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Ask HN: How to make the most out of time at university?

• pdevr 5y ago
  Most of the important points have already been posted, so let me give you a different piece of advice: Be nice to people. Remember who is good to you.
• nicbou 5y ago
  I have not seen it yet: go study abroad! It's a rare opportunity. Moving abroad becomes harder and harder as you age. The advice here is great, but there's one caveat: don't focus too much on prestige. No one seems to care about this outside of university. Prestigious jobs are no different from regular jobs, so chasing them is pointless.
• cybarDOTlive 5y ago
  I think your main focus should be socializing with your peers so you can network once you get out of school. Which you have been doing already, so honestly I think you are going to be fine getting a job once you get out. Your peers and the students are way more important than your teachers, IMO. You can build businesses with the students, the teacher is just guiding you through a book course. edit; be the guy who knows everyones skills and talents and partners people up who would be interested in working together? the guy who "knows everyone"
• onion2k 5y ago
  What ought to be my main focus? Becoming a person who other people want to talk to. The best thing about university for me was getting to meet a super diverse and exciting group of people. I learned how to listen and be interested in what other people want to talk about, how to be someone who other people want to listen to, and how to be friendly. I truly believe that has landed me more jobs than any technical ability I have. Anyone can nail a technical interview tests with a bit of practise if they've paid attention in classes. Nailing the "culture fit" interview is how you stand out.
• jokethrowaway 5y ago
  If you're doing computer science, do some computer science. Most universities push you surprisingly little towards "doing the thing" so just build something, whether that's for fun or for profit. I spent my uni time working and barely passing exams and I can recommend it. I can't really say my uni time was particularly useful to my career (I started working before uni) but having working experience and being very productive "straight out of uni" made me advance incredibly quickly in career and compensation. Also, get out of Poland as soon as you can and go to either Switzerland / UK / USA to build a network of contacts and save some money. Alternatively have a look at what salaries you can get in those places and work your way towards getting a remote job paying that much (which will be significantly higher what you will hear from your developer peers in Poland). You should also consider whether you want to stomach working in a FANG or not. If so, try to do your Algorithm exams towards the end of your course of study (if possible), do leetcode online for a couple of months and then apply to all of them. Best of luck
  • baq 5y ago
    note that computer science != software engineering. doing computer science is sitting down with a pencil and a piece of paper. actually working with a computer may be limited to writing a paper in latex.
• flodcw 5y ago
  I would say have as much fun as you can along side your studies. Really. On the career side, experiment as much as you can in all the different areas (web programming, data science, ML/AI, game dev, etc.) and see what fits you the most. I wouldn't worry too much about finding a job in this industry and I think focusing on your portfolio would make most sense only after you've found the niche that interests you most.
  • angryold 5y ago
    This comment resonates with me very closely. I majored in the humanities and honestly switched a few different careers in my 20s before settling on programming (long-time hobby). You will probably find advice will be hugely varied and there is no single right answer. Ultimately your life is short and you should really plan around what you THINK will make you happy. If you get it wrong, no big deal -- you have the rest of your life to figure it out and you will probably find a way around to seeing what is the path of least resistance for you. This is a good time to experiment and figure out what fits well for you.
  • lazypenguin 5y ago
    I would add, have fun with other people. Make friends, make meaningful connections. These are harder to do outside of the university setting and this is one of the rare times where you are surrounded by a group of people with similar availability. Additionally, work on your health. Get fit, learn to eat well. Don’t overachieve, focus on the few things you are interested in and do them well.
• uberman 5y ago
  As a potential employer, I don't care about your clubs though I am interested in your hobbies as long as they are not programming related. I am interested in your github and linked in profiles and what school you attend but I don't care about your grades or how long you took to graduate. Hope that helps.
• nonrandomstring 5y ago
  > What ought to be my main focus? Reading. Never again will you have permission to just spend 3/4 years in the library, filling your head every day with great learning. Keep your mind healthy by eating well. Take notes. Dump your phone. I wrote about the distractions facing bachelors degree students here: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/joy-text-world-tech-zealotry https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/joy-text-world-t... (sorry if it's still paywalled in your neck of the woods)
• stblack 5y ago
  At university: Sleep more than you study. Study more than you party. Party as much as you can.
  • Cd00d 5y ago
    I've never seen this before, and very much like it. I went to college with the goal of "work hard, play hard", and I was exhausted!
