I've worked with two interns in the past year who did coding boot camps after (I'm making assumptions here) not finding work with their degrees, the last one found a great job after the internship and I'm confident the new one will as well. Good luck!
Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
221–230 of 324 posts
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> "Easy problems take me 2-5 hours." > Those problems are supposed to be hard because they're based on ideas discovered by the most brilliant minds. If you can do them in 2-5 hours with no background you might actually be real good. Putting myself in the OP's shoes, this would be really frustrating advice to hear. The OP literally said they already got a CS degree and that these are "easy problems" taking them 2-5 h…
While I agree that it could be taken that way considering the tone of OP's post there were several considerations going into my reply: 1. OP seemed locked in a spiral of negativity that was aggravating performance anxiety. 2. OP was actually able to solve problems and I assumed OP is not talking about "Fizz Buzz" class problems. 3. OP was nowhere to be found in the comments at the time of posting so I wanted the comm…
> he seems prone to analysis paralysis and anxiety about raw ability/intelligence.
This is what I also gained, and to me, it says that OP has the ability to solve these problems in much less time. I was a lot like OP when I started out. In college, I would get good marks but be one of the last people submitting a test. Whiteboard-style problems would take me forever to complete. I constantly felt that even though I could get it right, it took too long to be of any use.
My problem was much of what you said: I was reinventing crude versions of the wheel while spending an inordinate amount of time comparing different ways to solve problems. I'm not some brilliant mind that's going to have a ubiquitous name in the annals of CS. I've just been really good at breaking down problems and tasks, and early on, I was writing things akin to FizzBuzz EE[0] rather than a 10 line solution that solved the problem.
[0]: https://github.com/EnterpriseQualityCoding/FizzBuzzEnterpris...
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
> “really easy interview and we just talked about my experience and projects“ This is what interviewing is like in 99% of other sectors, even engineering. You might be asked some competency based questions at a larger organisation but the whole “dance like a monkey in a high pressure environment while we watch” whiteboard/coding test feels like cruel and unusual punishment to me that is nothing like the job of actual…
That's not true. I've interviewed for many engineering jobs and lots of them involved solving puzzle-like problems on a whiteboard.
Your anecdotal experience differing from OP's does not make what he said inherently untrue.
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#224Explore software architect roles
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, you can get there by finding jobs where the interviewers/hiring managers aren't using Leetcode as their filter. (They do exist, even if they're not as common as they should be.)
That's why I said "pay reasonably well". It seems to me that most places that don't interview and filter candidates by asking algorithmic problems don't pay as well as those that do. That's just been my experience as a student that's interviewed for internships and is going to start interviewing for new grad positions in the fall. Also > (They do exist, even if they're not as common as they should be.) I'm curious wh…
>original and not straight from Leetcode so they do demonstrate critical thinking + programming skills.
Leetcode style questions almost never require anything resembling critical thinking. The only thing they demonstrate is problem solving under pressure.
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have been planning to join Toastmasters for the past 2 years but for procrastination!
If you tell yourself (and actually do, if required) that you'll only participate as an audience and not to actually do public speaking, you may get yourself over the 'thing' that may be behind the 'procrastination'.
I love public speaking. It’s just that I have to get there.
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you tell yourself (and actually do, if required) that you'll only participate as an audience and not to actually do public speaking, you may get yourself over the 'thing' that may be behind the 'procrastination'.
I had a bunch of friends recommend Calm to me. I started using this morning - here's to paying it forward: https://www.calm.com/
Did you like it?
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#228"Being a programmer" on the job actually doing useful work for someone and knocking out contrived coding puzzles are two _very_ different things.
Just keep interviewing and realize that although some places will use these tests as secret handshakes to cull candidates, many more will try to evaluate YOU in a bigger picture: other aspects of your background and attributes, how they think you'll get along with the others, your grit, communication ability, and like-ability.
There is so much more to work than technical prowess (especially as measured by unrealistic quizzes). If your passion is software development, you are doing yourself a disservice to give up so early just because you are not performing the way you think you should be performing on puzzles.
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#229We do product management consulting and get some CS majors that dont want to code. Having a technical background is helpful and the path is solid leading to similar comp to developers.
Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?
#230"Easy problems take me 2-5 hours." Are you sure you're not reinventing established theories and algorithms? Those problems are supposed to be hard because they're based on ideas discovered by the most brilliant minds. If you can do them in 2-5 hours with no background you might actually be real good. Depending on what level of familiarity you have with the material, you might be selling yourself really short. Deliber…
They easy problems are usually really easy to solve. Including tinkering with the syntax of the language it should be possible in ~15 minutes. Even if you don't find some quicker algorithm, bruteforcing usually still works.
Straight out of college, I definitely found ways to complicate simple problems to a few hours. It is easy to put limits on yourself that aren't in the problem, like excluding non optimal solutions or even forcing a specific pattern that isn't really a good fit.
But I can't say programming as a career is definitely something every CS major should make their goal. Having a better relationship to coding is something that can be handled gradually with less stress.
There is plenty to do in theory and there are plenty of related fields that benefit from a CS background even if one doesn't code. Really, any science/math/statistics masters degree should be considered with those that need the most scientific computing being the best choices for a CS graduate.
A CS BS that does a master's in another science might end up programming in R and it isn't really all that different. But the stresses, sense of competition and expectations won't be the same.