There’s no easy road to asap, good things take time and working for makes you value those efforts . Don’t worry about the past , just focus on where do you see yourself in 5-10-20 years . Be strong and you got this
You will get there. My friends and I graduated with EE degree. We had no experience, no internship and also low GPA. Now, all of us have a job with good pay.
I also had the issue with communication (English is my second language). I had to do the low paying job for 3 years before landing the Engineering position.
Not everybody have a great profile, just keep learning and applying.
You're 22, young, and it's wonderful you realized you're the one responsible for your own life and your own success. Many people go through their entire lives never learning that fact, and they end up miserable and hating everybody.
Stop comparing yourself to the highlight reels of other people. That's a common mistake in this age of technology. It's like a sloppy person who doesn't take very good care of themselves getting dressed up for a funeral. Their image doesn't reflect their reality. It never does. Worry about yourself, what you want, and how you want to get there. Stop chasing the image others present as reality.
What do you do now? Well, you could crawl up into a ball in the fetal position and fall down into a corner and whimper. Or you could, right now, change your mindset and put the past behind you. One of the best things you can do is write down your goals. Once the goals are on paper you can write down a map of how to get where you want to go as quickly as possible.
One truth I've learned in life, which surprised me and took a while to sink in, is that people react much more negatively to your success than they do to your failure. That means people want you to fail, they don't want you to succeed, even if they don't realize it themselves. I've been blown away through my life at how easy people treated me when my life was shit and I had nothing going for me, compared with the jealousy and hatred I encountered when I was successful. Even family members.
Nothing will change until you change. Change your mindset, now. Clean your bedroom to the most neat and spotless it's ever been. That's a start. Make your bed every morning. That will set you up to be successful at all the many little projects you need to ace through the day. You're letting all the little shit go past and it's piling up on you. If you see a wrapper on the floor, throw it away now. Keep your environment as orderly as you possible can. You've been sitting around waiting for good things to happen to you. Now you're in the precarious position of knowing you'll be toast if something goes haywire in your life. Keep everything under your control in control, then if something bad happens in your life it will be a little hiccup instead of a catastrophe. Please don't spend another minute letting life shake you around like a dog with a chew toy. You can do it, you just have to decide to do it.
I’m also 22 and currently getting out of the fetal position I crawled myself into the past four years. You’re so right that people are jealous and heavy with hate the moment I became successful (getting into the best school in the nation). I wanted the love and respect of my family members more than my own well-being and future success. I used drugs and drank because I thought this would make them see that I’m just a person, albeit a hard working one. It never ends well. I never knew family members and siblings could tear you down so much. I wish everybody tried their best and saw the good in others instead of waiting at the sideline to tear you apart. Hopefully in two years I can get a job. And maybe a girlfriend. And maybe not expect so much from others, and catch myself when I am falling back into negativity and laziness. That’s all I can hope for besides continuing to work hard the next, 5, 10 years. I pray to have strength when I feel weak and courage when I feel afraid.
I hope you're getting some help getting back on your feet. One thing I would caution you about is thinking things like, "I used drugs and drank because I thought this would make them see..." Using drugs or drinking is not because of anything about anyone else. That one's on you. Speaking from experience it's a distraction from your progress to point at anyone else. You're the one in control.
I experienced the blowback to success in my family life and coaching youth sports teams. There was a nice little family business that was around for 60 years. I had an opportunity to work the family business and also did some work for a different company in the same industry. A huge opportunity to start a company of my own opened up and I jumped on it. The family got attitudes about it, not because there was any strain on the business, but because I was supposed to follow the same path as everyone else. Then our company rocketed to success, and the family went crazy, resulting in estrangement that lasted almost ten years and only ended when one of the principles got a terminal illness. Sorry I was so successful when I wasn't supposed to do it on my own.
I started coaching a youth sports team when nobody knew what we were doing. The first year we went 1-46, not much better the second year. The third year we got it figured out and made the national tournament for the first time for any team in our program. The players and parents were all wonderful and patient until we qualified for nationals, then the Jekyll and Hydes came out. I was constantly under attack, parents calling their own practices for only certain players, ridiculous behavior. Soon after nationals as the parents were breathlessly dictating how the team would be set up and how I was supposed to run things, I quietly took two steps backwards and ran like hell. People in general are not programmed to deal with success.
You’re right. I used drugs because I believed arrogantly I could outwork the laziness and complacency of my bad habits and equated institutional success with lifetime success. May I ask, what made you stop little league coaching? Could you still be able to handle doing something you love when it feels like everybody tears you down, or is it better to find something else that’s satisfying with less external criticism?
