It annoys me when programmers don't understand automata theory, like how you can't use a regular expression to find balanced, nested parenthesis.

There are also lots of instances where programmers use brute-force methods where there are more elegant algorithms, like binary search.

OTOH, there are things that CS majors are taught which they accept as gospel, like object-orientation and type theory, which really shouldn't be as sacrosanct as they think.

I have a degree in physics, but I did minor in math and CS.

I can see the point, but CS degree or not you need to keep learning period. I learned C, lisp, some simulation language, Fortran(Physics, not CS), and data structures in College, but had to learn C++, Java, Perl, SQL, the Win API, the Win32 API, Mac API, Swing API, and Eclipse API among other things. I don't use plain C, and I always found a data structure already existing in a library.

Nowadays though, I don't think you can get away without a CS degree so easily coming out of college.

I have a CS degree (well, math and CS) and we didn't spend much time on data, since databases weren't prevalent. We did trees and sorts and crap like that.

I would consider data modelling my strength now, even though I don't program for pay--I'm still heavily involved in that part of the technical designs of the systems I work on.

I don't think you can get away without a CS degree so easily coming out of college.

Yeah, I don't know if they were necessary when I was in school, but I certainly wouldn't recommend trying without one unless you were a serious prodigy--and even then, your employer will probably want to see it.

We did trees and sorts and crap like that.

Yeah, I did a lot of that in college as well and then hardly ever had to do it since typically there's a library call that'll do it for me. Code I don't have to maintain.

One funny thing I've noticed with probing the job market around here. It's very hard for me to make recruiters (or relatives and friends for that matter) understand I don't work in an IT department, I work for a company that sells software. I've done work on software that sat on a shelf in Best Buy (not anymore though, different company).

mr. flea is an engineer who does a lot of (specialized) programming and worked as a software developer (for specialized software) for 2 years. I think he learned Fortan and C in college (grad. 1993), but since I've known him has self-taught C++ and Java.

Working in industry was really good for him in terms of skills and best practices. When he went back to academia, he was shocked that some people writing MScEs were using an excel spreadsheet to do some programming functions, and he pitched a number of fits about the inability of people he worked with to consistently use a version management thing he set up for them.

he pitched a number of fits about the inability of people he worked with to consistently use a version management thing he set up for them

Not using source code control? Yeah I don't blame him, that way lies madness.

I used to worry about my marketability in the job market, but with the current economy I'm not planning on looking for another job unless I have to. My fear is that currently there'd be a billion better qualified applicants for any job I'd consider applying for. OTOH, I do have 15+ years of programming experience....

The thing that scares me a bit about the current economy is how specific the experience requirements get. Candidate must have 5+ years of experience using this CASE software on this specific platform with this specific language in this specific industry.