Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

In Germany, anything computer-related is subsumed under "Informatik".

- Students learning to use MS Office in school? Informatik.

- People fixing printers and replacing your harddrive? Informatik.

- System administrators managing a datacenter? Informatik.

- Data scientist applying deep learning techiques? Informatik.

- University professor trying to prove P==NP? Informatik.

Honestly, I envy the Americans for their destinction between "computer science" (CS) and "information technology" (IT). Even if computer science is not really about computers.




It depends on the context. A university degree in Informatik will obviously not be about using MS Office. But 7th grade Informatik is. 10th grade Informatik introduced programming at my school. A trained job “Fachinformatiker für Systemadministration” will be about sysadmin work.


To 90% of the population, it's not "obvious" or we would not need T-Shirts labeled "I will not fix your computer for you".

Even a common programmer does not use any actual "computer science" 99% of the time and your typical sysadmin type probably never knew any. So it's simply wrong and confusing to use the same word for it.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: