I have read that those who might do well in computer science choose a different field for their success. Face it, it's not the most financially rewarding career and the hours are probably worse than anything but Ob/Gyn professionals. Toss some "gender biases" (for lack of a better word) into the mix and it's no wonder why there's an estrogen shortage in the field.
don't forget the constant need to refresh your skills. Pretty much any other job requires no refreshes, and the few that do have refreshes that basically involve a 3 hour seminar. Computer Science you gotta be on the cutting edge of technology all the time.
And unlike other fields where you basically take a 3 hour seminar to get up to speed, learning a new programming language takes a ton more time.
And like you said, its really not that much more financially rewarding than other fields
That doesn't explain why there are so much women in biology (for example) where the techniques, required skill and knowledge base change every few months or so it seems, and it isn't exactly financially rewarding.
Doctors are required to go through a certain number of Continuing Medical Education (CME) courses each year to keep their board certification. Many of these courses are in sunny vacation spots such as Hawaii, San Diego, etc. Depending on the seminar, some doctors go for a few minutes to get credit and then go golfing.
That being said, many doctors routinely read journal articles on the latest advances in medicine. I would venture that not as many engineers read IEEE articles. Still, there are many trade publications targeted towards engineers that seem to do a good job of keeping them up to speed.
Arguing over who spends more time keeping up to date is pointless.
> Arguing over who spends more time keeping up to date is pointless.
Agreed! but that wasn't what vaksel was arguing. He argued that CS requires "constant refreshes", unlike "pretty much any other job".
I'm simply arguing that the medical field, at least, requires just as much "refreshing" of skill as CS does.
(re the specific example of doctors, the niceness of the places where they get certified is utterly irrelevant, as indeed are generally their certifications. It requires a lot of continuing education to be a doctor, and it also requires a lot of expensive, worthless certifications.)
Doctors are technologists who fix the body - they don't power the body.
And yes, the technology that fixes the body does change from year to year, perhaps more so than yearly advances in programming techniques and languages. A friend of mine wanted to join Doctors without Borders (a non-profit that goes places where people most urgently need help), but was strongly discouraged to do so by her colleagues. The reason? All of them suggested she would fall behind far too much in the 3 years or so that she wanted to be gone for.
Yes, anecdotes!=data, and surely web programming has also moved on enormously in the last three years, but I would not underestimate (misunderestimate? ;)) the continued education a good doctor has to complete.