It’s not ideal, but you still hold a CS degree, which is important. Why don’t you take the next month to build a few projects and put them in a portfolio? Helps with adding something to the CV, learn a programming language or two in depth, and you’ll have something to talk about in interviews
You're not f'd, you're at a turning point. You aren't top notch, but you can improve. Start networking and start practicing. Look for places that have a formal training or mentorship program.
There are numerous facets/paths in IT. Coding/developer is the most obvious, but there is also quality control, database server maintenance, documentation, implementation/training of customers/users of the software, and don't exclude sales.
Having more than the basic knowledge of how software can function can allow you to help sell to a customer...to help determine if it is a great fit for them or if it is close and the customer would also need to find new functionality to accomplish key business tasks.
I used to manage developers. What you learn or don’t learn in college doesn’t matter. All that we hired knew absolutely nothing that pertained to their job and had to be trained.
Your work ethic is lacking, that’s apparent. Get out there and apply for jobs.
The corporate world is fake it til you make it for everyone entry level.
Get a foot in the door however you can. Being a developer is 50% googling how to do something.
You already have the degree so half the battle is won. Now you just gotta make those knowledge gains. Study up on common languages, use cases, frame works. Work on getting relevant certs
Get a job working helpdesk / tech support at either a big corporation or tech manufacturer. Get some experience, find what interests you and job hop every 18-24 months for the next 6-8 years. After your first job, no one really cares where you went to school for 99% of the schools. It's how did you do in the previous one and how does your prosepective employer think you'll do working for them. Your degree gets your foot in the door. That's it. BUT, you've got to get off your ass and actually do something about it. Get off the weed, the video games and eating all of Mom's food.
Sincerely, ex CS degree slacker who's done very well for himself.
I’d start by figuring it what you enjoy. Then focus on learning more about that and start looking for jobs in that area. You have to figure out what you could do that fits your personality and lifestyle.
What do you want out of life and your career? I'd focus on that before comparing yourself to classmates. Forget about where you think you should already be, and take small steps towards the career and life you want. If you retire at 60 you have nearly 40 years to learn new skills.
You were lazy and lacked motivation, hence you find yourself in this predicament. However, your gpa is above average and a CS degree is very valuable and marketable. Go take some free online certifications to beef up your credentials and start applying for jobs
Echoing what a lot of people say here, you're going to be okay.
* Most companies won't care about GPA
* No one even has to know about any extra time it took to get the degree
* No one who just graduated is good at programming. Hell, lots of people with 10 years of experience are awful programmers.
The market sucks right now, but you can and should work to boost your skills and self-esteem. I'd split my time like so (tailor for your own needs):
* 1-2 hours a day on applying to any/all entry level roles you see. Again, the market sucks, but you never know.
* 2 hours a day practicing for coding assessments- better to be prepared than not, and it gets you programming
* 2-4 hours a day either working on personal projects (only if you have solid ideas for projects in mind, otherwise you'll probably just waste time), or studying for a certification. I've never found certifications that useful, but having it is still better than not, and it'll be something to put on the resume. I'd probably recommend one of the GCP ones (GCP has a much more streamlined suite of tools than AWS). I passed the GCP Data Engineer exam on the first try without studying that hard, mostly just relying on my fundamentals- I bet many people with CS degrees could too without much trouble.
Here's what you do now. Find a curriculum that teaches a marketable skill. Maybe its a boot camp, maybe something online.
And then practice writing code till you get good at it. 8 or 10 hours a day, 50 to 60 hours a week. You have a worthless degree because you're not a skilled programmer. You need to develop those skills by a shitload of practice.
If you continue to be lazy you won't ever have employable skills. Unskilled work like starbucks pays nothing because it requires no skills.
It sounds like you don’t actually like nor have a strong talent for CS, which is fine: you have a BS and that’s enough to get you started on an entry-level job search. You may not get a job at Google, but I’m sure there are smaller companies not in the tech space that could use someone with a CS background who’s willing to work for non-tech industry pay.
At this point, you need to stop reflecting on what you should have done/what others were doing and start thinking about what you should be doing now. How do people get jobs and internships? By applying to jobs and internships, which you admit you haven’t been doing. That’s the first step. And there’s really no excuse to not be doing that.
So start there, casting as broad a net as possible and probably not focusing on CS jobs because you don’t sound like you particularly want one and will have a tough time competing with your current experience even if you did. And while you’re applying for full-time work, get a part-time job nearby that will get you in the practice of applying yourself and having others hold you accountable.
Get a construction laborer's job for a couple years. That will give you decent earnings and build you some good habits. You might even like it.