  • jjice 5y ago
    I've seen this before, and it's funny and decent advice. I got awful sleep most nights in college, just because I'd stay up too late, not even to get work done, just screwing around with YouTube and such. Sleep is huge. Take later classes if you can. You might think that toughing out an 8am class isn't too bad, but I've done this to myself three times (seriously didn't learn my lesson). The alternative is to go to bed earlier, which can work, but there's a lot of fun and friendship to be had at midnight on a Wednesday sometimes, that's what's so interesting about university. I involuntarily slept through a serious chunk of my Vietnam history course since it was 8am is a dark, cool room. Adjacent this that anecdote - figure out how to apply the 80/20 rule (paredo distribution) to school. Most things follow it, and school is no different. That Vietnam class I was barely conscious for? I learned how to read a book efficiently and got straight Bs on everything. For me, I was completely fine with Bs in a gen-ed class that didn't take much of my time. It let me put my effort towards my CS classes, where I really wanted to do well.
• LeanderK 5y ago
  > What ought to be my main focus? Develop your technical skills during the week, develop your social skill during the weekend. A lot are only doing the first, even on the weekend (or only the second, even during the week). While raw skill is cool, it's important that you can work in a team, that your boss likes you and your colleagues can work with you. Attend parties, talk to strangers, learn how to do some small-talk. A lot of it is really just practice and confidence. It also helps you in your personal life, you have to survive adulthood too. You might move into a new city and need to make friends, or your girlfriend/boyfriend could leave you and you might need to talk up somebody at a bar. University is really ideal for this, there's a lot of interaction during your day. Adulthood can be very lonely. Really try to make some friends that are NOT studying computer science (I can't stress this enough, huge error on my part when I started). During the week, I would take university seriously and augment it by doing some practical stuff at home. A lot of universities are theoretical, they don't really let you built stuff. Or you could built something during your holidays. I always had some project ready that I could pursue if I found the time. This combines both worlds. Also, hackathons are fun. Since you're in your first year, really nail down linear algebra and calculus, it's the basics for all your future academic endeavours. Try to be a tutor for either or both in the second year, it helps to fortify your skill.
  • bradfa 5y ago
    I second this, and also look into activity-based clubs (sports, crafts, hobby-interests, drama, music, etc) that your school (or the town/city) might offer. These can be a great way to meet new people outside of your line of study and to have an easy ice-breaker for conversation as it's much easier to make new friends if you have a common interest. They can also offer a great and easy path to leadership. In my experience no one wants to be the club leader so it's easy to step up and be that role which can look great for future employment or as a resume/CV builder.
  • FooBarBizBazz 5y ago
    I would agree with this. Your first goal absolutely has to be that you successfully complete your degree. I know a person who failed to do this, and the results are bad. Finish! However -- most people do. So if you're reasonably conscientious you'll be fine. After that: Work to get an internship every semester you have off (maybe unless you're traveling abroad, as recommended next). You'll make some money; you'll try different things; you'll add to your resume. I would strongly advise against heading off to do a startup immediately. You will be clueless and will not know that you are clueless. Almost nobody should be an entrepreneur. I'm not; you probably shouldn't be. But if you do think that's something you might do, even then -- work in the field first. People like to go "I'm my own boss", but that's a liability. Have some bosses who'll tell you what to do for a few years. Also, consider some study-abroad, as others have suggested. But my final piece of advice would be: Really value the people you meet there. There's a tendency to lose touch with people, to just move on with your life. A tendency to end relationships, to not solve the "two body problem". That's all a serious mistake. If by the end of college you've found someone you really like, marry them.
• rm_-rf_slash 5y ago
  Keep a daily journal. Better yet, write in your journal as often as possible. Had an interesting class? Write it down. Met some cool people? Write it down. A lot will happen in college and yet it will also be over in the blink of an eye. Many of your unforgettable experiences will be forgotten. But if you keep a written record then that time was your own.
• baq 5y ago
  get a paid internship at a big corporation. a small github portfolio will help you get there. make sure to leave some time to have fun and hang out with people. software engineering is 80% person-to-person communication, 19% solving simple logic problems and 1% glamorous work, if you're lucky.
• hprotagonist 5y ago
  - go to office hours, it helps your grades and builds a network. - get enough sleep - when your brain is tired, go exercise and make your body tired, too. - find one or more tenured faculty whose ethics and work style you respect, try to get into their lab/group/…, and make damn sure that they know exactly who you are by the time you graduate.
