Career Advice for CS Student

[vesper39]

Hi guys,

I am currently a 3rd year computer science student at a top 20 university. I am interested in working in the technology industry, but am actually looking for a career away from straight software development / programming. I've realized I really do not enjoy it or have enough passion to work in software.

So as of now, I have followed up and interviewed for several companies for positions in Product Management and Decisions Analyst. The job descriptions are listed below. (companies may not be exactly google, but requirements are similar)

http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/...ager-intern-summer-mountain-view-1/index.html

http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/...ummer-2012-north-america-locations/index.html

I have an interest in both of these positions, but I feel they have quite a different role and would like help deciding which one would be a better suit. I am very interested in the business concepts of a company and would ideally like to be involved in both the business and technical sides.

Does anyone have experience with these positions? Which position usually has a better track for advancement and growth? Does one out-pay the other significantly? In the future, I plan on pursuing a MBA degree.

Thanks for any help or advice!

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Would you rather have a theory explained properly and then exemplified in class five times or explained properly and then not exemplified at all?

Do you have problems on tests because of careless errors or because you run out of time?

Would you say you are more ADD or OCD?

 

[Tsaico]

I had the same problem. Was a 5th year senior and realized I didn't want to code about 4 years in, but what do you do then? I ended up in system/network support myself and it has been working out all right for me. Not exactly glamorous, but it pays the bills.

As far as your question, I would just go for both. Actually working as an intern is what made me realize I could hack it as a programmer the rest of my life. Doing the actual work and then expanding on it will help you decide far better than any theory or guess we can make here.

 

[JS80]

UCLA is still top 20?

If you are creative go the product route.

 

[vesper39]

Would you rather have a theory explained properly and then exemplified in class five times or explained properly and then not exemplified at all?

Do you have problems on tests because of careless errors or because you run out of time?

Would you say you are more ADD or OCD?

I usually end up having careless errors on exams rather than running out of time, although I am definitely more OCD than ADD. I am quite good to attention to detail when it comes to subjects that aren't in a testing atmosphere.

Also I'm not quite sure what the theory explanation has to do, but I usually prefer an explanation followed by 1-2 examples. Though that usually doesn't happen, so I end up finding examples in the text.

UCLA consistently ranks in the 15-30 range, depending on the major and particular rating system. At least in our CS program, we get recruiters from all the top tech companies (apple, microsoft, google, facebook, etc) so I assume it's got a decent reputation.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

In which case:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/...ager-intern-summer-mountain-view-1/index.html

because:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/...ummer-2012-north-america-locations/index.html

is more of an academic's position.