Question For Professional Programmers.

Just had a quesiton for any professional programmers out there. I was at college last year for Computer Science, but transferred and switched majors. I'm thinking about going back to that major next year.

So I was talking to my friend who's looking for jobs now, and he said something about when you get a job in CS you have to sign some agreement or something where the company you work for basically owns the rights to any software you creat? Not sure the best way to explain what he said. Anyone know of something like this? So if you're working for a company you can't create your own programs even if it in no way involves what you do at work(ie. none of their equiptment, rescources, time, or information)?

Just curious

That is pretty much the program ownership thing. It really depends on who you work for and what deals you can make. I try and keep the roights to any and all programming I do, personally. One lady I talked to is still trying to regain the rights to an arcade game she did many years ago, but cannot even track down the present copyright holder! I also have one magazine article set in a similar situation.

It all really depends on the company you work for and what deal you make. It also depends on if you want to keep the rights, to have them revert back to you after the company dissolves...

Every company I have ever worked for made you sign a similar agreement:

IBM
AT&T
Symantec

Basic stuff my friend. Oh, and you really don't need a comp sci degree to be a programmer, but that is probably clear to you anyway. The majority of programmers I know are Math majors, Physics Majors, and hell even Psych Majors! The lowest of the low are Comp Sci people... I can't explain it, but most of the scrub jobs are held by Comp Sci people. I am a Software Engineer, and I went through business school Actually going back now for an English degree... ANYWAY,

-Nick

Um, as I see it, CS majors are the ones NOT programming, and instead running the software firms. Maybe it's just a thing about seeing only CS grads from CMU. Perhaps for most every other school they become scrubs.

nruva said:

Every company I have ever worked for made you sign a similar agreement:

IBM
AT&T
Symantec

Basic stuff my friend. Oh, and you really don't need a comp sci degree to be a programmer, but that is probably clear to you anyway. The majority of programmers I know are Math majors, Physics Majors, and hell even Psych Majors! The lowest of the low are Comp Sci people... I can't explain it, but most of the scrub jobs are held by Comp Sci people. I am a Software Engineer, and I went through business school Actually going back now for an English degree... ANYWAY,

-Nick

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EvilWasabi said:

Um, as I see it, CS majors are the ones NOT programming, and instead running the software firms. Maybe it's just a thing about seeing only CS grads from CMU. Perhaps for most every other school they become scrubs.

Click to expand...

Not in any company I have ever worked for. Most managers had an MBA at best in business. Most directors hold the same. The Architects have always been of a Math discipline, never a computer. The QA scrubs and junior programmers were CS. Now, maybe that is going to change 10-15 years from now... but, I am just telling it as I see it. I've been in this industry for 8 years now, and it is more and more evident, you don't need a CS degree.

-Nick

nruva said:

Not in any company I have ever worked for. Most managers had an MBA at best in business. Most directors hold the same. The Architects have always been of a Math discipline, never a computer. The QA scrubs and junior programmers were CS. Now, maybe that is going to change 10-15 years from now... but, I am just telling it as I see it. I've been in this industry for 8 years now, and it is more and more evident, you don't need a CS degree.

-Nick

Click to expand...

I agree you don't need a CS degree to be a programmer.

But, my experience is that MBA holders are more useless than MFA holders. I simply don't see how they can manage programmers unless they have programming experience.

In the software industry, I personally like people with CS backgrounds. Why? Because they can adapt to changes. When we moved to C#, a lot of people simply didn't "get it." We had to let them go. The CS people got it though. They had the foundation. They didn't just learn C++ or visual basic. They learned Computer Science. They know that a hash table isn't something you get with an egg mcmuffin. Finite state machines aren't actually little robots to them. They just get stuff better.

Hehe... good example Anyway, I can see where you are coming from. And, to an extent I agree with you. Although, a lot of the people that work as managers here, holding the MBAs, have been programmers in the past, and there for do have experience coding and managing coders... It's a moot point really... at the end of the day, I think what matters most is how you adapt to the ever changing office, like you pointed out in the example. I've met CS students that were amazing smart, and people's with Masters degrees in Math and Physics that were brain-dead (though they were also heavy drug users, perhaps they go hand in hand?) Anyway... I guess my only point was it is not necessary to get a CS degree to be a programmer... I am sorry if it seemed like I was bashing CS degrees, that is not what I meant.

-Nick

Ok, cool. Coding isn't computer science anyways. If a CS major is doing grunt programming, he/she has issues.

nruva said:

Hehe... good example Anyway, I can see where you are coming from. And, to an extent I agree with you. Although, a lot of the people that work as managers here, holding the MBAs, have been programmers in the past, and there for do have experience coding and managing coders... It's a moot point really... at the end of the day, I think what matters most is how you adapt to the ever changing office, like you pointed out in the example. I've met CS students that were amazing smart, and people's with Masters degrees in Math and Physics that were brain-dead (though they were also heavy drug users, perhaps they go hand in hand?) Anyway... I guess my only point was it is not necessary to get a CS degree to be a programmer... I am sorry if it seemed like I was bashing CS degrees, that is not what I meant.

-Nick

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, i know you really don't need the degree to be a programmer, but it still seems like a good thing to get, i mean i wan't some sort of credentials. As for other types of degrees. I'll probably go for something like an MBA eventually, not right away though. I want to work first, so I can make some money and gain some work experience.