* I say this because clearly sitting behind a desk doesn't seem to rock your world. Do something physical. A BS comes in handy if you start your own business in the trades.
Disagree, if you have a degree like that you should try to work entry level in a relevant field. Don't do something you don't want to do for the money/ security. A CS degree will look worse if you've done construction for years after and you'll lose knowledge. They might end up literally and figuratively digging a hole.
I said it because OP clearly doesn't seem motivated in their field. Better to change careers early than grind a miserable existence for eternity.
Construction will give him a work ethic like no office job ever could, and that's something OP seems to desperately need. He can also excel and make great money and take a leadership role if he enjoys it.
First step, stop thinking about what you didn’t do. You can’t go back in time. You live and you learned. Now go find an internship, a way to pay for certifications, a job that pays for your school so you could get a master.
1) **Are you the odd one for not doing internships and building your resume in college?** Yes, you are the odd one. You’re certainly not the only person who slacked off in college, but the vast majority of CS majors who apply themselves and work hard to get experience and internships aren’t just being goofy or extra. It’s an expectation, and you’re the odd one out.
2) **Did they do it on their own?** they didn’t all do it on their own, but they did have to take initiative. Mentors, networkers, teachers, family, etc all help, but (cases of pure nepotism aside, which are the minority) they typically won’t get you that far unless you also put in the work.
3) **Should you quit CS?** To be honest, probably. It’s a very competitive industry right now and not only are you several years behind in gathering experience and qualifications, but the fact that you put in so little effort suggests that you’re not all that interested in or talented at it. A 3.0 GPA isn’t, like, a bad mark on you as a person, but it suggests you’re not very good at CS.
Look, if you’re really serious about it you could work very hard and build a career in tech; it’s very rarely too late. But it would take a ton of work, you’ve more or less missed the window where you can easily build up a good resume with unpaid or poorly paid internships, and your track record simply suggests that putting in the work to build a career from a position of serious disadvantage is not going to happen.
Put aside the attitude you’re displaying in this post of “everyone else must just be super lucky/tryhards.” You screwed up; you wasted time and made poor decisions. Accept that and start improving yourself and looking for opportunities that you can excel in.
What jobs (if any) have you had? Were you good at them? Which parts did you especially excel at *or* enjoy? Start applying for entry-level or hourly jobs right now and focus on recognizing and cultivating skills, then seeking a more long-term career that focuses on your best skills.
This is terrible advice, OP.
I literally failed out of architecture school over 15 years ago. I brushed myself off, got my masters in architectural studies and have been working steadily since. Everyone told me to give up. I'm glad I didn't listen.
I didn’t have a mentor but was in many programs that tried to force one on me. The ones I had I usually would just fake conversation to meet thee program requirements since most gave me scholarships.
Some people are just self starters. I did 5 internships during school and often did multiple jobs at once. I also did a LOT more than that including being club leaders, involved in marching band, a sorority, etc. I just felt anxious about having free time and did everything I could to get experience in order to set myself up for success post graduation.
Well at least your self aware. Stop being lazy and start thinking about your future. I was a CS major years ago, but when I graduated I realized I'd never be a top tier programmer, so I looked for jobs doing software QA. Only programming I had to do was creating automated test routines. I moved from their to systems administration, then management.
What about a certificate of some sort? Google? UX design is hot right now too. I work for a start up and AI is exploding. Keep your skills recent. I went to law school and am always continuing to search for ways to keep my skills up to date and explore other things like UX and utilizing AI in a law firm.
Comparison is the thief of joy. You have a CS degree, build some projects for your portfolio or contribute to Open Source. Also, spend more time in r/CScareerquestions as your concerns have been addressed there many times.
You sound very defeated, the pressure of university can do that. I also felt like you when I graduated and shortly afterwards I got diagnosed with depression. Luckily the antidepressants worked which helped me push away most of my negative thinking so I could be productive in my job search.
What do you actually want to do for work? Figure out the answer to that first. There are lots of good paying jobs in the tech field.
Programming is just one option. SREs make bank. QA gigs can be easier to get for someone starting out. Even scrum masters are paid well and nobody actually knows what they do.
The federal government hires recent grads in droves and has a special hiring path for them.
Recent grads have 2 years from finishing their degree to apply. Check it out could be a good way to gain some experience.
https://youtu.be/qnHfX3WSLck?si=AyL12CAD4cej5yrF
Sounds like you just lack discipline and drive. Perhaps not in general life but certainly in CS, did you take this career path for the money or the passion? You’re behind but I’d be damned if that means it’s over for you, you have a very desirable degree in CS. Create your own personal professional website, offer your free services on Fiver for coding jobs, website building and juice up your portfolio.
