For reference, I'm 28 now, so I can still somewhat remember college (or, at least, remember that much of my college time was hazy). Each summer, like a good CS

For reference, I'm 28 now, so I can still somewhat remember college (or, at least, remember that much of my college time was hazy). Each summer, like a good CS student, I got an internship back home. I worked as a programmer -- what I thought I wanted to do the rest of my life. Don't do that. Honestly, in a summer's worth of time, you can put together a pretty compelling startup (or at least the start of it). I would recommend building something, ANYthing, each summer, that will teach you a practical skill. And try to build things that will make you money, because making money is a skill in and of itself. Things to learn about, that you might not think of: * effective email marketing. How do you get stuff delivered. How do you know it was delivered. What kind of messages are best? Can you sell someone something via email? * effective SEO * effective customer service If you can build a tiny project to explore each of these, you'll be doing yourself a major favor. I sure wish I had explored my entrepreneurial side in college.