• 12ian34 5y ago
  I've been working for 8 years since I finished my Master's. I've had a successful and generally happy career by my own standards, but I do feel that I could have done better. I think others will focus more on technical skills but I think, particularly for Computer Science, soft skills stand out more. And these aren't just great skills for your career, they'll also help you outside of work. Some examples: - Maintain contact with more of my friends from different groups. This isn't just beneficial for one's life outside of work - several interesting career opportunities have come to me through university friends. - Get involved deeper with a diverse range of societies. I was in the committee of a couple and intermittently joined events of several others, but many had great, interesting people, focused on interesting projects and ideologies that I wish I had kept in touch with. University makes it super easy to broaden your horizons and discover new orthogonal interests. - Get good at presenting. I think I was quite decent when I started work thanks to the dozens of interviews and day-long assessment centres I had to do when applying for jobs in investment banking. Even outside of the interviews, there are plenty of other opportunities for this at university e.g. team projects, societies, etc. This all gives you a better ability to not just present something you've been working on, but also yourself, in an interview, and to others during networking opportunities. - Follow your passions. For me, a passionate person is a very hireable quality. I'm sure you find something interesting outside of work, get into it more, read about it, do it, speak to others who like it, etc. For me, getting involved in my passions made me happier generally, but was also useful for mentioning in passing in interviews, or striking up networking conversations, or even for drawing analogies in solving a related work problem.
• samwillis 5y ago
  My university course (Industrial Design, about 17 years ago) had an optional "placement year", a year between second and final year where you would take a paid job in industry (about 65-70% of a grad sallary). It was your own responsibility to find and apply for one, but in the industry in the UK it's become quite a common system, so businesses seak out placements students. I learnt more in my year working than the all of my university course combined, significantly, it was incredible and one of the best experiences of my life. I was fortunate enough to be invited back permanently after the course, and many businesses see it as an extended "interview" taking on a large proportion of placements students after. So, my recommendation is if your course offers it take it up, it's invaluable. If they don't, look for opportunities to "intern" during the holidays. Real world experience is the most valuable thing you can build up, and the prospect of it tuning into a permanent position is very strong.
• blitzar 5y ago
  > so that I won't have trouble with employment You say this is your focus, so I will answer for that. Seek employment while you study - if you are fortunate, you dont have to work shitty jobs to pay your way through university. Use your summers to intern / experience anywheree you can. Beg / borrow / steal from anyone you know and do 6-8 weeks in holiday time in the sorts of places you want to work in the future. Want to work at google, apply to intern at every company nearby that looks, smells or tastes like google. The reality is you probably dont know exactly what or where you really want to work, so try different things (it you can). Do this every long holiday break, fill your other holidays with useful stuff, interesting travel + side projects. When you secure some roles like that come back and post Ask HN: How to make the most out of time interning in the summer?
• xwdv 5y ago
  The important thing about university is to finish. Get the degree, preferably with good grades. But make sure you make as many friends as you can. Make sure you get with as many girls as you can. Believe me, if you do not have any friends later in life because you didn’t prioritize this you will become a foul and wicked person later in life, or at best a depressed one. And if you do not experience the variety of girls there are during this time, you will have regrets later in life about not exploring your options, no matter who you ultimately end up with (if anyone).
• ford 5y ago
  If you're at a university that allows undergraduate research I suggest trying it at least for a semester. Undergrads at my university got to work on really cool stuff like finding water on Mars, and the bar to join is often just expressing interest and the willingness to put in time Research is often more self-directed than what you get from classes and will teach you a lot I'd also suggest extending your time in school in exchange for doing more internships. Internships are the best time to "step up" the caliber of company you work at and also give you a chance to try out new kinds of companies/industries/teams so you know what you want to do. After you graduate, trying out new companies/industries/teams becomes way way harder
  • selimthegrim 5y ago
    Did you go to Caltech?
• 3dbrows 5y ago
  Don’t let your degree get in the way of your education. The ability to socialise with others and form connections with people is of maximal importance when it comes to convincing someone to employ you. There is no textbook for this. Interact with different groups of people and you will soon become a very good communicator, as you will be able to talk confidently and amicably with anyone. Beyond that, a couple of projects that you can demo in an interview is a nice idea.
• snarkypixel 5y ago
  People say go all-in when you're young because it gets harder when you're older. I just wanted to mention that this is true and it happened to me and many of my friends. I'm so glad I went all-in when I was younger to establish my career and get wealthy because nowadays with a family it's much harder.. this let me focus on my family rather than work. I think one of the most important thing you could do is get a great network and surround yourself with amazing people. What's hot in the moment changes every few years, but great connections stay for a long time. Also, being close to amazing people that are very talented means that you'll get to see new trends coming and always be on top of it.
  • delusional 5y ago
    Counterpoint: I spent most of my early youth going "all-in", basically trying to push myself to be something I'm not. Now I lie in bed at night wishing someone would shoot me in the head so I don't have to wake up to another day. Effort doesn't necessarily equal success, and success doesn't equal happiness. Remember to work towards something you actually want to live. It's all too easy to use "all-in" as an excuse to run away from your problems, and making time for a family is great, but that family has to be built too.
