👩🏻🎓 Tips and Advice for Computer Science Students
You got this!
Note: This is a transcript for the above video
Hi friends, I’m Magdeline, and I hope you’re doing well. I major in Computer Science at the University of Otago and I just finished my degree. If you are considering studying Computer Science in uni or are currently studying it, then here’s some advice for you.
1. Learn new skills by doing projects
Rather than learning a new language through just online courses, it is actually more effective to do so by concurrently doing a project and going through an online course.
If you were to just learn it through a course, you are passively feeding yourself the information. But if you were to do a project, you have to actively think and source out other supplementary material to help you.
Plus, you get a project to add to your portfolio.
2. Build up your portfolio
What you learn in CS is very theoretical, so you should have a portfolio of tech projects that you have done in your own time outside of uni.
Try to have projects that showcase a range of skills such as design, frontend, backend, and architecture.
It’s also good to use a range of tech stacks like different languages, frameworks, and libraries. If you know what companies you want to apply for, try to do a project with their tech stack.
In some cases, having a strong portfolio is even better than having excellent grades because it shows what you can actually do.
It’s very important and you can start it from as early as year one.
3. Make a GitHub account
Having a GitHub account is pretty much a must if you want to apply for technical roles.
Check out my video on how to level up your GitHub profile.
It is a great place to showcase your portfolio of tech projects.
You can even make your own website and host it on GitHub using GitHub pages.
There are also a lot of amazing public repositories on there with helpful information that you can check out.
4. Practise your problem solving skills
As I mentioned in my previous video which was about what I wish I knew before studying CS, problem solving is a skill that can be learnt.
Often, when you apply for internships or jobs, you will need to do a coding test. The test usually covers things like data structures and algorithms, databases, networking, and CS fundamentals.
I’ve learnt from experience that simply relying on labs and assignments will not really train your skills, so you do need to practise in your own time.
Some great resources are LeetCode, HackerRank, and Cracking the Coding Interview.
5. Apply for internships
Internships are a great way to get work experience, learn new skills, and get paid at the same time.
If you’re not sure what you want to do after graduation, you could always do internships in different areas eg frontend, backend, devops, product etc.
Also, sometimes you could get a return offer for a graduate role if you performed well in your internship.
In New Zealand, some programs to look into are Summer of Tech, Microsoft Student Accelerator, and JOBDUN.
6. Join clubs and hackathons
If your uni has any tech-related clubs, be sure to join them.
You get to meet other people in the same field as you, and these clubs usually have a lot of career-related events. Some clubs might even be sponsored by certain companies.
I’m biased when I say this because I used to be part of the committee, but if you’re at Otago Uni, check out OCSS and Comp Girls Otago. If you’re in Auckland Uni, check out DEVS. I’m not affiliated with this club in any way and they didn’t make me say this, but I’m always so impressed with the events that they offer. I even managed to attend a few myself online when we were in lockdown. You can also check out their events here.
Hackathons are another good thing to join because you get to practise working in a team, learn new skills, and add a project to your portfolio.
7. Do past papers
I’ve found that the most effective way to prepare for an exam is by doing lots of past year papers.
Unlike high school where the exams are usually written by an external examination board like NZQA, in uni, your lecturers are the ones who write your exams.
They know what will be in the exam and they don’t want to fail you.
Doing lots of past papers will give you an idea of how the exam will be like and often times, questions are reused.
8. Get help when you are stuck
If you feel like you have worked at a problem or bug for long enough and can’t figure it out, be sure to seek help.
You could ask your lecturer, discuss with your classmates, and Google your problem. If you get a bug, you could even just copy and paste the bug into the search field.