Computer Science is the Present
Thought I’d make yet another contribution to WSO’s favourite discussion topic — Tech vs. Finance.
Right now, some of the world’s largest companies (Apple, Google, Amazon, etc…) are in tech, CS is the largest course at loads of elite unis, and the “secret” is out that the most lucrative post-undergrad path may be quantitative finance, á la Renaissance/JS/2S. There’s nothing “novel” or “innovative” about this idea; it is well-known. So is the fact that a well-qualified CS student can waltz into a FAANG role and earn $200K (= €200K lol) in their first year on a sub-20-hour workweek, whilst their IB peers may earn less on 4x as many hours. These points are beaten to death — we know.
Nonetheless, I don’t see these as compelling arguments as for why CS (computer science, definitely not Credit Suisse) is the future, in the context of “what should I study.” Between the FAANG hiring freezes, Musk’s realization with Twitter that cutting 75% of Big Tech workforces won’t really make a difference, the inability of quant investment strategies to prove across-the-board superiority to non-quant methods, and the everlasting stability of big finance…bonuses did climb post-2008 after all…I just don’t see why pursuing CS isn’t “skating to where the puck is” rather than “skating to where the puck is going to be.”
Sure, there are niches within CS that I think will be of heightened interest, notably AI safety. This also isn’t to say that CS definitely isn’t a logical field to pursue or without it’s merits. It’s more an argument that there’s no “alpha” into going after CS right now. Its advantages are well-known and “priced in,” and based on what people have been saying here, its disadvantages may not be.
Just do what you like.
If CS careers have been priced in, then what the fuck should young kids nowadays study?
Medicine and law? My god. CS is not going anywhere
Of course it isn’t going anywhere; I never said that.
Kids should study CS if they like CS, finance if they like finance, or medicine or law if they like medicine or law.
My point isn’t that CS isn’t worth going into, it’s more that CS is the current go-to, and it’s not an innovative or visionary take to claim it to be the “field of the future.”
Explicabo aliquam nulla consequatur dolor pariatur cumque. Ratione expedita ratione quam architecto sit nesciunt ut.
Ut saepe et minus nemo laboriosam laboriosam aut. Facilis a odit ut et aperiam amet rerum. Nisi ea est enim vero voluptas expedita. Cumque qui consequatur et est. Enim reprehenderit quasi et sit qui quidem sed aut. Aut incidunt quidem qui fugit pariatur incidunt. Voluptatibus at nihil perferendis molestiae voluptatem eos nihil.
Et cupiditate mollitia enim eveniet. A corporis fugiat quibusdam maxime blanditiis et voluptatem. Ea eveniet ut veniam ex blanditiis saepe. Qui porro aspernatur ipsam aut. Ut in non et quaerat asperiores praesentium. Sit debitis ut quibusdam assumenda.
Sed occaecati voluptatibus velit illo alias exercitationem vitae. Natus voluptatem sunt occaecati rerum. Mollitia dignissimos nobis rerum rerum mollitia saepe.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...