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What should I learn for a good career?

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What should I learn for a good career?

#1

Post by chimmychonga »

The title says it all. I am currently a Sophomore studying CS at middle of the line university. Sometimes I feel like I don't know anything compared to some of the upper class men, including the ones that are only a year more along than me. So my question is what do should I focus on to ensure I will be relevant to the work force before and after graduation?

Re: What should I learn for a good career?

#2

Post by PublicEnemy111 »

I was in the same position as you a year ago. I kept trying to find my niche but to no avail. Eventually, I took a microprocessors course and wanted to continue working with C, so I learned iOS development from various tutorials on the web. I learned more coding my first few apps than I did in all of my classes. If you are interested in web design, learn javascript and python/django. If you are familiar with java, look into writing android apps. Bottom line is to find something you love and practice every day. You will be surprised at how quickly you will learn and be much better off when looking for jobs at graduation

Re: What should I learn for a good career?

#3

Post by calcsam »

The best way to figure out what is relevant in "real world" jobs is to apply to the jobs you want and figure out what your weak points are.

(Same thing with products -- try to sell a product and see why people reject you. Your product here is yourself.)

So try to get an internship in Silicon Valley -- or even apply for jobs, with the cover story that 'I'm ready to jump into something more real-world than the classes I'm taking.'

Re: What should I learn for a good career?

#4

Post by skadamat »

Do searches on indeed.com for various kinds of engineers and see what's up. Web developer, software engineer, mobile engineer, mobile developer, data scientist, data engineer, data analyst, front-end engineer, front-end web developer.

You'll quickly get an idea of what kinds of languages companies use / care about! Also, make sure to keep learning, the smartest engineers not only continue learning about what other languages, tools, etc are out there but also keep their idea muscle fresh. Keep coming up with ideas on how to make what you're doing + the world better.

Re: What should I learn for a good career?

#6

Post by mattwritescode »

Okay so other than being able to actually write code.

Testing!!

So long as you can test well you will be able to write code that works.

You will quickly learn in industry that quality code does not really matter. What matters is code that works; the way you get code that works is by being able to write tests.

Re: What should I learn for a good career?

#7

Post by talmir »

Apart from actual coding the one skill I would recommend you focus on, which might be equal to coding skills in the jobmarket is : People skills. Learn to talk to people, how to act confident, practice speaking in front of small audiences.

Learn how to get your point across.

The trend has been moving away from having programmers work seperately to people working in teams for the past few years.

It might not be the easiest skill to learn. But if you cultivate it you will be a much more effective team member than the silent, sits in a corner working on his own, programmer type.

Re: What should I learn for a good career?

#9

Post by phantom_oracle »

Master C and C++. Both are still relevant today and most other languages are simply derivatives of it (which means you will pick them up easily).

Defining mastery is the tough part though... If you think of it the way I do, you will find a good career for the rest of your life, although I don't think coding for 40 years is a life well-lived (especially on 70-hour workweeks).

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