• drunkpotato 5y ago
  Take a healthy variety of non-technical courses as well as your technical courses. They're both important. This is a good time to experiment with a variety of subjects and learn what you enjoy. It could also have a significant impact on your employment; part of standing out in an interview is getting along with the interviewers and sharing unique knowledge and experiences that make you memorable.
  • kop316 5y ago
    Second this advice. Some of my favorite classes that I took were electives where the professor was passionate about the subject. I even got an offer to go on an archaeology trip over the summer (which I sadly had to decline as I accepted an engineering internship that summer).
• spiffytech 5y ago
  I got hired out of my college's career fair. My boss said I stood out because I actually cared about the field. I was an officer in the college's Linux Users Group. I had side projects. I could talk about technical things I hadn't taken courses for, I read technical books for fun. I had a string of part-time/summer technical jobs already. I showed interest in learning more. Nearly everyone else they saw at the career fair did exactly the technical tasks their courses required and not much else. I had three friends who got hired into Google upon graduation. They spent a lot of times on things like the Facebook Hacker Cup, studying graph theory, learning things from obscure programming languages or 40 year old research papers. One was in both the LUG and robotic flight club, doing big competitions. Their GitHubs didn't look as much like side projects, but they still published whatever code they wrote. They'd focused hard on skill building that was highly relevant in challenging technical contexts. So that's my suggestion to stand out: show that you care about your craft, not just meeting assignments. Juniors are hired based on who they can be molded into, as much as for any skill they already have. Example: if you want to go into game development, see if you can give a talk at a game conference sometime during your degree. If you nail the talk, show something original and intriguing, make it quality and memorable, you'll get access to job opportunities where you're treated like a competent professional instead of a dime-a-dozen fresh graduate. A degree takes long enough to do something novel that's worth presenting.
• Ologn 5y ago
  I would say after a class, apply what you learned in class. If you learn Java, write a Java program you want to write. If you learn computer graphics and how to do OpenGL transformations and rotations in C/C++, write (or help port) a program that does OpenGL transformations and rotations in C/C++. If you learn AI with deep learning, write a program that uses deep learning (even if it doesn't really work out, you'll learn a lesson where deep learning is applicable and where it is not). Some classes can be theoretical with toy examples, it's useful to bring it into the real world right after a class. Also you mention Github. Look at popular projects there that regularly merge in random pull requests (meaning pull requests that are not from the same core of 1-3 people). Look at what open issues the project has and what might be listed in their BUGS file. Fix a problem and put up a pull request. You will probably be fixing defects at a future job and this is not all that different than what you will be doing. They might have some advise if they use your pull request with some changes such as how to simplify it or use a particular coding style, and this is useful too. I say to look at popular projects there that regularly merge in one-off pull requests because some projects might be abandoned so you might not get this. You want to have some understanding of this - https://missing.csail.mit.edu https://missing.csail.mit.edu Your main problem will be getting a job after graduation with little experience. If you have an internship at a large company that is hiring between junior and senior year and they like you, you might have a leg up on getting a job after graduation. Also try getting internships in earlier years. If you can make small contributions without too much hand holding they might take a chance on you.
• globular-toast 5y ago
  Things I wish I did differently at university: * Keep a daily routine and learn to organise yourself. Unlike school or work, at university you are expected to maintain your own routine. There are no bells or attendance registers. Some people, like me, find this difficult to deal with. Be aware of it from the start and maintain a good daily routine and attendance. * Join clubs/societies. Opportunities to make friends and find love are handed to you on a plate at university. These things are specifically contrived to get people together. Take advantage of it while you can because these opportunities rapidly fade as you get older. * Stay healthy. Eat well. Keep fit. This can be easy if you join a society with an active component (it can be walking or something, doesn't have to be sport). Things I did that I would recommend you do too: * Find what you are interested in and specialise. Go above and beyond what is required in those areas. University is not just about lectures, doing what is required and passing the exam. This is an opportunity for you to dedicate your life to learning. You won't get a chance to do this again. * Be open to academia as a career path. For many this is a far more fulfilling career than going into industry. You will have plenty of opportunities to explore this if you want to. Ask your professors about it if you are interested. * Use the facilities available to you. Not everything is online. A university library is a fantastic resource.
• pzo 5y ago
  1) Highly, highly recommend going to Erasmus student exchange at one point (I did in Umea, Sweden). It's great for socializing, good way to feel confident speaking english and gain confidence of living abroad - it's not only about technical skill set. 2) Don't focus too much on grades - focus on subjects you like and other subjects that you don't like just do minimum to pass 3) Nobody ever asked me to show my diploma (I'm not sure if I could even find it by now), you will be mostly judged in the future by either experience, portfolio or asked to do some small homework project to proof you can code. 4) Consider joining IAESTE at your university and do summer international internship somewhere abroad - good way to go somewhere abroad, earn some pocket money, and learn practice some technical skills during holidays.
