Math, logic and science will be the topics of a
trivia game night at the Career Center tonight.
At 6:30 p.m. in Nedderman Hall Room 100,
there will be a Microsoft Computer Science
Trivia Night, an event that will pit team
against team in a contest testing technological
skill in the computer science field.
Being an expert in computer science at UTA
requires dedication, passion and hours of
work.
Here are the top 10 things needed to be a
computer science wiz at UTA.
1) Be logical
When computer science professor James
O'Dell was asked what the important basics to
master for computer science were, the first
thing he said was to have a good foundation
in logic.
“It really does go a long way,” he said. “When
you are discreet with logic, it works well in
developing the skills needed for algorithms
and coding when it comes to computer
science.”
2) Be mathematic
Math is also an important factor in computer
science, O'Dell said.
“In every way, computer science is based
around a mathematical foundation,” he said.
“So when you’re programming functions and
commands into computers, you need to
understand the basis of all of that is in
mathematics.”
3) Challenge yourself
One thing that can help an aspiring computer
specialist is by testing in real-life technical
situations, said Matthew Wright, computer
science associate professor. He said people
can seek these opportunities out on the
Internet.
“I really recommend that people try
TopCoder,” Wright said. TopCoder is an
online website that holds weekly competitions
to see who is the most skilled in computer
programming.
“There’s many more like it out there on the
Internet,” Wright said.
4) Get involved with a group
Nothing develops skills more than hanging
around a group of friends who shares the
same interests, Wright said.
“Getting involved with a group of that caliber
really develops your skills,” Wright said. “It’s
much better to learn with a group of friends,
learning the same technical skills, than it is a
teacher lecturing in a class.”
5) Be calm in stressful environments
One thing that computer engineering
senior Sean Pierce recommends is being able
to process large amounts of technical
information quickly.
“The computer can be a toy, not just a tool,”
Pierce said. “One should choose a field where
one has a natural passion, and those who
tinkering with their computer will probably
be comfortable working with it
professionally."
6) Be creative
Being a computer expert doesn’t really mean
you are restricted to one single method or
practice. Being a computer expert means
branching out and always striving for the
impossible.
“Nothing in computers is ever really isolated,”
Pierce said. “It is important to have a general
breadth of computer knowledge, because
computer scientists often have to develop
interesting solutions to interesting problems.”
7) Branch out
Computer science alumnus Patrick Baggett
said that to succeed as a computer genius, a
person needs to be diverse.
“You need to learn software engineering, how
computers work, how operating systems work,
as well as countless programming languages,”
Baggett said.
Pierce agreed with Baggett and followed up on
his own examples.
“A famous misquote from Edsger Dijkstra was,
‘Computer science is no more about
computers than astronomy is about
telescopes,’ meaning that computers are our
tools, and while we are experts at using our
tools, they do not define the field as a whole,”
Pierce said.
8) Read and write a lot of code
While it doesn’t sound fun to be going through
countless streams of code and data, Pierce
said that it is a necessity in order to stay in
the computer science workforce.
“Your career will require it,” he said. “Due to
technology becoming exponentially complex,
one must continuously update their skills to
stay competitive within the field."
9) Understand your tools
“You need to understand how your tools
work,” Baggett said. “You need not only know
what a compiler, linker, assembler,
interpreter and web browser is, but what they
do for you to succeed.”
10) Learn from failure, then quickly move on
“You need to have a business mindset,” Pierce
said. “Even though business majors are our
natural enemies and there is typically a
difference in ethics, having a business
perspective is incredibly valuable.”
Baggett had one last thing to add to Pierce’s
comments.
“Don’t give up easily when something doesn’t
work,” he said as he laughed to himself.
trivia game night at the Career Center tonight.
At 6:30 p.m. in Nedderman Hall Room 100,
there will be a Microsoft Computer Science
Trivia Night, an event that will pit team
against team in a contest testing technological
skill in the computer science field.
Being an expert in computer science at UTA
requires dedication, passion and hours of
work.
Here are the top 10 things needed to be a
computer science wiz at UTA.
1) Be logical
When computer science professor James
O'Dell was asked what the important basics to
master for computer science were, the first
thing he said was to have a good foundation
in logic.
“It really does go a long way,” he said. “When
you are discreet with logic, it works well in
developing the skills needed for algorithms
and coding when it comes to computer
science.”
2) Be mathematic
Math is also an important factor in computer
science, O'Dell said.
“In every way, computer science is based
around a mathematical foundation,” he said.
“So when you’re programming functions and
commands into computers, you need to
understand the basis of all of that is in
mathematics.”
3) Challenge yourself
One thing that can help an aspiring computer
specialist is by testing in real-life technical
situations, said Matthew Wright, computer
science associate professor. He said people
can seek these opportunities out on the
Internet.
“I really recommend that people try
TopCoder,” Wright said. TopCoder is an
online website that holds weekly competitions
to see who is the most skilled in computer
programming.
“There’s many more like it out there on the
Internet,” Wright said.
4) Get involved with a group
Nothing develops skills more than hanging
around a group of friends who shares the
same interests, Wright said.
“Getting involved with a group of that caliber
really develops your skills,” Wright said. “It’s
much better to learn with a group of friends,
learning the same technical skills, than it is a
teacher lecturing in a class.”
5) Be calm in stressful environments
One thing that computer engineering
senior Sean Pierce recommends is being able
to process large amounts of technical
information quickly.
“The computer can be a toy, not just a tool,”
Pierce said. “One should choose a field where
one has a natural passion, and those who
tinkering with their computer will probably
be comfortable working with it
professionally."
6) Be creative
Being a computer expert doesn’t really mean
you are restricted to one single method or
practice. Being a computer expert means
branching out and always striving for the
impossible.
“Nothing in computers is ever really isolated,”
Pierce said. “It is important to have a general
breadth of computer knowledge, because
computer scientists often have to develop
interesting solutions to interesting problems.”
7) Branch out
Computer science alumnus Patrick Baggett
said that to succeed as a computer genius, a
person needs to be diverse.
“You need to learn software engineering, how
computers work, how operating systems work,
as well as countless programming languages,”
Baggett said.
Pierce agreed with Baggett and followed up on
his own examples.
“A famous misquote from Edsger Dijkstra was,
‘Computer science is no more about
computers than astronomy is about
telescopes,’ meaning that computers are our
tools, and while we are experts at using our
tools, they do not define the field as a whole,”
Pierce said.
8) Read and write a lot of code
While it doesn’t sound fun to be going through
countless streams of code and data, Pierce
said that it is a necessity in order to stay in
the computer science workforce.
“Your career will require it,” he said. “Due to
technology becoming exponentially complex,
one must continuously update their skills to
stay competitive within the field."
9) Understand your tools
“You need to understand how your tools
work,” Baggett said. “You need not only know
what a compiler, linker, assembler,
interpreter and web browser is, but what they
do for you to succeed.”
10) Learn from failure, then quickly move on
“You need to have a business mindset,” Pierce
said. “Even though business majors are our
natural enemies and there is typically a
difference in ethics, having a business
perspective is incredibly valuable.”
Baggett had one last thing to add to Pierce’s
comments.
“Don’t give up easily when something doesn’t
work,” he said as he laughed to himself.
