After programmg for some years the intermediate initiate to d cult of digital procreation will notice two roads and chose which he will follow. The cs road or d pop road.
Pop = plain old programming.
Cs = computer science road.
Both roads hav enuff jobs and challenges to occupy their adherents for lifetimes but so far only one road is academically recognized which is such a sore waste. Some ppl like programming hav been programming 4 years but wen they enrol in university to study cs they tank out. Reason - they hate cs.
Others love to muse over an algorithm and never descend into writng code. They create algorithms like A*, shortest graph path, quicksort , random number generators etc. These are the intellectual purists and philosophers - their time shudnt b spent coding.
And d programmer with fire in his belly shudnt b restrained from producg his marvels.
Point is the educational system has got it all wrong. Trying to make everybody the purist first.
But most folks endure cs programs just so they cud code. Calculus 1,2,3, linear algebra , number theory never gets used cuz they'll b buildg web apps or business apps or apps tht dont need all those stuff. So y learn stuff u'll never use?
Meanwhile , software jobs in industry look 4 ppl who can learn framework x,y,z and already know framewrks a,b,c very well. Can learn languages quickly , know design patterns and software engineering basics and enuff formal maths and logic to not create a disaster in d long run.
These skillset wud take the equivalent time it wud take to complete a traditional cs degree to come to grips with yet without all d unnecessary cs junk.
Most employers tht want cs graduates dnt hav the remotest intellectually stimulatg wrk to engage a true cs nerd.
How many compiler optimization , database design, operating system wrks are beckoning in d job market?
How many compared to build-me-a-shopping-cart,accountg-app,
database-front-end out there.
Fact is even if there was a real sciency app needed, this apps sink to become foundations tht programmers hav 2 build more non-sciency apps for!
Yes there was apple which built the iphone os which millions of developers are buildg apps upon but not the competing os'es.
A programming degree IMO wud b rich , rich enough for the holder to pursue graduate studies in SE or CS (after some upgrade).
It wud be street smart. The student wud learn business systems, lots of programming and one third or one fourth of d maths in a typical cs programme.
The focus wud b on intense programming and software development and design.
Say year 1. Maths , humanities,
year 2. Business ;marketg,accountg,law lots of case laws relatg to business.
More maths.
Year3. Programming in up to 5 languages, creating software systems from scratch:idea to deployment. Using build systems,api's writg documentations, case studies of software disasters and success stories. Pitching ideas to potential investors raisg capital (business education in year 2 wud come in handy here).
Software disclosure craftg etc
lots of framewrk use and creation.
Software efficiency and run times studies.
A bit of S.E - software architectg languages:uml etc
year 4: more S.e , software estimation, working in teams, headg teams , learn 5 more programming languages, work on final year project that takes at least 6 months to complete. Etc
by the time the student graduates He's a well rounded developer but not as sciency as a cs major but not as cheap as a vendor certified coder or 2 year niit/aptech product.
His degree confers prestige and commands respect from the market place and he can hit d ground running right out of school not costg his employers expensive resources in retraing while he realizes a lot of wat he was taught in school doesnt apply and if he needs more intellectual challenge he cud pursue more theoretical cs studies or if he wants more engineerg wrk pursue S.E path or if he is more of a tech business visionary pursue business routes .
It strts with universities recognizg tht cs and programming are relatec yet distinct enuff to deserve their own paths.

Nice one ...but where we wan get lecturers to manage tbe course kwanu biko oo eh? Shei na all those sadists we call lecturers go able

It's called software engineering and personally I think I would rather hire Computer Scientists though regular businessmen would prefer the POPs.

Why are Nairaland coders so anti-degree? Yet they have not been able to produced one single programming language of their own.

rutchiekens:

In any part of the world, getting a job has to do with what you know or who you know. U don't a degree to work, that's just Nigerian mentality, its only for courses like medicine, some major science courses u'll need a degree to work but not for anything related to computer, people only hire lawyers because they do not understand anything about d law. In nigeria, the only thing students studying any computer related course do is calculations from their first year to their final year and yet by the time they get to d real world its all about CCNA, CISCO, web dev, web security, software dev, which u can learn in one year without going to d uni.

it's tru tht u dnt need a degree but the business wrld isnt static. In the labour market there's discrimination on many levels and d non certified aint havg it easy.
As a programmer i can acquire phd level knowledge in programming all from books but a professor (a professor just has a phd and publishes academic papers) cud create a greater impression and command far more for a similar invention hav scores of colleagues to network with , hav access to international institutions tht would bar non "educated people" simply because of his "proof of knowledge" - his degrees!
Say you're a renowned scholar in computer science phd you cud be invited and funded by microsoft or amazon to pursue a pet project of urs tht is off interest to them.
With no phd nobody will look at u.
All the ppl u've mentioned and their certifcations arent for intellctual wrk. Infact a bsc doesnt qualify many 4 intellectual research only a phd does! Tht's y most industry changers are phd's.
Your computer,laptop etc is built on von neuman's paper on machine architecture tht the memory and cpu shud be together. The programming languages we learn ar only possible because of alan turing's wrk. Etc if these ppl were not thinkg on the theoretcal we wudnt hav d practl reality we hav today. So knoledge matters.