  • dspillett 5y ago
    > focus on subjects you like and other subjects that you don't like just do minimum to pass To add to that: unless you are already very focused on what you want to get into in the end, if you have some flexibility in the modules you can take try to test out some things you might not naturally go for. A well-rounded understanding can be more useful at early stages than a focused expertise. “Jack of all trades”¹ was not originally meant as a derogatory phrase, and IMO shouldn't be one today either. Unless you have a specific strong focused passion already, I suggest specialising later rather than sooner. [1] the full phrase makes this obvious: A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
• the-alt-one 5y ago
  >Should I be focusing on my GitHub portfolio? What ought to be my main focus? Having a good time. Learn for the sake of education, not for getting a job. You're so privileged by picking CS, you'll get a job anyway. You only have one life and this time only now, use it! Socialize, be political and foolish. Make fun experiments and share with people, make friends.
• jwcacces 5y ago
  3 things: * Do your homework. * Understand what's going on in class. * Think ahead.
• giantg2 5y ago
  "What ought to be my main focus?" Networking. That's what I wish I did more of. It's disgusting how much of the world operates under "networking", which tends to be just a thin veil concealing from only the most gullible the true underlying activity of cronyism. "It's who you know, not what you know", has become a widespread saying embraced by the corporate world.
  • bradfa 5y ago
    But also, computer networking. Rarely does anyone technical actually understand how computer networks actually work. If you learn it and continue to expand your knowledge over your school and career, you'll be super valuable in computing. Basic home-level networks on IPv4 or IPv6 are easy, start there. Then learn how the Internet actually works, lots of the different protocols, dive deep into a few of them, read broadly about many of them. When you go to interview somewhere and they ask you some brain teaser or normal interview question related to networking, answer it but then offer up other info showing that you actually know how networks work. You'll impress a smart interviewer. Just don't be cocky about it.
    • giantg2 5y ago
      "you'll be super valuable in computing." I don't know about that. It seems there's little need of network experts. As an industry, we are moving towards abstracting this through the use of cloud providers, SaaS, etc. There are fewer jobs around this because the need is concentrated.
      • bradfa 5y ago
        I think maybe your and my experiences have been very different. I think in some software industries networking expertise is not highly valued or important, but in all of the jobs I've had, actually understanding networking has been a super valuable skill. I admit that in general I've never been The Network Expert, but I've had to wear the hat a few times and learn very quickly to get things done. In every situation where I've had to learn networking things quickly to get things done, I've later looked back and realized I had completely misunderstood or not known about a much better common networking concept/thing/implementation which would have been a better solution than the one I implemented. Just having an earlier and more broad exposure to how networks work, and knowing about the details of a few (any!) areas of networking, would have been super valuable to me across each of the 4 companies I've worked for.
• mshron 5y ago
  It sounds like you have a good path on your technical skills, so I'm going to suggest something else: take some humanities classes. Pick topics outside of technology that interest you, and learn how to communicate about them. Take as many seminar discussion and writing-heavy classes as you can. Hopefully they are there even at a technical university. From a career perspective, programming skill is relatively easy to come by. Programming AND speaking AND good writing will put you on a better career path. You won't get stuck after a job or two when you know the tools of the trade but not how to handle things outside the compiler. But also, just as a person who has to make it in this world, it's good to have more ways of understanding people and systems around you. Humanities students are enriched by taking science and math classes, and getting a new way of seeing things. Technical undergrads who learn to tolerate ambiguity and learn some history are rounder humans.
  • Claude_Shannon 5y ago
    Thanks. Unfortunately picking classes is not something that happens in the university system in my country, and even if it was, I'm in strictly technical one, so I have to pass on that one. But thank you, good writing is certainly a skill that is going to be useful - good idea to work on that.
• OliverJones 5y ago
  When you decide to work in any field where technology meets creativity, you commit to learning new things every day for the rest of your life. So, learn to learn. Learn to be mentally agile: to change your mind-set as you explore fields and technologies you've not yet seen. Learn to evaluate other peoples' work critically. Take risks: tackle projects and subjects where you might not succeed. They are FAR more important to your future than getting super-high marks. Spend time practicing clear communications. Take a class where a professor guides you in the art of writing clearly and compellingly. If you have the chance, take a class in clear and compelling speaking. Read at least some of Aristotle's Rhetoric. Close friendships help with this: you'll have fun in the time-honored tradition of students' friendly debates in taverns. If you go into the electronic games industry, do so with your eyes open. The talent pool for that industry is broad and very shallow -- many gaming fans hope to create games. The executives know that, and they shamelessly exploit it. If you go into gaming you want to end up an executive, not just another burned-out developer. (Successful executives communicate very well.) Sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll are good, but not if they take over your whole life. So, be careful and don't forget that alcohol is addictive. Above all, have fun doing what you love.
