university-and-practice.md

I mostly agree with the notion that a university's role is to teach you theory, not to make you employable, but it's hard for me to reconcile that belief with my disappointment when students aren't ready to be hired upon graduation. As enjoyable as learning about computing can be, there is little sense in studying it unless you plan to apply it in some way. This means programming. There's no way around that. It is the tool we have. So if you're going through all the trouble of getting a degree in computation, you ought to be doing your best to also become a damn good programmer. If software practice truly falls outside of the school's purview, then I can't blame its curriculum for neglect. Academia does fulfill its role, but at too great an opportunity cost. Degree programs fill the lives and consume the energy of students who ought to be programming, programming, programming, and pausing to take some theory classes on the side.