Why do so few people major in computer science?
Dan nearly solves his own riddle with possible explanation No. 2: &quot;You don’t need a CS degree to be a developer.&quot; He just doesn&#x27;t spend long enough probing this issue.<p>Majoring in computer science is like majoring in English with hopes of becoming a writer. Or majoring in economics with hopes of starting a business. You&#x27;ll get all the theory. You&#x27;ll mingle with all the lifers. But because you try to come into the guild at age 18, there&#x27;s a risk of narrowness&#x2F;tunnel vision.<p>The people majoring in stats, math, physics, etc. may work on more interesting problems during their college years, or develop a more holistic sense of how to come at big new areas of learning. Meanwhile, the opportunities for non-CS majors to pick up programming skills via electives or non-classroom projects are huge.<p>Where Dan sees a problem, I&#x27;m seeing a healthy diversity. The U.S. is able to come up with enough software talent as is, drawing on many different pathways. Why insist that everyone be trained the same way?