Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with SAS: December 5-11

Next week we'll be celebrating Computer Science Education Week. SAS is a partner in this event, which makes complete sense because we have a vested interest in creating more computer scientists. After all, SAS does employ a lot of them.

When I was enrolled in a computer science program (sometime after punched cards but well before USB drives), the program was notorious for its attrition rate. Hundreds of incoming freshmen would declare Computer Science as their major, only to have most of them drop out in the second or third year. I don't think it was due to the difficulty (although of course it was a challenging program); I think that the work of designing and writing computer programs was different than many people expected.

The idea of teaching a computer to do work for you is compelling, but it does require a different mindset. Or it did, back then. Now we have higher-level languages that allow to you approach a business or science problem without having to think completely like the computer.

Programming languages and computer architecture change at a faster rate than the tools associated with most other professions. Therefore, a successful computer science education will prepare you with not only solid problem solving skills, but will instill the ability to learn new tools and approaches that allow you to practice those skills in a changing world.

Why Computer Science? (Because STEM is cool! Watch the video...) According to the CSEdWeek.org folks, computer science education is essential to:

Expose students to critical thinking and problem solving.

Instill understanding of computational thinking for success in the digital age.

Train students for computing careers that are exciting, plentiful and financially rewarding.

Prepare students to tackle the world’s most challenging problems.