• Upvoter33 5y ago
  Put simply, connect. Find ways to connect to your professors. Many are deep experts in their domain. Talk to them in office hours, ask questions in class, read their work, engage. Find ways to connect to your peers. Talk to the people in your classes. Find things you have in common. Hidden among them all are the few you would call best friend, if only you knew them. Get to know as many as you can. Find ways to connect to the material (outside of classes). You will of course learn what is put in front of you. But what about the rest? Find other textbooks and materials. Do other projects. Immerse yourself in the field you are studying. So, put simply, connect.
• j45 5y ago
  Make sure you take all opportunities for coop or work terms while in school. If one doesn’t exist try to ensure you find a student experience position each summer at the least. If you can turn that into a part time position while studying it is ideal.
• dqpb 5y ago
  Don’t focus on the rat race, focus on the big picture. What doesn’t exist yet that you desperately want to exist? Spend your time on that. Here is a good example of taking a big picture view: Modern Artificial Intelligence 1980s-2021 and Beyond https://youtu.be/pGftUCTqaGg https://youtu.be/pGftUCTqaGg
• CSMastermind 5y ago
  Disclaimer, I'm based in the US so your experience may differ. But here's my advice: - Apply to internships/co-ops early and often. - Develop your social network with the other students in your classes. - Don't focus on grades beyond what's required to pass your classes. - DO focus on learning how to be a good programmer by doing side projects and programming constantly. - If there are programming competitions at your school take part in them. (hackathons, etc.) - Have a social life, go out to parties, have fun with friends, try to get a significant other.
  • nixgeek 5y ago
    “Don’t focus on grades beyond what’s required to pass your classes” is tricky — a lot of College/Campus Hiring is selective about both the institutions they will hire from, and the GPA thresholds; if you don’t tick both boxes you likely cannot easily get an internship or graduating offer from e.g. Google, Oracle, or wherever. Notably, at least a few companies restrict their “Professional Hiring” or “Industry Hiring” teams to candidates with >2 years of post-college professional experience, so the rub then becomes you graduated, didn’t get in, worked somewhere small with the expected “small scale” problems for at least two years, then have to Leetcode and take the arguably harder path into BigTech (which is Industry Recruiting, when you’re not coming from another hyperscaler or notable/known employer). Is it nonsense that Recruiting filters in this way? Perhaps. Results in losing good candidates? Absolutely. Is the entire recruitment engine a SNR problem? Yes. :) Internships, Open Source, Hackathons are all excellent advice, as are the other suggestions in thread on building networks, use of office hours! My quick advice: - Ask about “Why?” and “When?” and don’t just do the rote exercises which teach you basics about data structures and algorithms. - Hack on some side projects and have a presence on GitHub, portfolios can be helpful. - Find a space you enjoy hacking on and find related Open Source, contribute. Maybe that’s something like Home Assistant (nerd out on automating your living space), maybe something else. - Scratch the itch, humans are all about dopamine hits, all of the above is about gaining experience: this won’t feel like a chore if you’re hacking on something FUN (which is subjective, your itches and others itches will differ). Several people in my 1st Yr CS course weren’t able to find their itch — they’d gone to CS because “they heard it paid well” or “parents said it was a good idea”, they eventually quit, or some persevered and found they hated the jobs professionally, so they had mid-life changes in careers. - Be curious about Linux, since outside of Microsoft (and even some places in it!) that’s the predominant platform for deploying services, if you can’t navigate Bash and exit vi, you’ll perhaps find your entry into professional settings has a rather steep learning curve! - Have fun and be social, I know parents say this a lot, but full-time education in a <~ 22 y.o. sense is really the last “minimal responsibility” moments you’ll have in your life. Disclaimer: I’m a Brit, who now lives in US, and I’ve been a somewhat senior leader at 3-4 huge technology companies in my career, with direct exposure to EIC (early in career) hiring practices.
• zachaden 5y ago
  Try to have fun, and it's not always about studying. Try to develop social camaraderie and connections. Find the thing that interests you and try to improve on it.
• scottious 5y ago
  > I'd like to ask you for advice on how to make the most out of the time during my studies Go to professor's office hours. I was always so shocked when I showed up to office hours and I was the only one there almost every time. You can literally have 1-on-1 time with an expert and nobody takes advantage of it. Another advantage of office hours is that you don't want to look like you're unprepared, so preparing some questions to ask is actually really good practice to hone in on what your gaps in knowledge are.
