And the beauty of these camps is that they can be gateways to other kinds of development, engineering, or even academic computer science.I just don’t know how often those gates are entered.Coding is not equivalent to computer science, which is not equivalent to software/computer engineering, which is not equivalent to STEM.Code..Code, code, code, code, code..Code has now become synonymous with computer science..If you are a CS grad, you have probably noticed this, and you know that this equivalence is a disservice to both disciplines..If you are not in this line of work, you may wonder what the difference is..The nuances lie not just in skill set, but also in focus — though, of course, there is overlap.Coding is tactical..It is the process of solving immediate problems and building something to get it to work..Software engineering expands on this by bringing in strategy and applying engineering concepts and fundamentals to build robust and sustainable solutions..Computer engineering includes some degree of software engineering, but incorporates hardware as well — the materials required to create tablets, phones, and consoles..And finally, there is computer science — in a way, the most philosophical of them all — which includes deep dives into mathematics and why different types of algorithms, data structures, and computational methods work the way that they do.While code camps are the right solution for many people, the skills and modes of thinking taught by formal CS programs are critical to moving tech forward..This is why few camp graduates end up in big tech, despite what they are sold..These abilities are required to provide the public with services like Google Maps or Waze, which use algorithms such as Dijkstra’s, or tools such as MongoDB or the Android SDK, whose customers inevitably include code camp attendees.. More details