<p>I'm a recent REA admit and am vaguely contemplating majors. </p>
<p>I'm fairly sure I was admitted on the strength of my humanities credentials, but I also have a passing interest in the fields that Silicon Valley is renowned for. </p>
<p>On the FB admitted students' group, a lot of people seem into technology/CS/programming. I presume that these are the people who will go on to become CS majors and engineers at companies in the area. </p>
<p>But for people like me who have no prior knowledge of programming and would start off taking 106A in the fall, how hard is it to get "up to speed" with hardcore CS people with regards to programming skills? Would I ever be on the same level as people who've started long before me? Or if I don't already have some background in programming, is it a lost cause?</p>
<p>You could take CS106a on ITunesU then take a harder programming course. On iTunes u cs106a is called programming methodology and it’s a great course, I highly recommend it. Also it has all of the lectures, handouts, ect for no cost</p>
<p>I wouldn’t base your decision on how far “behind” you might be. Chances are, there’s going to be someone ahead of you in almost every area. If you’re interested in it, go for it. Stanford is going to ensure that you have the requisite skills and knowledge to graduate in whatever field you choose.</p>
<p>Also, please be careful to distinguish computer science and programming (and your particular interests). CS is far more theoretical/mathematical (although it uses programming), whereas programming/software development is more practical. Many universities (not sure about Stanford) offer entirely separate Software Development majors. CS is to programming as physics is to engineering.</p>
<p>At least right now, there is more demand for programmers than supply. I know people who have only taken through the 106 series who have gotten $10,000 summer jobs programming. You can definitely catch up to the point where you can work at companies like Microsoft or Google after your sophomore year.</p>
<p>Stanfordfuture: This very interesting. Are there any other courses on iTunes? </p>
<p>BTW for anyone who doesn’t have some kind of background in these freshman techie classes and math classes, I would strongly recommend doing whatever you can to get some. The classes move very quickly and assume you have foundations and fundamentals needed to progress. So definitely do what you can. My s has moved completely out of his comfort zone, when it comes to the classes he is taking this quarter at Stanford. Consequently, he has found it to be very difficult and extremely time consuming because he is trying to play catch up. He finds that the majority of the kids taking techie classes are far more well versed in the material than he, simply because they took the AP’s ahead of time. He too, is more comfortable in a class that he took a prior AP in. So think of it that way. Most people don’t work outside their comfort zone, so the few that do, will feel it. Certainly doable but be prepared and if you can take a class on line or on iTunes do it!</p>
<p>^yeah it’s called iTunes U and they offer tons of free courses on a variety of subjects. I’m using the programming methodology (cs106a) to self study Ap comp sci. Im hooked on itunes u. To anyone who wants to learn check it out</p>