Some students wished certain aspects of the curriculum were different.
"I think I just quit also because I feel like most people who come out of bootcamps are more job ready, as far
as like the latest technology goes. [...] I just didn’t agree with how the curriculum was structured. It was
so archaic, that's not how the real world works [...] … So i just decided to finish my degree and self study
the programming i wanted to learn. Well it was also, i just got this job at Intel and I was realizing that
what i learned in school wasn’t really applying."
--Former CS Student
Most students we spoke with emphasized how stressful the proficiency demos are. Students recounted losing sleep, or worrying about the demos for weeks before hand.
“ I took this course three times. And, I took it three times because
of the proficiency demo. [I scored between 80 and 95 on all programs and tests.] So, it wasn’t the
course
content it was the mid-term demo specifically. I was kind of dumb-founded when I got to the end of
the second
class and I realized I wasn’t going to pass. I was like ‘I’m doing all the practice problems… and I’m still
not
passing. And then, I talked to other people about it and they were like ‘yeah the questions you get in
the demo
are just different’. ”
-- CS Alumni
“ Our curriculum is largely based on individual work and not group work [...] You're not
really expected to work
with anybody... I don't know if anyone can learn that way, and that does affect
underrepresented folks more
because they don't have external support. They didn't grow up with maybe extra money for a tutor or they
didn't
grow up with parents who were in engineering. Being allowed to talk to your peers, I feel like is a
big
[help] for underrepresented folks.”
-- Former CS Student of Color
Collaboration, like pair or mob programming, is very common in industry. Few classes in the department utilize collaboration.
Many students expressed a need for more practical knowledge of the job market
“Another thing that's lacking is the knowledge of a wider range of jobs that are computer science
related. Like
there’s more than just programming … [In my CS classes, the professor] would talk down in classes,
“awww look
I’m a designer, I have to put on my designer hat. Blah blah”. Then when it came to the programmer [they] would
be like “Now I have my programmer hat and I can think clearly.” It was like [they were] demeaning designers. I
didn’t even think twice about it [at the time]."
-- Former CS Student
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