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I've heard that the colleges we attend affect the hiring process when we graduate. How do I tackle this problem?
I’ve recently graduated from LaGuardia Community College with AS in Computer Science and I’m applied to transfer to 4 different CUNY universities. Many people tend to go to big and renowned universities like MIT, Harvard and many more. How do I get a leg up if I didn't attend one of these big name schools?
#college #JULY20
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7 answers
Updated
Diana’s Answer
My answer is going to be a little more focused on the assumption that you're planning to become a software engineer after graduation. One of the unique aspects of a software engineering career is that the name of your college matters much less than your skills and experiences, so your focus should primarily be on building and solidifying those.
One aspect where you can build experience is through work. Focus on getting internship over the summer/winter breaks. These will be a valuable addition to your resume (and you might be able to get a full time offer from the company you had your internship at when you graduate!). If your college professors have Teaching/Student Assistants to help grade tests, homework, and hold office hours, find out how you can apply. Not only will you learn more from teaching others, but it will also be a good addition to the work experience section on your resume.
Build your portfolio. This is another great way to build experience and do something you will enjoy. Find an aspect of computer science that interests you the most and build something during your free time. Whether its building your own website, video game, or a machine learning algorithm, you will learn a lot from this experience, and it will be another bonus to add to your resume.
Solidify your foundation. You want to be a pro at algorithms, and understand common data structures. A good portion of your software engineering interviews will include coding questions. Being successful at acing these challenges will give you the leg up you're looking for. You can find lots of resources online on example questions you may be asked during an interview. So make sure you practice!
Wishing you best of luck!
One aspect where you can build experience is through work. Focus on getting internship over the summer/winter breaks. These will be a valuable addition to your resume (and you might be able to get a full time offer from the company you had your internship at when you graduate!). If your college professors have Teaching/Student Assistants to help grade tests, homework, and hold office hours, find out how you can apply. Not only will you learn more from teaching others, but it will also be a good addition to the work experience section on your resume.
Build your portfolio. This is another great way to build experience and do something you will enjoy. Find an aspect of computer science that interests you the most and build something during your free time. Whether its building your own website, video game, or a machine learning algorithm, you will learn a lot from this experience, and it will be another bonus to add to your resume.
Solidify your foundation. You want to be a pro at algorithms, and understand common data structures. A good portion of your software engineering interviews will include coding questions. Being successful at acing these challenges will give you the leg up you're looking for. You can find lots of resources online on example questions you may be asked during an interview. So make sure you practice!
Wishing you best of luck!
Updated
Doc’s Answer
Babita it matters not at all where you got your degree but rather what you did with your time in the colleges you did attend. It matters what kind of person you are, how persistent you are, how hard working you are, how creative you are, and how you present yourself.
WILL WHAT COLLEGE YOU ATTEND MATTER TO FUTURE EMPLOYERS
In the past high-cost private schools did improve someone’s job prospects, but now faculty at institutions of all prices and levels of prestige are excellent. Now hiring managers and employers are looking for a robust skill set, and they are more interested in what you know than where you learned it. This is especially true in fields like medicine and business, where having a diploma from the right college is nearly a prerequisite for employment for some organizations. However, if someone is going to graduate school, their undergraduate college means far less than where their master’s or doctorate came from.
SAVE YOUR MONEY
Sometimes recruits from the big state schools have the greatest persistence and deal the best with bureaucratic issues, because to survive and thrive in their schools, they developed that set of skills. Many of the folks from small liberal arts colleges of any level of selectivity are our most creative and insightful employees. Sometimes the student who had to pay their way through college has the most pluck and is the most driven. These types of employees are sometimes the most successful of all, because they are used to working hard from the get-go and did not come by anything in life through their families connections. They have no sense of entitlement, so are willing to get their hands dirty for the mission. In the meantime, just look around you and count up the number of successful, happy people you know who went to all manner of non-famous colleges or none at all — your friends, family, and neighbors, as well as some famous folks (Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, the Wright Brothers, Albert Einstein, and Michael Dell to name a few…).
ON THE OTHER HAND IT DEPENDS WHAT CAREER YOU CHOOSE
Where you want to go to college depends on what you want to do. If your goal is a high starting salary along side ivy league types in investment banking/wallstreet jobs – then it makes sense to attend one of those schools. Outside of that, the ivy league doesn’t make sense if you are paying for it. I have an engineering degree (my first career) followed by law school (second career). I worked with ivy league types and non-ivy league types in both of those fields and saw no advantage to those who went to expensive schools. They did suffer from high loans, but they did not rise corporately or in engineering/lawl firms. I suspect the same is true for health care professions. For teaching there is probably an advantage.
I think sometimes a person who goes for ivy league isn’t comfortable in real world work settings because there is so much more to succeeding in career and industry and for many career paths, there just is no advantage but they feel like they are somehow expected to be really good. It’s also my understanding from a couple of ivy league friends that ivy league students are a bit neurotic and unhappy, I have no idea if this is true or not. I wouldn’t waste money on a prestigious undergrad degree unless I wanted to work on Wall-street or in investment banking.
I hope this was Helpful Babita
WILL WHAT COLLEGE YOU ATTEND MATTER TO FUTURE EMPLOYERS
In the past high-cost private schools did improve someone’s job prospects, but now faculty at institutions of all prices and levels of prestige are excellent. Now hiring managers and employers are looking for a robust skill set, and they are more interested in what you know than where you learned it. This is especially true in fields like medicine and business, where having a diploma from the right college is nearly a prerequisite for employment for some organizations. However, if someone is going to graduate school, their undergraduate college means far less than where their master’s or doctorate came from.
SAVE YOUR MONEY
Sometimes recruits from the big state schools have the greatest persistence and deal the best with bureaucratic issues, because to survive and thrive in their schools, they developed that set of skills. Many of the folks from small liberal arts colleges of any level of selectivity are our most creative and insightful employees. Sometimes the student who had to pay their way through college has the most pluck and is the most driven. These types of employees are sometimes the most successful of all, because they are used to working hard from the get-go and did not come by anything in life through their families connections. They have no sense of entitlement, so are willing to get their hands dirty for the mission. In the meantime, just look around you and count up the number of successful, happy people you know who went to all manner of non-famous colleges or none at all — your friends, family, and neighbors, as well as some famous folks (Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, the Wright Brothers, Albert Einstein, and Michael Dell to name a few…).
ON THE OTHER HAND IT DEPENDS WHAT CAREER YOU CHOOSE
Where you want to go to college depends on what you want to do. If your goal is a high starting salary along side ivy league types in investment banking/wallstreet jobs – then it makes sense to attend one of those schools. Outside of that, the ivy league doesn’t make sense if you are paying for it. I have an engineering degree (my first career) followed by law school (second career). I worked with ivy league types and non-ivy league types in both of those fields and saw no advantage to those who went to expensive schools. They did suffer from high loans, but they did not rise corporately or in engineering/lawl firms. I suspect the same is true for health care professions. For teaching there is probably an advantage.
I think sometimes a person who goes for ivy league isn’t comfortable in real world work settings because there is so much more to succeeding in career and industry and for many career paths, there just is no advantage but they feel like they are somehow expected to be really good. It’s also my understanding from a couple of ivy league friends that ivy league students are a bit neurotic and unhappy, I have no idea if this is true or not. I wouldn’t waste money on a prestigious undergrad degree unless I wanted to work on Wall-street or in investment banking.
I hope this was Helpful Babita
Thank You Dhairya. Help one another. There’s no time like the present, and no present like the time.
Doc Frick
Updated
Amanda’s Answer
I'm not an expert on this, but I believe CUNY schools often have programs (like mentorship, fellowships, etc.) designed to connect local NYC students (especially minority students) with NYC companies. I recommend asking your CUNY admins for any info about such programs. Also, get as much internship experience as possible. I realize that's difficult into today's COVID era, but even a bit of job shadowing or remote internship can really do wonders for your resume and interview prospects.
