Brian
Besides a computer science degree, what else can I do while in college to make myself more employable after college?
In addition to working on my college degree in technology, what else should I do while in college to make myself more employable?
#computer-science #degree #technology
#employable #job-application
#personal-development
22 answers
Elisa Binette
Elisa’s Answer
Great question! Internships can be extremely beneficial, but you can also build your resume and make yourself more employable through volunteering efforts that take advantage of your computer science skills, side projects, and other activities that demonstrate leadership skills and initiative.
You should also start networking, attending meet-ups, etc. to create connections with folks that can give you advice and provide connections within the companies where you are interested in working.
Nick King
Nick’s Answer
Dan Sacui
Dan’s Answer
Hey Brian
To me, one of the best things a CS undergraduate student can do to distinguish themselves in the job market, is working on one or more large projects outside of your coursework. Working on personal projects both forces you to learn more hands-on practical skills that are not always gained in classes and demonstrates to employers that you are motivated to learn and are genuinely interested in the work. These extra projects could come in the form of an internship, doing an independent research project, building an app or website, or doing research for a professor. Try to build something that will force you to learn more about areas you are not as familiar with and try to use industry standard tools while building your projects. Bonus points for a group project to show how you work well with a team.
Pratim Ugale
Pratim’s Answer
It's good that you already are preparing for something you want in the future.
1. Look for any work or project that's going on in your college that you can work on. Maybe you can find work by asking your professors.
2. Do self projects and participate in hackathons. This shows your interest in the field besides college-courses.
3. Participate in Open Source Communities and contribute to their projects. This is a great way to showcase your work on your resume. There are plenty of programs online that welcome new open source developers. If Open Source seems difficult which it can be, look for other Internships.
4. Once you have some of the above on your resume, along with good grades, you can aim for an Internship at a reputed company/organization. Doesn't matter if the Company is big or not, what matters is your contribution to it.
5. Participate in College Committees relating to coding and volunteer to take positions of responsibility as companies also look for leadership skills and whether you are able to work in a team.
Look for mentors/connections who can help you with what you want to achieve and how you can polish your resume for that.
All the Best!
Sherrill Moss
Sherrill’s Answer
Start networking now! You will be amazed at how connected your fellow students are now and how important that can be to your future success. Reach out and volunteer for organizations, attend functions and participate in community events. You will be rewarded richly as the more you give the more you will benefit. I suggest you create your LinkedIn account now and be sure to add connections as you meet new people. Keep active and you will have more opportunities and leads as you continue on your path. Best of luck to you!
Sherrill recommends the following next steps:
Way to include next steps!
Paul Frazier
DaShena Williams-Payne
DaShena’s Answer
Jordan Heidtman
Jordan’s Answer
Internship are key to getting real world work experience in a fun way. Some of them even pay you for your hard work. This allows you the opportunity to make connections, see what you like and do not like. When you intern, do be scared to be ask to take on more tasks or to ask questions. Volunteer in the community when you have some free time. It does not have to be anything huge. Maybe it is going and serving food a homeless shelter or reading books to kids at a local school.
Alex da Silva
Alex’s Answer
My advice to you will be to start building a portfolio with projects, do internships, learn in-demand skills like cloud or data analytics, and earn certifications (like AWS, Microsoft, etc). You should also join tech clubs, network through Linkedin and career fairs, and stay updated on indutry trends to boost their chances of getting hired.
Nicole S.
Nicole’s Answer
Hello Brian,
With Computer Science, you're off to a great start. As someone who already works in the tech industry, here are some ideas for what you can tackle in college that will give companies more incentive to hire you:
- Learn a Language - Depending on the industry, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese would be a couple of good picks. Focus on recognizing the business vocabulary and being able to handle a professional conversation. While English still has dominance as a lingua franca for now, there is a high demand for skilled professionals who can speak two or more languages. (As an example, pretty much everything I know about tech was taught to me - for free - by a company that hired me because they needed my language skills.)