  • ISL 5y ago
    In a similar spirit: figure out why the faculty gave you specific homework. Most faculty think hard about which problems to assign. It isn't busy-work. There is a person on the other side of the problem-set/exam/essay, they only get a few assignments, and they are going to have to grade it (or some future work).
  • brian_spiering 5y ago
    As a former professor, I want to second this advice. Even asking the professor to re-explain some from class is often helpful. If you run out of things to ask, ask about their research. Building that relationship will help if you need an extension on assignment, a bump in a grade, or a letter of recommendation later. Some professors won't care and it will be of little value. Do not get discouraged if it is not a positive experience. Find the professors that do care.
  • welcome_dragon 5y ago
    Came here to say this. Office hours serve many purposes. I remember going to office hours for homework guidance. I've also gone and been the only person there and delved deeper into a subject than an undergrad class normally would with leading experts in the field that otherwise might not give me the time of day If you don't have a schedule conflict, try to go to office hours as much as possible!
• markus_zhang 5y ago
  Is there anything you find interesting? You mentioned game dev but there are different roles. Which part of game dev do you enjoy the most? Anyway Carmack gave some advice about getting into AAA game studios in a 2009 interview. Solid advice I'd say.
  • Claude_Shannon 5y ago
    Truth be told, I'm not that into game development. It is fun, but I wouldn't want to work as either an artist or programmer in that. Pay's relatively low with high crunch. I'll look up that interview, thanks.
    • markus_zhang 5y ago
      Got it and makes sense. His interview basically says he would judge a programmer by his projects. Even small ones like Tetris would count. But I don't think it fits other industries. And yeah even if you want to go into game dev I'd recommend grabbing a few years of exp and go indie.
• Steltek 5y ago
  The proof of what you've learned is in doing it yourself. Effort from your hands speaks far louder than reading and passing tests. But you can't do everything. Find a club or project adjacent to your interests and do one big thing.
• quintex 5y ago
  If you have the time to join groups that you find interesting, but are not directly related to your topic of study, do it. You will spend the rest of your career increasing your skill set in the domain you chose, but university can be a unique chance to get to learn from all the other domains. In my experience, and your milage may vary, nobody asked about my grads after I graduated. The skills I gained by joining groups outside of CS helped me go much farther than spending that extra time studying I think ever could.
• machineleaning 5y ago
  Make some friends. You have your whole life to develop skills. Making friends will never be as easy as it is in college.
• perlgeek 5y ago
  Make friends! Sooo many people struggle to make friends after their studies have finished, so make friends now, and keep contact with them afterwards.
• wwilim 5y ago
  Disclaimer: this is a Poland-centric comment, your academic environment may vary If a faculty member offers you to join some kind of project they're involved in, by all means go for it. You'll be exploited for free or for minimum pay, you'll get random urgent requests to get something done quickly on a Friday evening, and you'll get stress migraines. But I still recommend doing this if you have a chance, and here's why: - chances are the job is unique, odd, and not something you'd be doing in the corporate IT world. I once found myself teaching a class of art students how to build iOS apps, with ~24 hours of experience in Swift and having never owned or used any Apple device. - if it's an official contract and you get paid for it, it can become the crown jewel of your CV even if it wasn't rocket science. Especially US-based readers of your resume will value academic achievement. - you can combine the additional work with regular coursework or a master's thesis, which will help you get more mileage from the time you're spending. Keep in mind this is still much more than would be normally expected from you. - if you prove to be useful, you'll be on good terms with a potentially important faculty member Things to keep in mind: - get ready for a really stressful few months - expect to be exploited to no end - don't expect any promises you hear to be fulfilled, except what is written on your contract with the university if you get one - there will be pressure to go deeper and deeper, and you will hear them discrediting the value of other things you might be planning to do such as a corporate IT career. You need to know whether you want to stay or not, and you need to base this decision on realistic prospects, not on someone's visions and promises (see #3). Source: one official short-term contract and one unofficial project assistance
  • Claude_Shannon 5y ago
    Thank you! :)
• adamsmith143 5y ago
  A lot of off topic advice in this thread. OP was interested in Employability: >I'd like to ask you for advice on how to make the most out of the time during my studies, so that I won't have trouble with employment. So the absolute best advice is to get into Internships early and often during your time in University. It's the most foolproof way to be employed by the time you finish. You will have the most important skill employers look for in this field. EXPERIENCE. You could stack 3-4 internships by the time you finish and if you are doing one when you graduate and you weren't horrible it's almost certain your current employer will hire you full time and if not you already have a stout CV to shop to other employers. TLDR: Get an Internship ASAP!
