Learn microeconomics before graduating
Joel Spolsky wrote another great article that I read today titled ”Advice for Computer Science College Students”. Overall the article is pretty good, and although I don’t agree with all of the finer points, I definitely agree that CPSC students should learn microeconomics before graduating. His argument is that “a programmer who understands the fundamentals of business is going to be a more valuable programmer, to a business, than a programmer who doesn’t.” And he’s dead on. The only thing I would add is that there’s no need to go overboard and minor in economics or business or go and do something silly like a double degree. That will likely only taint you; if the management guys (and gals) were normal why would there be such a rivalry between them and the engineers? Of course, I’m not entirely sure that the ‘gears are normal either.
Joel’s articles are usually good, but I thought that this article was especially well written and enjoyed the microeconomics section as I have often had the same thought. And yes, I took microeconomics in first year (I went to the University of Calgary).
Tue, 04 Jan 2005 01:07 Posted in General
