Write 1-2 paragraphs on the following: From what you know about your prospective major, what is a permanent or semi-permanent way the pandemic has affected your field of study or an aspect of culture or society related to your field? Do you believe the change is a net-positive or negative for society and why? What recommendations (if any) would you have for your field moving forward on the issue? For example, if you’re a prospective business major, what are your thoughts on remote work and the use of office spaces and how businesses could think about “where” to work moving forward? Or, if you’re a prospective psychology or sociology major, how has the virus and pandemic changed how people and societies view and react to germs? You have until 10:05.
The shift from an in-person work environment to remote work has definitely had an impact on most fields of business. As a computer science major this appears to be especially the case because if you’re in the CS field, chances are you can figure out how to work remotely. This transition is one that seems to have many positives and negatives and I might argue it comes out to a net-neutral if not net-positive. My reasoning is that offering remote work can expand job opportunities in relation to where you live. Previously, if you lived in Boston or New York it is quite unlikely you worked a job in say San Francisco, but now with remote work this is a possibility. I think computer science companies/jobs may keep the ability to work from home because of how that increases the employee pool and it fits the field well.
There is without a doubt a side to be argued for returning in-person full time too. I say this because online communication suffers compared to in person when discussions and meeting could come much more natural. However, my sister who has been remotely working said that “covid showed us which in person meetings could’ve actually just been summarized in a single email.” This makes me think that a hybrid model for work that doesn’t require daily office attendance could be the most efficient because you are still able to have important meetings in-person and better human interactions, but you also have time at home alone to work and avoid the distractions of the office.
Aside from remote work, I would vaguely claim that computer science increased its use in the medical field from covid and developing a covid vaccine. I don’t know specific evidence of this happening, but my guess is with all the genome mapping and data science that biotech has seen leaps in the field and is more prominent than ever. Developing an mRNA vaccine for a virus is very promising for vaccines to other viruses and currently unpreventable diseases. With CS, data science, and biology, I would not find it unrealistic to see vaccines or cures for many diseases like HIV and improved efficacy elsewhere.
Overall covid appears to have even further necessitated computer science and it shows once again that computers and computational problem solving is the future of the world.