I’ve always believed that computing is a wonderful career option for women. There are tons of obvious reasons why we need women to be strongly represented in computing, not the least of which is that half of the people in the world are female, so it’s a real shame to waste all that talent! But here comes an article from Forbes.com, which lists ten top-paying jobs for women — jobs where the unfair salary gap between men and women is somewhat less egregious. And guess what? Positions 4, 5 and 10 on that list are in the computing field. This makes sense! Computing has generally been a meritocracy — if you’re good, you’re good. And many computing careers offer the flexibility of part-time consulting or telecommuting careers, if that works best in certain stages of life. We need more people who are creative and passionate about solving really important problems and making people’s lives better. So if you are a young lady who is pretty good at math and would like to use your smarts and creativity to make a positive difference in the world (and make a good living while you’re at it), why aren’t you thinking about computer science? Please don’t let some worn-out stereotype about computer scientists chase you away from an amazing opportunity!
Top 30 innovations
The Wharton School of Business recently convened a panel of experts to answer the question, ‘what are the top 30 innovations of the last 30 years?’. The article ‘A World Transformed‘ summarizes their conclusions. Not many surprises in there I guess. But it is striking how many of them emerged directly from advances in computer science. I am still amazed how many people I meet who have this vague notion that computer science is old news, and that they need to move on to something new and exciting, like biology or finance. To really believe that computer science is old news, one must believe that this dramatic period of CS-lead innovation is now coming to a screeching halt. Based on the energy and creativity I see in our department, I’m betting that’s not true!
Web anniversary
By one measure, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web. And the guy who was there at the beginning, Tim Berners-Lee, says we are still at the beginning! In his talk yesterday, he’s quoted as saying ‘The web is not all done; this is just the tip of the iceberg. New changes are going to rock the boat even more.’ I doubt there has ever been a technological innovation that got into the hands of so many people, so fast — and not just so that all these people can use the Web, but they can actually contribute to it and create with it. This is one of the main, though certainly not the only, reason computer science continues to be such an exciting field. There are so many opportunities to create and invent and solve problems in this still new world of the Web, not to mention the increasingly important and interesting field of studying what the Web is, how people use it, what effect it is having on the world, etc.
Job fairs alive and well
Despite all the press reports, people are still hiring — at least in our small corner of the world, and based on talking to company reps who attended our just completed spring career night. Last year at this time we had seventeen companies represented at the spring career event. This year we had twenty-one. Over 200 students, from freshman to soon-to-graduate PhD’s, enjoyed the opportunity to meet with these company representatives. See the pictures here.
Model-checking and software
One of the most frequently asked questions from high school students interested in computing is on the difference between computer science and computer engineering. There are many similarities, of course, including the chance to solve world-changing problems, the dynamism and creativity of the field, and great job opportunities. But at the risk of over-simplifying, I usually say that CPE has relatively more emphasis on hardware and CS has relatively more emphasis on software. And then, tongue-in-cheek, I sometimes go on to make cheap shots like claiming that software is what really makes computing so flexible and powerful, and pointing out that there are way more companies that design and build software than there are that design and build microprocessors.
Of course I’m biased on the issue. But software just continues to amaze me at how challenging and interesting it is. For example, there is an interesting interview with the 2007 Turing Award winners, published in the July 2008 issue of CACM, on the topic of ‘model-checking.’ Model-checking is the modern descendant of (provable) program correctness; it has had some good successes and continues to receive attention from some really smart people. There is still much to do, however, especially on the software side. According to Joseph Sifakis, ‘For hardware, it’s relatively easy to extract mathematical models, and we’ve made a lot of progress. For software, the problem is quite a bit more difficult.’ Fellow award winner, Edmund Clarke simply says, ‘software verification is a Grand Challenge.’
Engineering Expo 2008
Last year we posted that there were 99 companies attending the engineering job fair that wanted to hire CS majors. This year the number is 119. With a waiting list because all the space is gone. It’s a really good time to graduate with a CS degree.
A computer is just a screwdriver
Recently a high school student told me he was advised to major in mechanical engineering rather than computer science because ‘computers are just a tool; you need to learn to do something with that tool.’ Interesting thought. Deserves a response. Maybe this is one of the reasons so few people are studying computer science, despite its intrinsic fascination and despite outstanding career prospects. Maybe people are so accustomed to computers that they take them for granted and don’t view them as objects of intellectual interest or world-changing potential any more. Maybe computers are now no more interesting than roads or motors or batteries—things that just work and you use them to do something more interesting. Oh wait. You mean there’s still interesting and important work to do on roads and motors and batteries? So isn’t it at least plausible that there is interesting and important work still to be done with computers?
I’ll grant that a computer is ‘just a tool’ in some sense. But the programmability of this tool makes a profound difference. By the way, this is why software is especially interesting and important, in my (biased) view.
Grand challenges for engineering
Recently the National Academy of Engineering published a list of 14 grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century. Very exciting, motivating and important stuff! If you are at all interested in being an engineer, please look at this list. And notice that advances in computer science will be critical in every single area.
Computers save energy!
Every week it seems like a hear of a cool new way in which someone’s life is made better through the creative use of computing. From this article in the Christian Science Monitor, entitled ‘Internet Helps Americans Save More Energy Every Year,’ comes this little tidbit:
‘… delivery giant UPS introduced new software to develop more efficient routes and help drivers avoid left-hand turns. Result: 28.5 million fewer miles driven and 3 million gallons of gas saved each year.’
Nice story. And simple enough to explain to your mother!
The Image of Computing
Computer scientists are doing a lot of self-analysis these days. ‘Why are so few students interested in studying CS?’ ‘What are the big questions CS should be answering?’ ‘How can we better explain what we do?’ Lots of discussion, hopefully with some good results for our field and for the world (see www.imageofcomputing.com for a recent contribution to the discussion — there is plenty of useful propaganda there if you are considering CS as a major or a profession).
In fact, computer scientists have done relatively little of this kind of thinking during the short history of the field. I don’t remember worrying too much about the image of computing when I got into this business 20-some years ago. There were too many interesting things to learn and do to have time to worry about image. In some sense the field has been too young to ask and answer these kinds of questions. We’re still establishing our place in the world of science and engineering. And most of the people in the field have themselves been relatively young, busy establishing careers and moving at internet pace to create, innovate, solve problems, and build cool things. So it’s pretty interesting to watch now that we have both the people and the motivation to step back and address these big high-level questions.