As a Computer Engineer, what should you start doing in high school to start preparing for your future?

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You say "computer engineer" - to me, that means "electrical engineering degree, focusing on digital design, computer architecture, and systems design, with intent to design and build computer systems or other digital systems with computers embedded in them". Cool. I can relate. That's where I wound up, at least for part of my path.

You also say you're a junior in high school, so you're looking at the last of your junior year and into the summer between your junior and senior year, and you're contemplating your choices for college.

So, here's the deal: you are in an incredibly rare moment in your life. You're almost an adult, so you get some of the privileges, but you don't have any of the responsibilities. You don't have to worry about rent, food, car payments, insurance, taxes, buying your own clothes, paying tuition, buying books and supplies, etc. You get to, for a very limited time, be a kid. A final window before you HAVE to work, and some days, no matter how much you enjoy it, that's a drag.

In a minute, I'm going to suggest some things you might do with some of your free time to push your career aspirations along a bit, but pay attention - close attention - to this part first.

Play. Hang out with your friends. Make a bucket list of things to do before you graduate, things that will be lost to you forever when you leave high school, and start knocking those off.

You see movies and songs and books featuring middle aged men wanting to recapture the lost "glory days" of high school. The reason for that is they never really got "done" with it. This is your opportunity to live fully, embrace your youth, and go full-out so that when you are finished with high school, you're really "done". It's in the past, and while you have scrapbooks and memories, you don't have regrets and things you will always wish you'd done; things that tie you the past and LIMIT your ability to access your future.

No one - really, seriously, NO ONE - is going to care if you spend time trying to learn all the stuff that you're going to learn in college before you get there, and frankly (based on my own experience teaching undergraduates) you're very likely to think you've learned stuff that gets in the way of learning the stuff you REALLY need to know. You might have a practical understanding of things that gets in the way of groking the theory underlying it, which will keep you from ever being more than a technician.

So - things to do that will help you.

Game. If you play video games, focus on Team V. Team MOBA games like League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, etc. You'll learn team building and team work, strategy, working under pressure, on-line collaboration, crisis management - and you'll have fun. If you're just "not a gamer", take up non-video games such as chess, Scrabble, bridge - and join a group, play often and improve your skills.

Sports. Take up a sport that you can play "forever" - golf, tennis, racketball, running - there are an infinity of options. If you already play, play more; if you don't, learn, with friends. It will get your body moving and give you something you can do to decompress in college and beyond.

Read. You probably think that you read enough in school but that's going to hit warp drive when you get to college. Read now, read a lot - but for fun. Not things assigned, but things which interest YOU. It will help with your speed and comprehension. If possible, read things that challenge you in some way.

Tinker. You want to be an engineer. You really don't have access to the things that will let you learn fundamentals and theory of building complex digital systems in a way that won't cause issues when you encounter real courses. That's OK. Engineering is about problem solving, and the skills transfer across domains - so, find old mechanical clocks and take them apart and see if you can put them back together again. Same with machines powered by small gasoline engines. Even electronics - broken kid's games are a good start since the controls are effectively black boxes and you have to experiment to figure out what they're supposed to be doing. But whatever you do, have FUN with it.

You might also want to read Stan Hanks' answer to I'm 16 years old and I want to run my own tech startup in the future. Should I get a degree in computer science or electrical engineering?

Good luck!

An in-depth look at why computer science is important to learn at the primary and secondary levels.A breakdown of computer science information and resources at each level: elementary school, middle school and high school.A detailed look at college prep. Specifically, how high school students can ready themselves for advanced computer science study at the post-secondary level.

You say "computer engineer" - to me, that means "electrical engineering degree, focusing on digital design, computer architecture, and systems design, with intent to design and build computer systems or other digital systems with computers embedded in them". Cool. I can relate. That's where I wound up, at least for part of my path.

You also say you're a junior in high school, so you're looking at the last of your junior year and into the summer between your junior and senior year, and you're contemplating your choices for college.

So, here's the deal: you are in an incredibly rare moment in your life. You're almost an adult, so you get some of the privileges, but you don't have any of the responsibilities. You don't have to worry about rent, food, car payments, insurance, taxes, buying your own clothes, paying tuition, buying books and supplies, etc. You get to, for a very limited time, be a kid. A final window before you HAVE to work, and some days, no matter how much you enjoy it, that's a drag.

In a minute, I'm going to suggest some things you might do with some of your free time to push your career aspirations along a bit, but pay attention - close attention - to this part first.

Play. Hang out with your friends. Make a bucket list of things to do before you graduate, things that will be lost to you forever when you leave high school, and start knocking those off.

You see movies and songs and books featuring middle aged men wanting to recapture the lost "glory days" of high school. The reason for that is they never really got "done" with it. This is your opportunity to live fully, embrace your youth, and go full-out so that when you are finished with high school, you're really "done". It's in the past, and while you have scrapbooks and memories, you don't have regrets and things you will always wish you'd done; things that tie you the past and LIMIT your ability to access your future.

No one - really, seriously, NO ONE - is going to care if you spend time trying to learn all the stuff that you're going to learn in college before you get there, and frankly (based on my own experience teaching undergraduates) you're very likely to think you've learned stuff that gets in the way of learning the stuff you REALLY need to know. You might have a practical understanding of things that gets in the way of groking the theory underlying it, which will keep you from ever being more than a technician.