Editor’s note: This is the latest offering from the ExitEvent-WRALTechWire news sharing partnership, Blake Callens, an advisor for the Wake Tech Web Technology Department, writes in ExitEvent that an analysis of computer science curricula at regional colleges show little emphasis on technical skills required for 21st century careers.
RALEIGH - Disclaimer: I’m an advisor for the Wake Tech Web Technology Department. My opinions are my own and do not reflect those of Wake Tech.
As a front end developer trained in California, I notice things about the software developed in the Triangle that others might not. For example, the user interfaces designed and developed here—especially for web and mobile—often lack the polish of those developed in Silicon Valley, New England and Austin. Software here, regardless of the application, tends to be geared toward the enterprise, making apps that are meant for the consumer more text heavy, inanimate and difficult to learn.
While this is understandable—the backbone of this region’s software business is still firmly in enterprise applications—even big data companies with a major web or mobile presence realize they need to meet the interface needs of a generation accustomed to smartphones and tablets. As a region fighting to become recognized as a top place to start a company in this nation, we risk falling behind if we don’t adopt this new way of thinking.
And one of our biggest challenges, I’ve found, is changing the status quo at our local universities.
The full blog can be read online at ExitEvent.
