Ask HN: Advice for first-year CS students?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48910082

by jassembk • 8 days ago

9 20 8 days ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm a first-year Computer Science student trying to build strong fundamentals instead of rushing through tutorials.

Looking back, what's one piece of advice you wish someone had given you during your first year?

It could be about studying, programming, projects, internships, or anything that made a real difference.

eimrine2• 8 days ago

Dvorak/touchtype.

eimrine2• 7 days ago

thanks for downvotes, hunt-and-peckers.

bjourne• 8 days ago

PARTY!!!!!!!!!!

tdkx212• 8 days ago

party for what?

yogibear678142• 8 days ago

Yea brah. If AI take over the jobs u gonna be pissed you wasted all u time learning when you could have PARTAYED.

tdkx212• 8 days ago

Check this quora for help: https://www.quora.com/Im-a-computer-science-student-what-adv...

leros2• 8 days ago

Have a well rounded college experience. Make friends, join clubs, do extra-curriculars, etc. Your ability to socialize and work in groups is as equal, if not more important, to your career success as your coding skills.

gradschool• 8 days ago

Learning stuff can be done on your own any time. The best use of your time in college is to cultivate professional contacts. Keep an eye out for professors who appear to be in charge of research projects with outside funding and volunteer to help out by doing whatever nobody wants to do, even if it's unpaid and even if it cuts into your study time. Be the first person that comes to mind when the professor's high flying industry friends tell him they wish they could find some bright highly motivated intern. If you don't think you need to try this hard this soon to find a job I hope you're independently wealthy.

uikeyneeraj2001• 8 days ago

find best open source project based on your loved language and do start contributing in it. And try to crack GSOC.

skyberrys• 8 days ago

A teaching assistant recommended I find monthly presentations or department events to attend (can be slightly broader than just CS, think Physics dept, Electrical Engineering, Mech Engineering) and from attending those events I found a lab to hire me as an undergrad assistant.

Eventually that had me in enough contact with grad students I decided to do grad school too on the same topic as the undergrad lab assistant position. That turned into my career. I highly recommend going to small department presentations and events. Plus there is usually free food involved.

Jtsummers• 8 days ago

A teaching assistant recommended I find monthly presentations or department events to attend

Depending on your school, ACM and IEEE student organizations often put these on as well, which can be a good opportunity for networking and getting involved in regional (and other) conferences as well.

Blackstrat2• 8 days ago

Depends on your goals and much of the advice that you'll receive will revolve around maximizing the college experience. This is certainly important. However, as a hiring manager for several decades, one of the things that routinely frustrated me was a stream of candidates from very good schools that were totally ignorant of basic business practices. Most graduates will not work for FAANG companies upon graduation. They will go into industry. And yes, right now AI/vibe coding is all the rage. The issue becomes what value does one bring to the company. I've seen this play out many times over the decades. So my suggestion is to burn a couple of electives on things like accounting and business management. Learn to write well and speak well in front of any audience. When you interview with an insurance company after graduation, for example, the hiring manager isn't going to be overwhelmed with your ability to write a compiler or even necessarily your vibe coding skills. They will likely be impressed more by your presentation skills, your ability to grasp business concepts, etc. Enjoy college, but don't become so rigidly engaged with technical topics that you limit your future opportunities.

codingdave• 8 days ago

I fail to see how your past frustrations with the skills of your entry levels hires is OP's problem. OP should fulfill their own learning goals, not try to fit themselves into last century's corporate mold. If they have trouble getting hired because they need some accounting skills (unlikely, btw), they can solve that with a Coursera course or a few weeks at the local community college.

Undergrad is where you learn to learn, learn to think critically, and learn to adapt to changes in the world. Any coursework that fails to focus on those broader learning goals and just teaches vocational skills is an utter waste of their tuition money.

I'm not saying that such info is useless. I fully agree that it can be helpful. But don't burn tuition and college credits on that. Learn things in college that are more complex and require more engagement. Take yourself to a higher level of thinking, so instead of worrying about how some future interview at an insurance company would go, you never even have to step on the path that would make you want an interview at an insurance company in the first place.

Blackstrat2• 7 days ago

Apparently, you missed my opening statement. It depends on the OP's goals. But, by no means is my advice "last century". Many here approach their careers as if FAANG and technology was all there is. It's not. Tuition is unquestionably an issue. Nonetheless, it should be viewed as an investment. And no, Coursa is generally not an adequate substitute for an actual education. It's a way to familiarize oneself with a topic but by no means is it comparable to the typical university treatment. It's fine to believe that "it's different this time or today". It's not. History has shown repeatedly that it repeats. And contrary to what many think and hype, the current "AI" trends are not going to replace the need for human thinking. And if you believe it is, then why go to college at all?

sn9• 8 days ago

Read Cal Newport's books on study habits.

Learn to use Anki to leverage spaced repetition to intentionally put things into your long term memory. This step comes after understanding though.

Don't rely on AI to do anything you don't know how to do yourself. (You can use it to learn, but then make sure you independently verify and internalize the information.)

Use Math Academy to learn math ahead of time. Then take as much math as you can.

Use pen and paper to do your thinking and problem solving before writing a line of code.

ex-aws-dude• 8 days ago

Personally I regretted grinding so much for high grades

Once you're in the industry no one cares about that and I found in practice people with lower grades than me still ended up at the same or better companies

In retrospect it would have been better to put that time into side projects, interview prep, clubs, socializing

Obviously you don't want "bad grades" but I think there is diminishing returns after a certain point

leros2• 7 days ago

I regret grinding on classes so much too.

In grad school, I was allowed to make one B. Any more and I couldn't graduate. Once I had one class left and made all As, I decided I'd be lazy and get a B. I worked 50% less and still made an A. It made me realize how much extra I had been working for marginal improvements.

laurieg• 8 days ago

Study a reasonable amount. Make good flashcards[1] and incorporate memorization into your routine.

Try things out. Literally anything. Sports, music, arts, tech. It is so much easier to try out a wide range of things in college.

Find time to reflect. No one here can give you a blueprint for a good life so take some time to think about all the things you are doing, your studies, the company you keep and if these align with your values.

Actually do things. Lots of people sit around talking about their big ideas. Only a small fraction actually do something. It's much easier to poke holes and criticize what other people have done and much harder to stick your neck out and do something.

[1] https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/

brudgers• 8 days ago

Who you know matters more than what you know.

Network.

It is better to be liked than smart.

Be a good hang.

Good luck.

rekabis• 7 days ago

what's one piece of advice you wish someone had given you during your first year?

Cross-train in another field. Literally anything outside of CS.

Employers are doubling down on not hiring juniors, especially GenZ, despite the AI pullback. Even four years from now, you will likely be entering the worst job market that the CS field has ever had for new entrants.

My condolences, but that’s how things are. It sucks and it’s moronic but employers can’t handle people who are resistant to abuse and exploitation.

Ask HN: Advice for first-year CS students?

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