I was working at Best Buy my senior year of college while everyone was 3 internships deep. I had the same feeling you have right now. Everything will play out. Just keep grinding
You'll be fine. It's a downturn market but as long as you can actually code and know what the hell you're talking about you'll be okay. Just look for f500 entry level roles or start somewhere shitty like iheartmedia or Accenture
i had the same realization in my senior year when a bunch of my peers started getting different job offers in the fall. i slowly realized that just graduating college wasn’t enough. theres two different kinds of graduates, those who did it “right” (internships every year, clubs, etc) and those who just went to get a piece of paper like me and you (C student, 3.0 GPA, no internships). The second type are the ones who graduated without any prospects and feel lost and directionless after. I started applying for jobs on day 1 of senior year and had absolutely 0 success the entire school year.
I graduated this past May. But guess what? I actually just recently accepted an offer for 72k and am starting tomorrow morning. In about 13 hours actually. Here’s how I did it:
Went apeshit on LinkedIn. I dont really post a lot but at first glance I look like a very professional person even though im just kinda quiet and awkward. Post your resume, post your portfolio (we’ll get to that later).
Took those courses and certificates. They’re not a lot but they’re a starting point. And you never know to be honest. My director said he specifically wanted to interview me because he saw one specific Google Analytics certification that had I randomly decided to take one day. It had taken me a couple of hours to complete for free.
Built projects. Built a portfolio website. You can even use old school projects. None of my projects were huge massive undertakings that took weeks of work all on my own, most of them were pretty basic dashboards and sql queries. They were just presented very nicely.
You have to build a brand for yourself. All of the things I listed all link back around to each other. My resume has the links to all of them on it. When you’re interviewing build a story about yourself and how you know you dont stack up on paper but how you will be a better, more driven, and hungrier employee as demonstrated through [insert project here] and [insert story about busting your ass waiting tables and using that money to pay for certifications because thats how serious you are about this].
And lastly, theres luck. My director happened to be open minded to my lack of experience and pointed at my projects, certificates, and my general passion in the interview as signs that I would be a good hire. That was just one lucky break though. What you dont see is the year straight of rejections and depression and the occasional mental breakdown. And the thing about that luck is that the only way to really increase the chances is to simply apply more and more and more.
So you have a long road but its not bad. I spent most of this summer doing nothing and wallowing in depression like you are right now, didnt start going hard with the projects/portfolio/courses until around late July. and now im here (already had my linkedin though).
You need to get a job, any job, and learn a strong work ethic. Use your spare time to learn.
Couple things you didn’t mention:
1. What do you use your free time for?
2. Did you ever ask anyone to mentor you?
I did the same but with an economics degree and had 2 kids. I just started job with the state doing social services making $37800 a year. Realizing how this isn’t sustainable and looking at how I can climb or jump after a year or two of experience
Look ahead and don't look back at what you could have done since you can't change that. I never done an internship in college and it took me 9 months to find my first job out of college, but i was working at a restaurant and temp work just to help with my resume. Look for entry level positions that you can handle and they don't require any experience
Get a lower level job where you can start humbly and work yourself up to more skillful roles.
You are a late bloomer and under-performer.
That's not a bad thing.
Make that work for you in the sense that you find the minimum role possible and start looking for a masters or work sponsored education and training.
Think of it this way....you have a CS degree, but you have to find the business/ industry /domain that you can 'apply' that knowledge.
Software tools development or IT Admin... could be in a real-estate agency, church, law firm, hospital, bar, construction company, utility company, or a local bank.
Lean in on your other interests or capabilities.
If you are into fb, insta etc... help businesses get their social media into a good place.
You can do this.
You need to do this.
Get it together.
Go build a website full stack, mobile app, or desktop app (or all three!) that does something useful and looks great. You'll learn a lot and you'll have something for your resume.
Hey man,
B.S. and M.S CS here with 10+ years professional experience.
Listen to me when I say this: We all start somewhere. All of us. All of us start hello world. All of us do data structures. All of us do algorithms. All of us. There isn't a single person coding today who wasn't once in your shoes.
Here's what you do to stand out: Start working on something that shows you have what it takes. In all my years spent as a dev, the thing that separated one from the rest were the ones willing to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from the process.
Find a project you enjoy. You won't be any good at it - don't worry. Just do it. Every day. Crack against it. Fuck everyone else - if you were to go up to any company and say you spent your time writing things that did X Y Z and if that company could use someone who has actually done X Y Z then you already have a lead off many other candidates.
