“Who programs?,” it is difficult to believe that he sees much relevance in
this activity.
Andriole missed my central point—
that every subdiscipline in the broad
array of computing specialties is experiencing growth in demand. There are
undeniably more jobs in computing
that do not require sophisticated programming in the classical sense. What
he failed to recognize is that there are
also more jobs in computing that do
require such talents. We must expand
educational programs that focus on
the IT areas he championed but not at
the expense of more traditional CS programs that produce too few graduates
to meet industry demand.
The most disturbing aspect of Andriole’s comments is his charge that
those of us in traditional computing
disciplines are somehow jeopardizing the opportunities available to
those newly entering the field. Each
year, the CS graduates of my own institution [Stanford University] have
extraordinary opportunities precisely
because of the education they have received. Our bachelor’s degree recipients get multiple offers, sometimes
commanding salaries in excess of
$100,000 per year. Providing students
such opportunities is hardly a disservice. If we could somehow produce
10 times the number of CS graduates,
they would get the same sort of offers.
The demand for those with skills is
strong and growing. Shifting our educational focus away from critically
needed skills would be the height of
irresponsibility.
eric Roberts, stanford, cA
X be a random variable representing
the possible loss values. Let Y be a random variable representing a loss due
to a severe breach. Then, the possible
values of Y are zero, plus the values of
X that are greater of equal to T. The
probability of Y=x equals the probability that X=x for those values of X
greater than or equal to T. Further, the
probability that Y=0 equals the probability that X is strictly less than T. The
left-hand side of the equation (page
66) should have been written as E[Y].
For the example given, the random
variable Y can take on the values 0, 8,
and 9 with probabilities of 0.8, 0.1 and
0.1, respectively. Then, E[Y] = 0*. 8 +
8*. 1 + 9*. 1 = 1. 7.
Lawrence D. Bodin,
Lawrence a. Gordon, martin P. Loeb,
college Park, Md
fession’s image problem, academic
programs will continue to have trouble
attracting the numbers of students
needed to maintain a healthy profession in the U.S.
Jack Bush, Watkinsville, GA
correction: expected Loss conditional
In our article, “Information Security
and Risk Management” (Apr. 2008), the
notation for the expected value of a severe loss was incorrectly written as the
expected loss conditional on the loss
being severe. We thank Jonathan Katz
of the University of Maryland, College
Park, for bringing it to our attention.
While we correctly defined the concept
of the expected severe loss (page 65),
the notation on the left-hand side of
the second equation in the figure (page
66) was in error.
As in the article, let T denote the
threshold value of a severe loss and
to Boost enrollment fix
the cs image Problem
As an IS practitioner and parent of three
college-age sons, my perspective on the
reasons for decreased IS and CS enrollment is a bit different from that of
Wayne Wei Huang et al. in “
Outsourcing and the Decrease of IS Program
Enrollment” (June 2008). Although
parents are a primary source of career
guidance for students, they also derive
their opinions from conversations with
practitioners, as well as from news reports. The personal conversations are
likely to carry much more weight than
the news reports or the pronouncements of academic advisors who have a
stake in selling their programs.
Many IS professionals today do
not offer a very positive picture of the
industry when asked about their own
careers. The oft-quoted statistics concerning the relatively small number of
outsourced jobs misses the point. Outsourcing has changed the image of the
profession from valued corporate partner to commodity service performed
by the lowest bidder. The change in
perception affects every IS professional
in organizations undergoing outsourcing and its associated layoffs; everyone
worries their jobs are next. Following
my own experience in the profession,
none of my sons is pursuing IS or CS as
a major, studying it instead only as an
adjunct to other majors.
Until practitioners address the pro-
inspire excitement
Both Peter J. Denning in “Voices of
Computing” (Aug. 2008) and Rick
Rashid in “Inspiring a New Generation
of Computer Scientists” (July 2008)
were right: There are too few computer
programmers coming up, and we must
go to the schools and recruit them. If
students don’t want jobs that pay upward of $60,000 annually, fine, there
are plenty of people who need them
and can be inspired to want them. Here
are four ideas that could help recruit
students:
Excitement of programming. Each of
us can recall a program or system we
developed that was exciting and that
solved an important problem for our
employer or client. Convey the excitement of programming;
A good life. Make the connection
between well-paying jobs and a good
life. Use images and videos to show
the kinds of places where programmers can afford to work, live, and play.
Tell students how they can give back to
their communities but only if they have
the wherewithal to do it;
Responsible for own success. Give students the tools they need to succeed.
Lots of books explain what it takes to
be a good student. Make sure schools
have them, then get students to read
them. Tell them the truth—that while
schoolteachers and administrators,
boys and girls clubs advisors, church
officials, parents, and others can help,
you are ultimately responsible for your
own success; and
Share with administrators. Talk over
these and other ideas with school administrators before giving your own
presentations, eliciting and trying to
incorporate their ideas. They have a
strong stake in your success.
charles elliott, Philadelphia, PA
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