computer science, O'Dell said.
“In every way, computer science is
based around a mathematical foundation,” he said. “So when you’re
programming functions and commands into computers, you need to
understand the basis of all of that is in mathematics.”
3) Challenge yourself
One thing that can help an aspiring
computer specialist is by testing in real-life technical situations,
said Matthew Wright, computer science associate professor. He said
people can seek these opportunities out on the Internet.
“I really recommend that people try TopCoder,” Wright said. TopCoder is an online website that holds weekly competitions to see who is the most skilled in computer programming.
“There’s many more like it out there on the Internet,” Wright said.
4) Get involved with a group
Nothing develops skills more than hanging around a group of friends who shares the same interests, Wright said.
“Getting involved with a group of that
caliber really develops your skills,” Wright said. “It’s much better to
learn with a group of friends, learning the same technical skills, than
it is a teacher lecturing in a class.”
5) Be calm in stressful environments
One thing that computer engineering
senior Sean Pierce recommends is being able to process large amounts of
technical information quickly.
“The computer can be a toy, not just a
tool,” Pierce said. “One should choose a field where one has a natural
passion, and those who tinkering with their computer will probably be
comfortable working with it professionally."
6) Be creative
Being a computer expert doesn’t really
mean you are restricted to one single method or practice. Being a
computer expert means branching out and always striving for the
impossible.
“Nothing in computers is ever really
isolated,” Pierce said. “It is important to have a general breadth of
computer knowledge, because computer scientists often have to develop
interesting solutions to interesting problems.”
7) Branch out
Computer science alumnus Patrick Baggett said that to succeed as a computer genius, a person needs to be diverse.
“You need to learn software
engineering, how computers work, how operating systems work, as well as
countless programming languages,” Baggett said.
Pierce agreed with Baggett and followed up on his own examples.
“A famous misquote from Edsger
Dijkstra was, ‘Computer science is no more about computers than
astronomy is about telescopes,’ meaning that computers are our tools,
and while we are experts at using our tools, they do not define the
field as a whole,” Pierce said.
8) Read and write a lot of code
While it doesn’t sound fun to be going
through countless streams of code and data, Pierce said that it is a
necessity in order to stay in the computer science workforce.
“Your career will require it,” he
said. “Due to technology becoming exponentially complex, one must
continuously update their skills to stay competitive within the field."
9) Understand your tools
“You need to understand how your tools
work,” Baggett said. “You need not only know what a compiler, linker,
assembler, interpreter and web browser is, but what they do for you to
succeed.”
10) Learn from failure, then quickly move on
“You need to have a business mindset,”
Pierce said. “Even though business majors are our natural enemies and
there is typically a difference in ethics, having a business perspective
is incredibly valuable.”
Baggett had one last thing to add to Pierce’s comments.
“Don’t give up easily when something doesn’t work,” he said as he laughed to himself.
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