Paul CantrellOct 19, 2024

I’m a software developer with a bunch of industry experience. I’m also a comp sci professor, and whenever a CS alum working in industry comes to talk to the students, I always like to ask, “What do you wish you’d taken more of in college?”

Almost without exception, they answer, “Writing.”

One of them said, “I do more writing at Google now than I did when I was in college.”

I am therefore begging, begging you to listen to @stephstephking: https://mstdn.social/@stephstephking/113336270193370876

Stephanie King (@[email protected])

It's bumming me out to see so many universities forcing their English departments to put on a "English Majors Are Useful Too" promotional campaign to justify their existence when my experience out on the job market right now is HOT DAMN THIS ONE CAN WRITE A SENTENCE

Mastodon 🐘
Show threadAnthony Sorace

@inthehands @stephstephking @Flux I had a friend who, while doing her PhD, had to teach a few 100-level writing courses. I talked to her at one point and she was really enjoying it; the students were really engaged. I asked her again next semester, teaching the same course, and she was having a really difficult time; everything felt like pulling teeth. It was the same course. “What changed?”, I asked.

“It’s all engineering students this term.”

Oct 20, 2024 at 4:59amWeb
Show threadAnthony SoraceOct 20, 2024

@inthehands @stephstephking @Flux I got so *mad*. Because there is zero doubt in my mind that the thing that has most contributed to me being a good engineer is my *high school’s* very intense writing requirements.

It turns out that being able to take an idea, play with it, and articulate something clearly related to it is *really useful* for engineering! Who knew? (Oh, wait, everyone in the humanities forever.)

I offered to fly out and yell at her students; she did not take me up on it.