Comment Re:Is Coding Computer Science? Of Course! (Score 2) 546
I'm assuming the vast majority of programming jobs require the ability to code, and no further domain specific knowledge. This is just based on my reading of many, many programming job listings over the years.
I'm sure there are jobs that require CS knowledge, just as I'm sure there are (programming-related) jobs that require Biology knowledge or Architecture knowledge or whatever. But all of those are niches: a very small subset of all programming jobs require those specific areas of knowledge. ALL programming jobs require coding though, and even among the ones that require domain-specific knoweldge, I'd imagine the bulk involve a lot more coding than anything else.
You don't need "domain specific knowledge" to code, but I think most such programmers are subpar. Code is like writing; you only need to know English (or your native language) to write, but if that's all you know then you're not going to be a particularly useful writer. Code implements algorithms, algorithms solve problems, and knowledge of the problem space is always not just valuable but the difference between uninteresting scribbles and a best selling novel.
A lot of the time, code supports other code; its code designed to address computer system issues explicitly. Knowledge of how computer systems work is essentially to being able to write or debug or sanity check reasonable code. Sometimes code directly tackles a non-computer problem like code to analyze data in another space. Its not *mandatory* to understand that space, but its extremely limiting on a developer to write code to analyze data about a subject matter they know nothing about. They will always need someone else to translate every little thing for them, and they will never be able to know if their code is actually doing something useful. If it goes awry, someone else will have to tell them that.
You have to be an extremely stellar programmer to be worth it, if you don't understand what you're coding about.