Benefits of a Computer Science Education

The stereotypical geek/nerd/what-have-you (I paint with a very broad brushstroke here) is supposed to be helpless outside of his/her area of expertise. Well, today I am happy to present a counter-point and show you how problem-solving ideas in one area can be applied to another.

This evening as we came home the electricity was out (nothing unusual there). What was unusual was that the lights weren't working at all and the inverter—which is supposed to keep the lights burning even when the electricity is out—was emitting a continuous, piercing beep (more like a screech). What The Heck (You Know What I Mean (YKWIM))?!

An investigation followed. Switched off the mains supply? Check. Took out the mains connection from the back of the inverter? Check. Cartridge fuse ok? Well, it looked ok (i.e., the wire seemed intact, with no signs of blackening (i.e., burning) on the cartridge). I had to disconnect the battery from the inverter to stop the bloody racket (at this point I would have welcomed a frank exchange of views with the person who put in that racket-maker).

Now what? Hmm... after a brief telephonic conversation I took the fuse to a family friends' house, who confirmed with his multi-meter that the fuse was ok. Once again, now what? By this point I had exhausted my limited knowledge of things electrical (hey! I haven't studied that area of science since high school!) An idea came to me: I went back home, reconnected the battery, put in the fuse and hit the power button on the inverter... and then there was light!

It is at this point that the pedants in the audience may be thinking: "What the heck (YKWIM) has this got to do with a comp. sci. education?" Well, not everybody would have tried the old reboot-and-it-may-work troubleshooting methodology—years of troubleshooting my own and other people's computers have taught me to fall back on the The Old Faithful when stumped.

"Big whup!", says the pedant, "Anybody who's used a computer (especially of the Windows persuasion) for a couple of years could have done that." Yeah, yeah, ok, whatever! I am nonetheless going to credit my comp. sci. education with this one, unless you want to meet me outside and debate this point in a frank manner, Mr. P.