I want to echo this because I strongly believe this to be true. Sharing a challenging experience together is one of the strongest factors in setting up friendsh

I want to echo this because I strongly believe this to be true. Sharing a challenging experience together is one of the strongest factors in setting up friendships. I've made friends with a 70-year old because we were standing in line in the cold and wanted to complain about the urgent care we were trying to visit. Many of my closer work relationships have come from venting about aspects of the company we didn't like. And, echoing the other responders, many of my closest friends from college were those that I psetted with at 4am. Advice to the OP: get involved with a club or activity that has challenging aspects (e.g. a service club or a sports club) rather than a shared interests club. Don't worry too much about not being too interested in "traditional CS" things - just be open to sharing and learning about your non overlapping interests.