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What kind of volunteer opportunities are there for students going into the computer engineering field? Is it too late to start as a junior?
I want to pursue a career in this field and am not sure if I qualify to be in it. #computer-science #computer-engineering
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Shubhankar’s Answer
Hi,
I personally believe that there is no age for learning what you like. If you want to earn a degree then the university rules may apply.
My recommendation would be visit any of the online learning websites and check the basic programming courses. That should give you a feel of what it really comprises of and it will also reassure your interest.
Once you have done that I suppose you can start learning any of the available programming languages. That should prepare you for joining the league of developers at the entry level
Visit udemy.com and check basic level programming courses
Visit coursera.org and check basic level programming courses
Visit pluralsight.com and check basic level programming courses
I personally believe that there is no age for learning what you like. If you want to earn a degree then the university rules may apply.
My recommendation would be visit any of the online learning websites and check the basic programming courses. That should give you a feel of what it really comprises of and it will also reassure your interest.
Once you have done that I suppose you can start learning any of the available programming languages. That should prepare you for joining the league of developers at the entry level
Shubhankar recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Emmett’s Answer
Are you a junior in high school or college? If high school, that's definitely not too late--it's even earlier than a lot of people start CS/CE. If you're a junior in college, it might be a little harder to switch your major depending on how many extra courses you would have to take, so I'd recommend talking to your registrar and seeing what they have to say.
In terms of jobs, companies definitely don't care when you started going into your field as long as you graduated with a relevant degree, and some companies are even relaxing that nowadays! I've seen people in tech with all sorts of degrees: linguistics, mechanical engineering, psychology, physics, econ, etc.
In terms of volunteering, hackathons always need volunteer help. I'd recommend looking into local or virtual hackathons that you can help out at, because you'll be able to get exposure to computer engineering and make some friends in the field who can help you advance. You could also reach out to computer eng professors with research groups or labs to see if they'd be able to give you some work.
In terms of jobs, companies definitely don't care when you started going into your field as long as you graduated with a relevant degree, and some companies are even relaxing that nowadays! I've seen people in tech with all sorts of degrees: linguistics, mechanical engineering, psychology, physics, econ, etc.
In terms of volunteering, hackathons always need volunteer help. I'd recommend looking into local or virtual hackathons that you can help out at, because you'll be able to get exposure to computer engineering and make some friends in the field who can help you advance. You could also reach out to computer eng professors with research groups or labs to see if they'd be able to give you some work.
Updated
Joanne’s Answer
Volunteering is a little bit of a challenge.
I know some local boys & girls clubs look for assistance with their STEM programs. That could give you a nice taste if you like STEM type of fields.
If the idea of getting your hands on a raspberry PI, contriving some cool configurations, and coding it to work is appealing to you, then you're in the right direction.