<p>CS is an unforgiving field. It’s a unique field in that there is little barrier to becoming an expert; a university education in it is not correlated to success in it by any means. It’s also unique in that veterancy does not garner you job safety; an old programmer is worth much less than say, an old doctor or even physicist.</p>
<p>I guess my main point is it’s no cake to succeed in CS at Cal, nor is success in CS theory at Cal (or any university) much correlated to success in real programming. That’s my main warning.</p>