kambo:

it's tru tht u dnt need a degree but the business wrld isnt static. In the labour market there's discrimination on many levels and d non certified aint havg it easy.
As a programmer i can acquire phd level knowledge in programming all from books but a professor (a professor just has a phd and publishes academic papers) cud create a greater impression and command far more for a similar invention hav scores of colleagues to network with , hav access to international institutions tht would bar non "educated people" simply because of his "proof of knowledge" - his degrees!
Say you're a renowned scholar in computer science phd you cud be invited and funded by microsoft or amazon to pursue a pet project of urs tht is off interest to them.
With no phd nobody will look at u.
All the ppl u've mentioned and their certifcations arent for intellctual wrk. Infact a bsc doesnt qualify many 4 intellectual research only a phd does! Tht's y most industry changers are phd's.
Your computer,laptop etc is built on von neuman's paper on machine architecture tht the memory and cpu shud be together. The programming languages we learn ar only possible because of alan turing's wrk. Etc if these ppl were not thinkg on the theoretcal we wudnt hav d practl reality we hav today. So knoledge matters.

As long as programs are bringing in enough income, there's no need to get a job. It's how successful the products u create are that take u places not the degree.

In a sense, I kind of agree with Kambo here, but still, the degree is very very important because of the maths, exposure, experience and numeracy among other things that cs offer. I still think the degree should stay. Dont be lazy.

rutchiekens:

As long as programs are bringing in enough income, there's no need to get a job. It's how successful the products u create are that take u places not the degree.

if everybody thought "money first" we'd still b in d medieval or industrial ages. Scientific advancement and break throughs creates wealth for more people than one hard wrkg person or company ever can.

In theory ur right but in reality the theory fails. To create a signifcant application as a solo programmer takes serious commitment in tim and money. You're looking at least 6 months of intense programming . Larger apps can take 1 to 3 years, solo coding.
In this time , u'll incur production cost - fuel, computers, internet mainly.
Wen ur thru. Next comes the marketg phase: this comes with its own costs. The solo programmer now has to wear the marketing hat.
You'll incur phone call, transportation, stationery, etc costs.
You'll hav to incorporate or register a business name to b taken seriously. You'll incur legal cost getting minimal legal safe gaurds in place against gettg shafted.
Then you'll incur health cost cuz ur physcally exertg urself to sell the product (u can ignore this but it wont ignore u).
Then hopefully you'll clinch a deal. Not every body with a laptop and an idea can develop it fully into software cuz of d costs so in reality creatg products from scratch with little or no cashflow is fantasy. Degree or no degree.
This is where a job is a lifesaver.
U do ur part others handle d rest.
And like i said, in d labour market degrees giv holders greater advantages.

kambo:

if everybody thought "money first" we'd still b in d medieval or industrial ages. Scientific advancement and break throughs creates wealth for more people than one hard wrkg person or company ever can.

In theory ur right but in reality the theory fails. To create a signifcant application as a solo programmer takes serious commitment in tim and money. You're looking at least 6 months of intense programming . Larger apps can take 1 to 3 years, solo coding.
In this time , u'll incur production cost - fuel, computers, internet mainly.
Wen ur thru. Next comes the marketg phase: this comes with its own costs. The solo programmer now has to wear the marketing hat.
You'll incur phone call, transportation, stationery, etc costs.
You'll hav to incorporate or register a business name to b taken seriously. You'll incur legal cost getting minimal legal safe gaurds in place against gettg shafted.
Then you'll incur health cost cuz ur physcally exertg urself to sell the product (u can ignore this but it wont ignore u).
Then hopefully you'll clinch a deal. Not every body with a laptop and an idea can develop it fully into software cuz of d costs so in reality creatg products from scratch with little or no cashflow is fantasy. Degree or no degree.
This is where a job is a lifesaver.
U do ur part others handle d rest.
And like i said, in d labour market degrees giv holders greater advantages.

The only time u'll need a job is when u cannot provide for yourself financially....People get jobs because they want money a.k.a "Monthly Salary" and "Job security".....

kambo:
Scientific advancement

does not create wealth for anyone its innovation and creativity that creates everything you see in the world.

kambo: To create a signifcant application as a solo programmer

does not take up to 6 months, does not need money, only requires a computer, internet connection and time. FYI, Twitter was created in 2 weeks, it also took 1 month to create Square mobile payments services and it was only 1 person that created the 2 of them...
If your product is good, it will sell itself, people using the product would recommend it to others and there won't be need for marketing, Most successful companies became popular only through word of mouth not marketing... please do not discourage people that believe in themselves, cos from your reply that's what u'll be doing indirectly!!!

people like you need to read this quotes:

“Do not wait: the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.”
- Napoleon Hill

"Don't waste time calculating your chances of success and failure. Just fix your aim and begin"
- Guan Yin Tzu

"We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse."
-Rudyard Kipling

"The greatest mistake a man can make is to be afraid of making one."
- Elbert Hubbard

already wesly university of science and technology is already offering programming as a course