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An opinion I don't agree with, but an opinion all the same...

I've been saying this for years. HOWEVER, I do wish I had more command line experience and other such automated skills that come from simple repetition. I intend to take a course or two for that very reason (once I get the time that I can value it above what I'm currently doing).

Good CS degrees do hurt a lot, and should hurt a lot. If they aren't, you're not getting your money's worth.

EDIT: when I say that they "hurt", I'm referring to the growing pains your brain undergoes while achieving it. apparently, this is not the same meaning that the author is using.

I am completely biased on this as I do have a CS degree and am going to be entering graduate studies. So take my word with a grain of salt.

People who say learning assembly language is useless is like saying an M.D. shouldn't need to learn Chemistry. These are the basic building blocks people! To understand at this level, helps you understand better on the whole.

The problem is, most of us do the following for a living:
a) Retrieve data from Database
b) Display data from Database
c) Rinse and Repeat

It's not complicated stuff, for that very reason is why we see lots of people in our industry without degrees. It think (in Java anyway) it's tougher and takes more time to figure out what your stack is going to be (i.e. do I use Struts/Spring/Hibernate/etc...) than to program the actual application.

Now where was I going with this? Oh yeah, you don't need a CS degree to program webapps, the guys who created all the nifty libraries which make your life easier already have (I suspect).

IT is not equal to CS, or even Software Engineering. The cited example of "architect the design of a high-traffic ad server with a db backend" has nothing to do with either of these really. This is more of an IT problem. MAYBE it is a software engineering problem if the ad server is being developed, but it sounds like this is deploying existing software.

There really is no good college degree programs that crank out good IT workers. The reason: these are skilled trades kind of tasks. Look for passion in the employee and the ability to learn. Then teach them. I think of these guys like Mechanics -- the best ones love to tinker on thier cars in their own time.

No pain, no gain!