Wiki Readers Background

What kind of background or education do WikiReaders (WikiNauts??) have?

I'm studying economics and business administration. -- FalkBruegmann

Pure mathematics, plus a fair bit of dabbling in other fields. -- GarethMcCaughan

Eight years military, twelve years as a programmer - database 4GL's, C++ and Java. Degree is double major, math and computer science, completed at night in 8.5 years (1998). -- DonaldMcLean

Joint honours maths and physics, IEE cert. in soft. eng. and passed the exams for a MSc (but got a job vs graduating). City and Guilds CobolLanguage (really). Loads of FortranLanguage in my degree. Five years in industry: CeeLanguage, CeePlusPlus, PLSQL, JavaLanguage. -- KeithBraithwaite

B.S. in "Computing and Information Sciences" with a double major in Math, and I was a religious reader of ByteMagazine from the age of 15 until it (the paper version) went defunct, plus numerous books and substantial on-the-job learning. -- CurtisBartley

Undergrad CS for 3 years, now in Economics & Management studies. I still am JustaProgrammer at heart though. :) -- StuCharlton

Self-taught past CS100 -- ShaeErisson

College dropout. Self taught through books and lots and lots of doing it. First computer was a TRS-80 model I, 4k RAM, 4k basic-in-ROM, cassette tape. Worked all summer to pay for it. In the 24 years I've been doing this I've accumulated a list of buzzwords that won't fit on one resume' page (so I leave off all of the ones I never want to see again). I still feel like a kid in a candy store every time I sit down in front of a computer. -- WayneConrad

Instead of "dropout" try this: "Found college inadequate to track the rate of my progress without I throttle myself back with irrelevant paperwork describing my progress."

BSc in Maths and Physics, Ph.D. in Computational Theoretical Nuclear Physics. This was mostly C programming on parallel processing machines, after which I made the transition to being a computer person full time (6 years ago). Programmed in many languages, before and since, but not Smalltalk :o( or COBOL :o) -- BrianEwins

Almost a highschool dropout (and intermediate/junior high, and elementary, and ... and ...). Finally dropped out of school altogether after five years in college as a Music Major (never completed more than two years of a program across two schools) and enrolling in the same theory and GE courses several times each. Worked as a musician and musical instrument repair technician since 10th grade. Started business after dropping out of school doing musical instrument repair. Had a few bad months, closed shop, and got a job doing VB work. Hated this, so got another job doing VB work. Decided VB and full-time employment wasn't my thing, so got a full-time C++/UNIX contract doing Java work, as well as other side contracts. First computer, Commodore Vic 20 (1980). First language, VIC Basic. Second language, 6502 assembly. -- EvanCofsky

BS in Applied Mathematics, half of an MS in Computer Science. First part of career in aerospace and defense industry - Fortran on a Cyber, Pascal on a PC, until I was SavedBySmalltalk? then later ForcedToWriteJava?. Fundamentally JustaProgrammer at heart. -- RandyStafford

Senior in the CS program at the University of Idaho. Two internships under my belt, one more this summer before I finally graduate. I view computers and computer science as tools built to accomplish tasks, not as ends in themselves. In this way I avoid identifying myself with my job or the status of my job in the view of the public at large. I have created an internship wiki at http://www.idabohemian.net/phpwiki/

B.S.E.E. in ComputerEngineering, 1/2 Graduate degree Masters Computer Science, numerous courses, self-taught in most Software technologies including COM, 20 years in the industry. -- sg

Traditional B.S. in CPSCI and minor in Math from the California State University at Fullerton (CSUF) - 1981 to 1986. (CSUF is generally described as a good business school, and a commuter campus.) "18-weeks of Hell" in EDS "Research Systems Engineer Development Program" (RSED) in 1987 (... this is NOT the well-known "SED" program.) Years of contracting, starting in 1981, on projects of a year or so in length. -- JeffGrigg

Bachelor of Arts (yes, Arts!) in Computer Science and Mathematics at Glendon College, Ontario's only bilingual university faculty. Half my degree was studied in French. I completed the coursework, but not the thesis, for a Master of Sciences in Computer Science/Programming Metholodogies at the University of Toronto. Self-taught from the age of seven in BASIC (PET, VIC-20, C-64). Three years at IBM and now several months on my own. :) -- JbRainsberger

M.Eng. Microelectronic Systems Engineering: my day job is verification of (complex) ASICs - which means 10 years of constructing elaborate acceptance tests (hmm, doesn't sound very exciting when phased like that). -- DaveWhipp

BS in Biology. Learned to type by playing ZorkGame. Stole a roommate's "Oh! Pascal" textbook in the mid 80s. Never took a computer class. Often considered a PowerUser at work. Learned HyperTalk in late 80s early 90s. Learned HTML in 1994. Putzed around with Pascal, C, Perl and Java throughout the 90s. Never programmed for money (except Excel macros and Access databases, which I don't count). Now putzing around with PythonAndXml. -- SeanOleary

My degree is in Computer Science, but I've also accumulated qualifications in Bookkeeping, marketing, philosophy, creative writing and I'm working on psychology at the moment. My parents always figured I'd be some sort of engineer. Then experience in the games industry, logistics, trade systems... and now retail banking. I get bored if I do one thing too long.... -- KatieLucas

Learned a few computer languages including 6505 assembly, then I went to college. In college, I learned many computer languages that I've never used since. MS "Electrical and Computer Engineering" and a math minor. Put my first personal web page online in 1995 (or was it 1994 ?). Spent years designing circuit boards that usually included some sort of microprocessor. Finally (2003-11) starting to learn Java. Currently (2003-11) looking for work (circuit board design ?). -- DavidCary

Mathematics, computing, health policy and philosophy. -- JasonGrossman

First degree in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, wrote programs in Fortran on IBM 1620 using paper tape. Graduated 1969.
Did research working in an industrial lab. Wrote more programs in Fortran this time using punched cards on IBM 360s. Learned the need to pay attention to detail. (1969-1972) Gained Ph.D. (1975)
Moved to work as an academic in chemical engineering.
Worked a lot in more Fortran, Basic etc. Mainly ICL computers but also a Honeywell 316.
Bought a series of home computers starting with early Atari. Learned a lot about computer hardware.
Taught myself C and C++. Wanted a run time language, so played with Lua, TCL, Ruby, Python and linked some to C++ using Swig.
In the late 1980s I used Fortran to write programs for large scale text processing of data from magnetic tapes (yes really).
I first came here in 1990s. I didn't stay as my connection kept timing out. I did invent CategoryBook.
At some point I discovered there was such a thing as Functional Programming, and C++ templates. Never the same since.
I have been working with FC++ (FunctoidsInCpp) and documenting it here for the last 10 years or so.
I have just had a 40 year service award at the university and want to write a history of 40 years of computers at the university.
I have also become maintainer of one of the BoostLibraries (BoostPhoenixLibrary)
I now have a RaspberryPi but as yet too busy to do anything with it.
I do quite a lot to keep this wiki tidy.
I retire this year from the university but will not be giving up coming here.
I had never seen this page before today. One of the joys of Wiki is the hidden treasure. -- JohnFletcher

CategoryWiki