Confused between Computer Science or Graphic Design

sylvertech · 2013-05-14T15:59:57+00:00

Hello. First of all, thanks for caring to help another person. People always Google a question and read the threads of others, but really it is humbling to...

Joe

Hey, since we're on the subject of mixing programming and design, is anyone here familiar with the work of Bret Victor? This dude rocks hard!

sylvertech

rolf wroteReal web designers - those who can do both the design and then the coding with HTML/CSS, or who can produce a design directly in HTML/CSS are a rare and very valuable thing.
Wether they're appreciated on the market - I don't know, but they should and hopefully they will.
Besides if you CAN do both and work as a freelancer you could potentially do insane amounts of money.
In the end it boils down to what you want to study.

xterm wroteGo for Graphic Design if you're already artistic, augment your skills with "Learning to program" later on (or during).
The inverse is NOT possible.
From what I've seen with the graphic designers I work with, this is hardly possible... They seem to have a very hacky/patchy approach to programming (copy paste code from around everywhere). Maybe they use the same approach they use for graphic design which is research, copy a little from here and there and what matters is the result... it doesn't work for programming. Also, years of working with Photoshop/Illustrator where you can build a blueprint in 1/2 hour (and get paid good money for it) doesn't exactly prepare then for the painful process of coding.
But seriously, do you believe that it's NOT possible? Everything is possible, just harder.
Why learn one and then the other anyway, why not learn in parallel? That would make a real website creator.

I looked at various programs, however, and so far the AUB program seems best.
AUB has a good graphic design offering anyway (so does ALBA, incidentally). But they won't prepare you to program, and probably won't give you any time nor appreciate you learning it in parallel. For real parallel majors, look outside (Paris, or other places, where some school offer "media" or "multimedia" (or whatever it's called) degrees)

This is very, very true. Working with illustrator for years does not prepare one for coding.

Learning graphic design at a college after learn to code, however, could work.

The reason I even considered graphic design is because I have already delved deeply into programming, and hated to have to relearn all that in the university.

A programmer who has studied CS in the university can perhaps recognize (there is a chance of error here; I am no expert) that actual programming really has little to do with theory.

Good basic training is need, of course. Definitely. I already have that, however (no hacky/patchy).

I've been learning programming for three or fours years now, taking it slowly, and it really is not as hard as one imagines.
Well, it is if one has a deadline or is busy with life (work/study/kids/friends/other),
then okay, but, well, high-school is not really that difficult so early on, and I was never above the occasional cheating.

Thank you for this post. This is one of the most helpful yet, maybe the most. Got me all excited!

P.S. Grade eleven ends in two weeks, and so I'll be spending this summer (as usual) practicing my hobby of coding (along with reading novels, Wikiwalking, and my rough approximation of parkour).

THANK YOU! :D

TL;DR version. 1. I have the coding fundamentals down and a few bits more (small projects and such for school and friends) 2. THANK YOU!

sylvertech

rahmu wroteHey, since we're on the subject of mixing programming and design, is anyone here familiar with the work of Bret Victor? This dude rocks hard!

He didn't account for people having larger resolutions, but still this is a cute layout.

Ayman

sylvertech wroteA programmer who has studied CS in the university can perhaps recognize (there is a chance of error here; I am no expert) that actual programming really has little to do with theory.

I think what makes good programmers is a combination of several bundles combined together:

1. Studying theory widens up your horizon, gives you better understanding of how things work and enables you to come up with better solutions. But you don't need too much of that.

2. Frequent hacking of projects, learning new languages and frameworks(including learning how they work), reading source code of major libraries and open source software, doing new things, failing, and coming up with better solutions, collaborate with people who are more experienced than you, and collaborate with people who are less experienced than you. All of that done over long periods of time(years).

A good university can offer you the first bundle very well, and in this age online courses can too(if you're dedicated enough). And all the rest(which make all the difference) are on you.

P.S. The amount of theory needed in programming varies depending on which domain you're working in. If you're going to work in web development, business applications and such usually you won't need much theory. If you're going to program applications with sophisticated graphics, game engines, image analysis, AI, and such you'll need to know a lot more theory.

venam

sylvertech

Ayman wrote
sylvertech wroteA programmer who has studied CS in the university can perhaps recognize (there is a chance of error here; I am no expert) that actual programming really has little to do with theory.
I think what makes good programmers is a combination of several bundles combined together:

1. Studying theory widens up your horizon, gives you better understanding of how things work and enables you to come up with better solutions. But you don't need too much of that.

2. Frequent hacking of projects, learning new languages and frameworks(including learning how they work), reading source code of major libraries and open source software, doing new things, failing, and coming up with better solutions, collaborate with people who are more experienced than you, and collaborate with people who are less experienced than you. All of that done over long periods of time(years).

A good university can offer you the first bundle very well, and in this age online courses can too(if you're dedicated enough). And all the rest(which make all the difference) are on you.

P.S. The amount of theory needed in programming varies depending on which domain you're working in. If you're going to work in web development, business applications and such usually you won't need much theory. If you're going to program applications with sophisticated graphics, game engines, image analysis, AI, and such you'll need to know a lot more theory.

Thank you. :3

Also, look at this.
Takes about five minutes to read.

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