Sometimes people argue on the internet about whether a formal CS education isnecessary to be an effective software engineer. I won’t say that it isnecessary,...

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An intern shares an anecdote about unexpectedly applying theoretical computer science concepts, like graph traversal and register allocation, during their software engineering internship. This experience demonstrates the practical value of a formal CS education in real-world scenarios, beyond just understanding CRUD applications.

"Will I ever use this in the real world?"

The article is almost 9 years old and still holds its weight.

hidden gem of an article.
i love it and i love the idea that some CS concepts can be used to solve real world problem is the engineer in charge is witty enough to notice a duality between them, but in our modern day and age 90% of developer spend the majority of their time writing CRUD applications and the remained of their time implementing a business operation predefined by the business.
I would agree with the writer on the notion that a CS degree won’t just magically make you a better engineer, but exposure to these ideas and concepts will help your mind be more flexible around different problems.
funny enough, Big Tech interview process fail to achieve this goal :*)

I love this story. What a gem!
I’ve been 25 years in development, mostly in small business CRUD development in varying capacities. Though degree qualified I didn’t take the CS stream so never had expose to the algorithms. And while it hasn’t been a hindrance, in recent years I’ve been realising the potential hidden advantage having that knowledge may hold, for reasons very similar to those explained by the author.
I think 2025 is the year I need to start reading and watching some of those data structures and algorithms courses I’ve been bookmarking. Even having a high level understanding of their existing holds power.