People with CS degrees: What do you do?

[BCYL]

I haven't graduated with my CS degree yet, still one more year to go... but currently I am working as a Software Developer for a company which is starting up...

 

[amdskip]

I am going to be a freshman in college. I am going for computer science. Any advice?

 

[DannyLove]

i am now a skilled sniper, a skiller pistol fighter and a bunny hopper. With my degree in CS, i am unstoppable, I am "1337" (like the kids usually say). I am god, it seems I always have body armour, I always have $16,000, my ratio is 100:1, with my degree I am happy. so what do I do? I let my mind play CS for me.

danny~!

 

[Mapidus]

<< For excellent students, you will still have a lot of job offers.
I had at least 5 job offers 2-3 months ago. However, I decided to go to
grad school. >>



Nothing is a sure thing, so never take what you have for granted. I was in the top 5-10 percent of my class (not sure of exactly since new rankings have not been posted), so I was at least an ok student at a school that has a decent CS program, but still no jobs.

To you guys out there thinking about CS though -- don't be scared because Cougar and I are probably just rare cases. I know people in the bottom half of my engineering school who got very good 55k-70K jobs.

 

[Mapidus]

<< I am going to be a freshman in college. I am going for computer science. Any advice? >>



I would recommend trying lots of differnt stuff early on -- maybe auditing some courses you are not allowed to take yet. Finding an area of interest early on is really important because then you will know which higher level course electives you want to take and what you want to do research on (if you like this type of stuff).

If you plan on doing development work then I would recommend taking a software engineering course early one.

Also, don't shy away from an area because you don't think there are many jobs in it. You will probably be happier doing something you like than making more money. Systems, theory, logic, AI, languages, compilers, and architecture don't seem to be popular with most CS students, but they are some of the most interesting areas in CS.