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More Advice for Undergrads

paulgraham.com · 850 words · saved by 1 readers

I asked several friends who were professors and/or eminent hackers what they thought of Undergraduation. Their comments were so good that I thought I'd just give them directly to you. I've given them all codenames for now, since some may want to remain anonymous. NT: The one thing that I felt was missing from your essay was a statement supporting or dispelling the notion that CS is for loners. I disagree with this notion. I love hacking, but I love it even more when it's a shared experience. The hard problems seem just a bit more surmountable when there's two of you. Of course, Fred Brooks's law about adding manpower comes into play eventually. The rule: work in small groups with good people. Stay away from large bureaucratic organizations where status reports are more important than thinking outside the box. There are many individual aspects to CS, just like art. But, being an individual doesn't mean that the machine takes the place of good friends, colleagues, and mentors.

More Advice for Undergrads --> I asked several friends who were professors and/or eminent hackers what they thought of Undergraduation . Their comments were so good that I thought I'd just give them directly to you. I've given them all codenames for now, since some may want to remain anonymous. NT: The one thing that I felt was missing from your essay was a statement supporting or dispelling the notion that CS is for loners. I disagree with this notion. I love hacking, but I love it even more when it's a shared experience. The hard problems seem just a bit more surmountable when there's two of

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