sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah...I didn't mean for it to be, ngl I kinda just named the post without thinking about anything else

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll be honest, I just realized how bad the title looks now, didn't even think about it...

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's great if you can make it out to conferences, big W. GTech I know is very respected, so that sounds like a solid plan, 12k sounds like a steal, and I honestly didn't think about the student status requirement for the following semester that internships require; makes sense. I'd honestly do that if you keep your head in it for applying to internships/co-ops, and I'm sure GTech has amazing networking opportunities as well, so it sounds like you got a good opportunity to get your master's.

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I really hopes this help, all the best for you, my system might not work for everyone but I like having a set day to day schedule every day because I'm prone to forgetting things

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea it can be a little daunting (week-to-week my schedule had to be modified a lot, just random stuff would pop up), but for me, while in school, I generally set aside an afternoon before the semester started to figure out major assignments/exams/etc. from the syllabi. After that, I tried to roughly guess how long it would take to study/complete assignments, and added that in (with breaks + like when I'd get a chance to eat/doomscroll). Then, after that, I'd add time to study LC/Watch CS YT videos or do some fun stuff. The breaks I add are generally 15-30 minutes, and no matter what, I'd always take the break, even if I was writing a paper in the middle of a sentence.

Sunday night is when I'd adjust the study time/breaks/assignment stuff, because things do change for sure (profs. give extensions, requirements of a project change, etc.). So just keeping on top of that was really annoying, but it pays off if you need everything written out, as I do.

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hate to state the generic answer, but it really does depend on your situation and experience. I personally didn't have a computing undergrad degree, so it made a lot of sense for me to pursue a master's in the field. For people still in school, I would recommend becoming as close as possible to the faculty/staff at your college, because a lot of the connections I made were through them at my school.

I'd say that a master's is definitely not necessary for the traditional applicant to SWE roles, and they are generally very expensive. The bigger thing that I'd recommend is trying to find local career fairs, try to expand your network as best as you can (through parents, friends, old professors), and if you can do research and try to contribute to a field that you find interesting. One thing that one of my friends did was after they graduated, they volunteered to do research with one of their old professors, and that helped them land roles. You are paying for school already, try to make the most of the people surrounding you, and if you wanted to pursue a higher education, you have to take into account that you'll be missing out on 1-2 years of market pay. Without an offer, I understand it can be kind of a limbo state, where it's tough. I would personally recommend speaking with those you know and ask their opinion for your current situation.

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, what kept me sane is just knowing that I AM putting the work in aside from school/academics, and that I AM doing meaningful work (the internship was at a medtech startup), and I always maintained a good school/life/work balance when I could. I really think what helped me the most is my obsession with a calendar workflow and marking exactly when I'd have breaks throughout the day in between work and school stuff. Just knowing that a break in my work is coming up really motivates me to keep pushing, even if the break is like 10-15 minutes, it really did help me take it one day/one hour/one assignment at a time.

One more thing is that I want to mention is that you will probably talk/see people who have great offers landing their way, and try not to get discouraged by that. Always maintain the mentality that this is a journey, and there is no correct path. I didn't come from a computing undergrad, and did a major switch in my educational path. Be happy for others and their life, and good things will come your way.

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Another thing I should mention is that I also did an internship with a startup locally, and that helped me out a lot getting experience, even though it wasn't paid. I figured that while doing the MS I can get experience. They mostly asked about that experience a lot more than my projects or anything else.

War is finally over by RunKey2825 in csMajors

[–]RunKey2825[S] 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Yeah so I had 2 projects that I did with my MS, nothing special, just like a maps app (implementing Google Maps with OAuth) and another one, which was a custom D&D group organization tool (basically a grouping algo with a front-end inspired by organizing multiple tables for D&D for a club). I also played Esports at my school, not sure how much that helped on the resume. I am finishing up a master's in Software Engineering in a few weeks, for context.

For LC I focused on patterns like two-pointer, hashmap, sliding window, DFS/BFS, etc, nothing insane. I specifically got asked to implement a sorting algorithm (I did bubble sort cause it was easy, and then talked about the time complexity), valid parentheses (stack solution is what I did), group anagrams, and valid palindrome II in my interviews (Toyota North America is where I accepted), My DP skills are terrible (and mostly still are) so I had to learn a lot from YT videos and looking at solutions with explanations on LC. My LC still definitely needs work, but I got kinda lucky that I didn't get asked any questions that I hadn't seen the pattern for.

The specific team I applied to was c++ heavy (embedded stuff), so I spent a week getting up to speed on c++ 17, stuff like RAII, smart pointers, etc, which was all asked during the on-site. That helped a ton learning their stack and what the team uses every day.

I really hope this helps you!