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

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.

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.

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.

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).

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