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What should I study in college to get a career in computer science?
I plan to have a career related to computer science. I'm curious at what classes I would need to take in college to achieve my career goal. Is there other classes I need to take beside computer science classes in college?
#college #computer-programming
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3 answers
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Kirk’s Answer
I would start by thinking about what field you might want to enter after you've graduated.
If you want to be a coder then think about which language(s) you want to specialize in and go deep on those languages.
If you want to specialize in other technical areas such as security, networking or data analytics it's likely your school will have classes or a minor in those areas or you can do self study. I have found Udemy.com to be a good and cheap resource if you wait for one of their $9.99 sales.
Regardless of the area you want to specialize in, I would think about spending some time learning networking basics, the various cloud environments (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), general Linux skills and also Kubernetes+Docker.
Another thing I could suggest is to take a public speaking course if that is not already required for your degree. As you progress in your career there will be times you will need to give presentations and lots of people (not just technical people) struggle with this until they've done it a few times and built up confidence.
One other idea to maybe expand your horizon a little... a CS degree sets you up well for almost any technical role. So for example if you have some skill with people (or the ability to grow it), you might want to consider a role as a Sales/Solution Engineer. This can be a very exciting and lucrative career and is not one that was discussed by my professors so I did not know about this option until much later in my career.
If you want to be a coder then think about which language(s) you want to specialize in and go deep on those languages.
If you want to specialize in other technical areas such as security, networking or data analytics it's likely your school will have classes or a minor in those areas or you can do self study. I have found Udemy.com to be a good and cheap resource if you wait for one of their $9.99 sales.
Regardless of the area you want to specialize in, I would think about spending some time learning networking basics, the various cloud environments (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), general Linux skills and also Kubernetes+Docker.
Another thing I could suggest is to take a public speaking course if that is not already required for your degree. As you progress in your career there will be times you will need to give presentations and lots of people (not just technical people) struggle with this until they've done it a few times and built up confidence.
One other idea to maybe expand your horizon a little... a CS degree sets you up well for almost any technical role. So for example if you have some skill with people (or the ability to grow it), you might want to consider a role as a Sales/Solution Engineer. This can be a very exciting and lucrative career and is not one that was discussed by my professors so I did not know about this option until much later in my career.
Thank you for the advice.
Bryan
Updated
Roxanne’s Answer
A computer science degree will help you out in getting towards your career field. There are many different realms within the field. As you go through your program, learn about those subfields and see what you like best.
The main thing I would reccomend is to look for program that give you the opportunity to earn industry level certifications while in school. Thos can help get you in the field sooner and even give you a side gig to help pay some of those college bills.
The main thing I would reccomend is to look for program that give you the opportunity to earn industry level certifications while in school. Thos can help get you in the field sooner and even give you a side gig to help pay some of those college bills.
Thank you for sharing your perspective.
Bryan
Updated
Joseph’s Answer
I agree with Roxanne above! One area in particular that should see explosive growth is in blockchain and artificial intelligence. Definitely focus on the basics to get a well rounded perspective, but key an eye on decentralization through blockchain and separately AI.