You'll never be a captain of industry with Computer Science, says MP

Conservative MP David Davis says Computer Science will only get you so far, but those with degrees in PPE get right to the top

Even the best computer science graduates can forget about one day heading up GCHQ, or a large technology firm if they remain in the UK, a prominent Conservative MP has told Computing.

Instead, the qualification most likely to land the top management roles even in the technology industry is Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), said David Davis, MP for Haltemprice and Howden.

Davis explained that these concerns were voiced by Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering at the Computer Laboratory, Cambridge University, as he gave evidence to the committee for the original Snoopers' Charter (the Draft Communications Data Bill, much of which now forms part of the current Investigatory Powers Bill).

"The committee asked him what he thought of GCHQ. He said they're all right, but that when his PhD students graduate, they have two choices. They can go to California and get paid a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year. Or they can go to GCHQ and get paid £25,000 per year.

"But that isn't the reason the best ones don't go to GCHQ. The reason the best ones go to California, is because there they can end up running or owning the company. In GCHQ they've got the wrong qualifications to run it. That will be done by somebody with PPE."

Davis argued that it's part of the British mentality that those with "liberal arts degrees", as Davis put it, get to the top, irrespective of the function of the organisation.

He explained that this creates problems in that leaders even at organisations like GCHQ and the FBI can be misled by technical experts who may have their own agenda.

Davis added that the plea from FBI director James Comey in July 2015 to stop or limit commercially available encryption is a symptom of this trend.

"It's idiotic," said Davis, of the idea that intelligence agencies are thoroughly defeated by encryption. "I expect the FBI head was a liberal arts specialist who'd been told this [that encryption in uncrackable] by someone who wanted to make a point. It's a demonstration of the weakness of our system of education in the West and of our promotion systems."

He continued: "They don't understand some of the problems they're dealing with. Some of the technicians will, but the heads won't necessarily in great detail. The problem is you can't just write a half-baked summary for the boss and expect him to understand it, because it actually involves understanding a whole series of things, like the mathematics of how databases work, and how search and sift routines work."