What's annoying about knowing Computer Science

An Reflection ofGonçalo Amador gamador@it.ubi.pt

Point of Order

● I want to make it clear: MY OPINION follows.● YOU MAY DISAGREE!● If you agree, disagree or want to add something

CONSTRUCTIVE, feel free to e-mail me.● If you lost interest at this point don't waste your

time and go do something else, otherwise just keep going.

Computer Science

● Its a complex field, composed by several sub-fields.

● It takes (lots) of time to properly learn.● Most people, only like some sub-areas which

makes learning the hole field boring for them.● Future professionals will often also need to

learn stuff from other fields, e.g., chemistry, economics, law, etc. to do their jobs.

Computer Science (cont.)

● Not sure what I mean with complex?● An example then, a high quality computer

game.● It applies most of the knowledge from the sub-

areas of the field of computer science.● Physics required is also required knowledge.

Computer Games (Public perspective)

Computer Games (Developers Perspective)

Game engine 0.00000000001%

of a game source code

Computer Games (overview)

● Complex programs that might go to as far as millions of lines of code.

● Take time to properly develop.● Game engines make it faster, but require much

work to be developed initially.

Back to the point

● If you came this far thank you for you time!● So after this not so brief introduction (bla bla bla

probably for most seeing this) ...● What's my point?● Here it goes … (go to next slide)

My point

● When (even if you have a friend that is a doctor) you have a health problem you pay to go to a:

● You know that it needs a professional's time and knowledge to find which from the million things you might have is the right one and how to treat you.

● You know that that knowledge takes time to learn and its vast and complex.

My point (cont.)● When (even if you have a friend that is a lawyer or judge) you have a law problem you pay for

counseling to a:

● You know that it needs a professional's time and knowledge to find out which in the vast information that his the law how to address your problem.

● You know that that knowledge takes time to learn and its vast and complex.● And so on for many other professions ...

My point (final)

So my point is: Why most people (at least many I know) that know computer science are treated as the computer guy?

The computer guy (Public view)

● He has no life! ● He does not sleep or eat!● In fact he has no social life at all.● He knows how to solve every single problem related to computers.● Better yet he knows every single thing to know related to computers.● He is a master in MS Office, printer configurations, and Wi-fi.● Is single purpose in life is to spend his time solving others computer related

problems.● If a computer guy doesn't know how to solve YOUR PROBLEM, he is

useless, incopetent, etc, etc.

Computer guy (our perspective)

● We help our friends, because sometimes we don't want to say no at the expense of our time and activities.

● There is no quick simple computer problem!● The guy at the store that knows less than us, but solves the same type of

problems 99% of the times is faster than us solving such problems, however he his not free!

● Its not just a matter of money, we sometimes don't want help because our life is not just computers!

● It is also very disrespectful to treat us like this.● We work and like to have fun with computers, solving other people problems

is not fun!● Being someone you know, not even your friend, does not makes us your

personal computer technician for free.

Computer guy (our perspective)

The End?

● In short if your computer guy friend is depressed hug him, don't ask for tech support.

● Don't take it bad if he does not want to help you, for free.

● Understand that he knows about complex stuff that he can't (yet he tries) speck with many of his non computer people friends.

● Thanks for reading.