- Don't Neglect Your Soft Skills - The most in-demand professionals right now are those who can can straddle the divide between the highly-technical world and the general population. Everything from the copy-editing to explaining the function of an application or even a button to someone who writes product documentation or promotional materials can be complicated when someone can't connect with end-users. Even getting the resolution to a technical issue can be delayed simply because the technical engineer and the end-user can't communicate effectively. (Ex. A technical engineer may ask about the kernel when trying to troubleshoot, but 'kernel' means nothing to a typical end-user.)
- Read - Technology advances quickly. Keep yourself up-to-date on the latest with both business and technology trends.
- Research - Even if you're not looking for jobs now, start doing some job searches to see what kinds of jobs you would be interested in and what they're looking for you to have. This should give you a pretty solid idea of what employers are looking for as well.
- Adopt a Growth-Mindset - As I said before, everything advances quickly now. You're going to have to know how to adapt quickly. Be prepared for out-of-the-box thinking or you will be replaced by a machine.
There is plenty more that you can do, but these five tips have helped me immensely.
Please let me know if you have any further questions!
Kind regards,
Nicole
Nagarjuna N
Nagarjuna’s Answer
Eduarda Luísa da Rocha
Eduarda Luísa’s Answer
Hope you are doing great!
You could start by networking and creating connections with your professors and colleagues!
It is also really cool to volunteer for projects in your city or inside your university!
Create a LinkedIn account and go updating it every time you accomplish something that is important to you!
If you have this opportunity, apply for an internship program. There you will get lots of experiences and will have
the amazing opportunity to network with other people and learn from them.
Rahul Doli
Rahul’s Answer
Frank Scalia
Frank’s Answer
Very good question. Computer Science can be daunting for people not in the field. Technical Professionals can have trouble communicating in layman’s terms with management and rank and file employees. Take some business and management classes with your electives. Public speaking can also help. You will be more valuable if you know where they are coming from and can communicate on their level.
A G
A’s Answer
Hi AG! Can you give more information regarding your answer?
Sharyn Grose, Admin
Thai Nguyen
Thai’s Answer
- Study for IT certifications (agile, itil, oracle, java, etc.) during your off time (winter, summer)
- Join toastmaster to become a good speaker, and leader. They have 2 tracks, communication and leadership.
- Do Internship, at least summer internship
- Start networking. You must have heard, "It's not what you know, it's who you know."
My son is in his second year in college and doing CS, and those are the advices I gave him.
Paul Frazier
Paul’s Answer
Volunteering can be a great way to build skills.
Do speech and debate or toast masters to master public speaking
Network and join meetups. Great way to meet others, hear about jobs you might not even know exist, and hear about cool products.
Paul recommends the following next steps:
carrie molek
carrie’s Answer
Techie Dude
Techie’s Answer
- Work a part time job or internship within the field
- Meet a mentor in the industry and learn from them
- Play sports, especially team sports
- Travel if you can, and learn about different culture. If not, meet others of different cultures in your school
- Make sure you save some time for a little bit of fun in between your studies!
Theodore Caulton
Theodore’s Answer
The best thing you can do is get involved on campus, this can help you stand out as more than just the computer science major, but the computer science major with leadership experience and practical experience. Make a goal to try something new every semester and your progress will snowball from there. good luck!
Daniel Moy
Daniel’s Answer
Internships, and the ability to actually program correctly. A computer science degree definitely doesn't imply the ability to actually program correctly, unfortunately.
But mostly internships. Undergrad research if you can't find an internship. Open source contributions if you can't find either.
Giselle Northy
Giselle’s Answer
Practice summarizing problems - simmering them down into sensible pieces so people can understand the steps involved, can reproduce issues and move forward with solving the problem. I realized pretty quickly that Technical minded folks don't want to read essays; bullet points and problem statements are wonderful! :) As a Technical Support Engineer, I work a lot with Technical folks, including Software Engineers and it is essential that we can get to the facts clearly and efficiently so we can solve the problems together.
Cheers!
