Computer Science:
Research, Industry, and Entrepreneurship
About me
-
Research
Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at USC -
Industry
Project manager at the OpenIT Lab affiliated with IT-oLogy -
Entrepreneurship
Technical lead at Huntstand, Inc., a social networking startup company
Online
I write lots of code on github.com/malloc47
and blog on my website malloc47.com
These slides are available here:
Misconceptions
Brogrammers
It's all Programming
It's all Math
CS == IT
What is CS?
Definition
Computer science is the scientific and practical approach to computation and its applications. A computer scientist specializes in the theory of computation and the design of computational systems.
CS's Resume
- Invented the Internet (with apologies to Al Gore)
- Ushered in the information age
- Broke the Enigma code and helped win WWII
- Created computer graphics
- Facilitated truly secure communication (cryptography)
- Mapped the human genome
- Beat humans at chess and Jeopardy!
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science
↑
Invented that too
Why CS?
Jobs
Pay
$90,530
(2010 median salary)
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/Software-developers.htm
Job Growth
(2011 figures)
Perks
| FullContact | Paid Paid Vacation |
| eBay | Rafting trips |
| Genentech | Onsite child and animal daycare |
| Dogs allowed in the office | |
| Four months paid maternity/paternity leave | |
| Microsoft | Bus service (with wi-fi) directly to work |
| Netflix | Doesn't keep track of vacation days |
| Dropbox | Sound-proof music studio |
| Treehouse | Four day work week |
| 37 Signals | Company credit card for everyone |
Interdisciplinary
| Bioinformatics | CS + Biology |
| Data Science | CS + Statistics |
| Theory | CS + Math |
| Information Technology Policy | CS + Law |
| Management Information Systems | CS + Business |
| Health Informatics | CS + Health Care |
| Digital Humanities | CS + Humanities |
Computer Scientists are the blacksmiths of the 21st century.
Job Categories
Research • Industry • Entrepreneurship
Research
Areas
- Artificial Intelligence
- Multi-Agent Systems
- Computer Vision
- Machine Learning
- Bioinformatics
- Computer and Network Security
- Graphics
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Natural Language Processing
- Programming Languages and Compilers
- Robotics
- Theory
What do you do in Research?
- Create prototypes of new ideas
- Build software (code)
- Construct hardware
- Collect data
- Experiment by running prototype on lots of data
- Supercomputers/clusters
- Write papers and publish results
Jobs in Research?
- College professor
- Industrial research (Microsoft, Siemens, ...)
- Finance
- Data science
My Research
Apply Computer Vision techniques to facilitate understanding of metal alloys and bio materials
Industry
Areas
- Software Engineering
- Dev-Ops
- Operations / Systems Administration
- Testing
- Consultant
- Contractor
What do you do in Industry?
Program
...a lot
Top Technology Companies
My Industry Work
Sina Weibo Mobile Client
Prototyped the mobile client for the popular Sina Weibo Twitter-like microblogging service in China
POSSCON
Technology conference in Columbia
Entrepreneurship
What is a startup?
A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. [...] The only essential thing is growth. --Paul Graham
Building a Company
- Start with an industry and an idea to fix it
- Find "Co-Founders" to complement your skills
- Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
- Get funding to continue growing
- Keep growing
Skills Needed
- Programming
- Systems Administration
- Testing
- Product management
- Marketing
- Business administration
- Design
- ...
Funding Levels
Categories
Startups I Work With
Getting Started in CS
Educational Resources
- Degree (or minor) in Computer Science
- Learn online
- Put your projects and classwork on Github
- Ask and answer questions on Stack Overflow
- Contribute to major Open Source projects