• hypergeometry 5y ago
  As a student, you have a sort of hidden super power! As a student, you are able to reach out and ask people for all sorts of help, advice, resources and have them usually want to help you out. In my experience (YMMV), most people like/want to help out go-getter students. As a student you might reach out to a professor who's work you find interesting to do a collaboration, or for support if your personal project is aligned with their research. You can reach out to companies or individuals for sponsorship for various student activities, etc. My advice would be to put yourself out there as much as you can while you are a student, since your student status combined with the right attitude can open many doors that are harder to open post-graduation.
• zalebz 5y ago
  My biggest regret about my college/university time is not having expanded my breadth of experiences. In your teens and twenties you are at a point in life when you have not made too many decisions that set you on a particular path. It is an oportune moment to explore the vast buffet of life. As one gets older you find yourself moving in a particular direction and generally self-limit your own ability to deviate too far from the area you currently in. Add in the sunk cost fallacy and most people just continue the inertia of their early decisions. Expose yourself to everything you have the least bit of interest in. Go to all kinds of group meetings, sign up for classes that seem interesting, talk to people that are different from you, etc. It is very likely you will never have such easy access to these possibilities ever again. Do not believe that you must declare a major immediately and that it will be set in stone for the rest of your life. TLDR: explore your interests without fear
• qnsi 5y ago
  Bro, stop optimizing future employment. Go party, it's university. Meet new people, fuck some girls. Get to know people from other departments than CS. Trust me, in five years you are not going to regret not being more employable, you are going to regret not having partied
• WheelsAtLarge 5y ago
  Make sure you join as many social groups as possible. Many of the friends you make will become life long friends and relationships. You have the time now to cultivate as many as possible. When you move on to your work life it will be much harder so do it now.
• scsilver 5y ago
  If you can afford it, take your time and do 5 years. Live on or near campus. The best thing you can do for your employment is start taking programming odd jobs now while learning. Get real work out in the world and get paid for it before you graduate. Health Then Wealth Body healths helps you be nice to be around. Being nice to be around builds your network. Your network provides you with jobs and information for navigating life. Start at health and happiness, your in the nest industry in the world, you don’t need to optimize and more than you already have. That energy is better spent growing wide and expanding your horizons.
• dyingkneepad 5y ago
  Sleep properly. Be consistent when studying. Actually learn what is being taught (instead of copying people's homeworks. Grow your network. Don't try to compete with the other students. University is not a competition. It is much much better if everybody just help each other. I landed my dream job because someone from the University liked me.
• brudgers 5y ago
  Focus on people skills. The best way to get a good job is to hear about it from someone you know. Be a person people want to work with, and become a person people like to work for.
• black_13 5y ago
• ceasesurthinko 5y ago
  Loosen up and make friends at your own comfort level. That really is what university is about. Clubs are a good idea. Do your own thing but your focus should be connecting. You don't need university to self-learn all the CS and programming concepts- you could've done it at home alone. So university is less about the education and more about the experience (and I'm not talking about the stereotypical American way of parties and getting drunk and watching football). Do things that interest YOU. Talk and branch out to like minded people who you find INTERESTING. You have people here on this thread on hackernews for gods sake telling people to connect to others. On hackernews, the Nerd Central. So that just emphasizes the importance of doing it when a bunch of nerds are telling you to go out and meet people. And if you are socially anxious, talk to a doctor asap. You want to make this college experience good. Your doctor can help you out with some antidepressants that just lifts all the anxiety from you so you can talk to others. They work, really good too for highly neurotic kids like many of us. Don't focus your efforts on being liked, rather, focus your efforts on connecting deeply with a few really important people in your university.
• alan-hn 5y ago
  This might be a little different advice than what others are saying, but do a minor (or double major) in one of the hard sciences such as physics, chemistry, or biology. There is a huge amount of opportunity in computationally studying and analyzing data from these fields. That and go to office hours, ask your professors about their research. See if there are opportunities to get involved in research yourself. This will expand your knowledge and understanding to depths far beyond most of your peers.
• asfarley 5y ago
  I’m going to slightly disagree with some of the other answers here, since I actually did travel and socialize a fair amount myself during the university years. It was fun, but if I could give my younger self advice, it would be: your financial life is starting now, not in 10 years. Travelling is interesting but humans are similar everywhere and people have lived happy lives for thousands of years without yearly international travel. In terms of career advice: interview your employers just as selectively as they interview you. Take your time making a choice. Don’t hesitate to leave for better opportunities, even if you’ve only worked somewhere a short while. Do side projects. Try to charge by value, not by the hour; get some economic multiplier.