"In the same way being an hobbyist programmer will never give you the same skill set than a CS degree." Never? Despite the countless examples, including Torvalds and Carmack? I really disagree on that.
Torvalds has a masters in CS. "Never" is a strong word, but the rest of the paragraph you're harpooning makes a different point than the one you're refuting.
According to Wikipedia, Linux was developed around his second year in university. That would suggest that he did not have a degree during its development and had a formal education, at that time, roughly equivalent to the average university dropout. I think that still supports the parent's claim, even if it is a little misleading as written.
Of the top 5 developers I've ever worked with -- they are the X when I ask myself "what would X do?" when faced with a really hard problem -- 5 of them have PhDs in Computer Science.
Now, a PhD in CS is a bit of a double-edged sword. It's often a danger sign that someone has spent too much time on just one theory. I wouldn't recommend getting or using a PhD as a signal of being a good developer since there is way too much variance.
(Ob: I have also worked with great developers with no formal education.)
pdubs|13 years ago
randomdata|13 years ago
unknown|13 years ago
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danielweber|13 years ago
Now, a PhD in CS is a bit of a double-edged sword. It's often a danger sign that someone has spent too much time on just one theory. I wouldn't recommend getting or using a PhD as a signal of being a good developer since there is way too much variance.
(Ob: I have also worked with great developers with no formal education.)