Updated
Kara’s Answer
Create a killer portfolio to showcase your work. If you can't get an internship you had hoped for, didn't come from a well known college, or maybe didn't attend college at all, having a way to showcase your capabilities is key and will help you stand out. Volunteer or give yourself a project you would either get through an internship or through work experience and treat it as such. Show your approach to solving a problem, building a solution, creating a product or strategy and build it as if you were presenting to your made up client. Do a few of these and keep them all together in a digital portfolio, even the portfolio itself can become part of the way you market your skills. Some industries are going to look for certain types of degrees from specific universities, but there are industries and organizations that measure your skill set equally or with more weight than where you got your degree. I am not sure what industry you are in specifically, but hope this helps.
Updated
Morgan’s Answer
I'm also a recent computer science graduate who didn't attend an ivy league! Luckily, in our field, where you went to school matters much less than what you can do. If you're looking to be a software engineer or do any sort of coding in your career, there are a lot of free and easy ways to build up your resume and prep for your technical interviews.
Most importantly, focus on building yourself up! Work on developing the skills you want to have, and it will show. The Ivy Leagues are great schools, but that doesn't mean lesser known schools don't also have amazing professors and opportunities to learn.
(If you're continuing school) Find an internship. Many companies hire interns with very little experience, especially smaller companies. You can start applying for internships for next summer right now!
Contribute to or start an open source project. You can find tons of cool open source projects on GitHub right now that are looking for contributers. You don't have to apply or talk to anyone to work on them. Just start coding!
Practice coding problems online. Hackerrank, leetcode, codeacademy, and more all have great (and free) practice problems similar to what you'll see in interviews. Practicing now will mean you're more likely to succeed in technical interviews.
Get the Cracking the Coding Interview Textbook. Its a detailed how-to on all things technical interview. Lots of practice problems and interview tips to set yourself apart.
Most importantly, focus on building yourself up! Work on developing the skills you want to have, and it will show. The Ivy Leagues are great schools, but that doesn't mean lesser known schools don't also have amazing professors and opportunities to learn.
Morgan recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Dawn’s Answer
I use to think the same way as you, since I graduated from a CUNY! But one thing my college experience has taught me is that anyone can make it anywhere if they work hard enough.
If the brand name of your school isn't as well known, you can make up for it with job experience and skill set. I'd start off by applying for positions in smaller companies in order to gain the relevant experience and expertise that bigger companies are seeking. From what I know, most employers (that I've worked for at least) care more about personality and knowledge - can this person communicate well? Does this person have the necessary knowledge and expertise for the role? Is this person a team player?
The college you attend doesn't define you as a person. It's merely a tool to help you get to where you want to be. And rest assured, big name companies do recruit from CUNYs - they're becoming more renowned for their solid education at an affordable price. CUNYs also have an advantage being located in NYC and therefore affiliated with many companies located in the city that hire students for internships, part-time, and full-time roles.
Definitely don't be discouraged - you'll end up in the right place if you take the right steps.
If the brand name of your school isn't as well known, you can make up for it with job experience and skill set. I'd start off by applying for positions in smaller companies in order to gain the relevant experience and expertise that bigger companies are seeking. From what I know, most employers (that I've worked for at least) care more about personality and knowledge - can this person communicate well? Does this person have the necessary knowledge and expertise for the role? Is this person a team player?
The college you attend doesn't define you as a person. It's merely a tool to help you get to where you want to be. And rest assured, big name companies do recruit from CUNYs - they're becoming more renowned for their solid education at an affordable price. CUNYs also have an advantage being located in NYC and therefore affiliated with many companies located in the city that hire students for internships, part-time, and full-time roles.
Definitely don't be discouraged - you'll end up in the right place if you take the right steps.
Updated
Simeon’s Answer
I wouldn't worry that much about your ability to get a job due to which university you attended. After you get an entry-level position, most companies will only care about the amount of experience on your resume. Go to networking events and make a point of meeting new people, especially people who are in the same position as you. You'll get more results networking if you make friends before they get into positions where they can help you.