For those who love CS but hate math (7 steps to do)
Many students are interested to study or love a CS major but most of them hate math or are afraid of it.
In this article we’re going to solve these issues and explain to students :
==> what are the easiest paths to study comptuer science even if we hate math?
==> Give other alternatives to getting CS degree jobs without studying math at all.
==> and finally, talk about some specific CS careers that you have to be aware form.
Step 1: determine what you want from computer science
Computer science is full of math you can prevent that, but if you are sure and want to skip math classes, you have to ask yourself why you want to study computer science.
if you want to have a programming job or like programming, the good news is you don’t need to study computer science.
Many people lose 4 years and take $100 000 of debt to finally become front-end or back-end developers. So the first thing that you have to ask yourself to know is what is your destination or reason to choose computer science?.
To become a software developer and get a $100 000 salary a year you don’t need to study computer science. As a result, you can follow these 2 singles’ paths.
- Become Self though programmers
- join a Bootcamp to learn to program
Self though programmers
you can become self though programmers and taking courses from your house, is harder a little bit. Because you have to control yourself and solve your own problem. But it is very useful on another side.
Becoming self through programs teaches you discipline and hone your skills of research which any programmer needs to have. Today even professional programmers are seating daily on the internet.
The famous forum by programmers is called StackOverflow. So if you have the ability to stay on the chair for long hours studying programming in-house this is greater, you have a pure trait of programmers.
you can take courses online about the subject or the specialty you want to take, for instance:
- backend developer
- front end developer
- mobile app developer
- desktop app developer
in this video below you find the experience of a self-programmer who thought of himself as programming without having any degree.
Join BootCamp to learn to code
The second thing which is better but costs a little bit is to join a Bootcamp coding. Instead of spending money on comptuer science university, you join a BootCamp.
Instead of spending 4 years in a college, you can learn the all programming technics and knowledge in just 4 to 6 months. They provide very concentrated and reduced programs.
in other words, you will learn only what you will need to get a job. In addition, some BootCamps ensure to you to be hired directly after finishing a learning phase or a course.
You could watch this video, It is an example of a BootCamp student and how she got a job in programming.
Step 2: I still want to stay in comptuer science but without math,
if you don’t like to be a self-tough programmer or BootCamp student because you’re parents are pressuring you or just want to have a status computer science degree. As a result, you don’t have any solution you have to study math but…
We will give you the easiest path to get if you love CS but hate math. So follow up if you are interested.
Step 3: Take some summer courses
Before explaining, you need to know that a computer science major doesn’t require to score an A in math exams. This means if you can get B or even C that will be enough for you to pass and validate your subjects.
The first thing you should do before going to computer science university is to take some math courses like:
- precalculus
- calc 1
- algebra
- discrete math
These 4 things are very important but you have to focus a lot on discrete math and linear algebra. I know you said that you hate math, but if you love CS you have to sacrifice a little bit.
In other words, you don’t have any other solution to get a computer science degree without math.
So the only thing to do is to follow this strategy to limit the damages and skip some steps.
having these summer classes will be beneficial for you, to prepare for the hard math subject in computer science which is calculus.
Step 4: take fewer credits
To avoid the pressure and the overload of subjects, the good thing is to take fewer credits, especially in math like calculus. As a result, will help you to focus on other models where you should thrive.
It won’t be a problem if you get a degree late a little bit in 5 years, but, sure is better than nothing, and here is why:
- computer science is the highest drop rate major in the US
- Third computer science students drop out in the first year
you can discover more info by reading this article 9 famous reasons why students drop out of computer science.
Step 5: don’t study calculus
In the first semester, we recommend taking 2 math subjects, algebra and discrete math. Don’t take calculus, is hard and it will be not a good start for you as a freshman.
So in the first year focus so much and work hard to get discrete math and algebra. Because these 2 math subjects are much easier than calculus which will be helpful and important in our strategy.
Step 6: focus on algebra and discrete math
Your goal in the first year must be of getting an A or at least a B in discrete math and algebra, both are easier. In other words, you can handle them they are not complicated to get passed like calculus.
The same thing for probability and statistics they aren’t hard as you might think. So you have to study hard and do whatever you want to get that high score.
Go work hard, study with friends or even hire a math professor, your goal must be to have the highest score in algebra and discrete math. Also for some other math subjects like the numerical analysis.
Let calculus alone as much as you can in the first year.
Step 7: take calculus models
after finishing and validating the easiest math models, then is the time to pivot to calculus. So at this moment, we consider that you’ve got an A or B in theses following math courses:
- discrete math
- algebra
- probability
- linear analysis
So it won’t be a bigger problem to get a C in calculus while you already have a good score in other math classes. But you have to put one thing in mind…
You have to study for calculus if you want to get an A score, this mindset or preparation will help you raise your standards. Also not get surprised at the exam results.
So work hard take hard courses in calculus and don’t settle.
But you have to understand that computer science has a lot of classes that don’t involve math. In computer science you will study:
- math
- physics
- programming
- English
- electronics
- chemistry
- algorithm
So there are rooms where you will find some relief.
But who knows you might love the process and start loving math in computer science classes. The math that you will learn in computer science is associated with programming.
So if you love programming, the odds say that you should love math. But maybe you just have a problem called math anxiety, which means not hating math as you think.
you can watch this video below.
Conclusion
To be honest, even if there is an alternative to learning to program and taking a job position, learning math or studying computer science makes a difference between a decent programmer and an excellent programmer.
Mathematics teaches you how to analyze and dig deeper into programming. That is to say if you have math knowledge you can become an excellent programmer.
Because programming is not just writing code, is beyond that. The question is how can you create an appropriate and clean code that runs fast and doesn’t show problems, in which math gets involved?
We know that you love CS and hate math, but that for most because you are afraid, the good news is you aren’t alone. To clarify, 50% of American people are struggling with math.
But if you consider working in these industries need to have good math skills is important like:
- AI researcher
- GIS programmer
- graphics programmer
- embedded systems
- programmer data scientist
- Game developer
- computer vision engineer
- machine learning
- Cryptography
if you want to know more about this subject you can read this article 20 incredible CS jobs that have a ton of math(explained)
if you decided to change your mind we invite you to read this article, it gives you a full blueprint of how to surpass the CS degree even if you are bad at math. you can find it below.
Should I study CS if I’m bad at math? (Honest answer)
Also if you want to get read some inspirational stories.