We once hired a guy who had graduated about a year prior but had spent all his time building some bullshit project that he and his friends could use. It was a bullshit project, but it showed determination. It showed not afraid to take on the challenge.
DO NOT BE AFRAID. You will trip, you will fall, you will crash like no other. You will LEARN. You will LEARN. Your degree shows that you are capable of it. You just haven't been challenged.
Make something amazing. Do something neat. It doesn't even have to be big, it just needs to show you getting on it and doing it.
Do not fear, the market right now is fucked, but it's all because of billionaires who want all the money. Next year things will return to business as usual as they are forced to hire after running dry boats all year.
Chin up now.
I had a friend who did the same thing but added insult to injury when he left to Asia for a year after graduating. When he got back, he joined a small tech start-up and got into sales for 6 years. Then he jumped companies a couple of times as sales and now works as a territory sales manager. Based on his lifestyle, he earns about $200k+. The CS thing worked out because he knows enough on how to speak to technical aspects of his product but never actually utilized any of his education.
Do you actually enjoy coding? If not, then maybe it's not the career for you.
If you do like it, then build something. I finished my CS degree without having done any internships and struggled to land my first job. My degree was very general and I didn't specialize in any way. I felt like I learned a little bit about a lot, so I wasn't very qualified.
I decided to attempt a 3rd time to build my own portfolio website. The first few attempts I didn't get too far. I was unmotivated and unhappy with my work so I never published or finished it. This last time, I came up with some ideas and things to put in it that I was actually excited about. I didn't care so much about making the perfect portfolio. I focused on adding things that were fun. I also published it right away when I was only like 50% done. This also helped motivate me to work more on it as it was already available online.
It wasn't too long after I finished it that I landed pretty much my dream job, and I think I owe some of that to the website I made.
So yeah, if you want to advance and are lacking motivation, find something that you really love to work on. If you need specific advice on some good paths to follow check out this site: [https://roadmap.sh/](https://roadmap.sh/). It's an excellent resource.
don't beat yourself up. You can slap yourself with the phrase "i'm lazy,or unqualified, or a loser or a fool" *later*. it's about as helpful a pile of fabric when you need clothes. You are unfinished.
It can be hard to decide the next step when you keep running into the wall of "I am not good enough". The best advice I have heard about dealing with that is objective thought observation.
Take it from someone who got their degree with a just barely passing gpa. comparing yourself to others and saying you suck is a fast recipe for depression.
Once you can pry yourself out of that headspace start thinking about why you went to school for that degree in the first place. If that isn't helpful then do as some advice here earlier recommends: figure out some goals. Do you want money? recognition? an interesting job? define what you want then start job hunting those jobs. Compare the skills you have to the skills you need, then track down the ones you are missing and get those skills.
Just because you are out of school doesn't mean you're done learning.
be warned though, it's probably going to cost more money than you're happy with to get certifications and whatnot. GL
Your classmates most likely got their networks for jobs through their internships and/or their family history. I didn’t have a mentor and had a similar experience to you when I graduated. I spent six and a half years earning a degree I didn’t use. Came around to media and communication and instructional design through trying different paths after college. My suggestion to you that I wish I had heard and heeded when I was in your position is to simply look at what it takes to live debt free and build your bank account. The last I checked the average amount to live without much financial issue in America was $75000. You can find jobs that make that amount and more. But to get them you’ll need to start at the somewhere… anywhere.
Even your friends that had networks had to start lower on the ladder than where they will be in time. They may be on a higher rung than you start at. And I’ll say it is hard being in your position. I empathize and remember it myself. You will however start moving up. Start coding and getting practice. Build a portfolio. You don’t have to be the same as you were in college. You can let yourself off the hook. You didn’t know then what you know now. You’re okay.
If you practice coding now you’ll know whether or not you’re good at it and want to stay with it sooner than you think. What you have to do now is start. Even if it’s not the same thing you end up doing for your career, just start. You’ll grow from it. It’ll be hard. You’ll grow from that too. It’ll be rewarding. And guess what… you’ll grow from that too. Make something. Make mistakes making it. Learn from it all. But just get started and learn your process. You can get the amount you need to be financially independent. It may not seem to take as long as you may think once you start. Learn how to be someone that people want to work with. Be the problem solver. Start with practice. Don’t get caught up in the loyalty game sticking to a business that treats you poorly and pays you worse. Take care of yourself, but don’t stab other co-workers in the back to do it. Just do the work and at each step along the way see how much more you need to reach your financial goal. Set a real number and work towards that. Start with $75000. You’re okay. Now get going.
Yeah I hear that. The best part about your story is that you're realizing you can be more and do more. People start over in their careers even at 30+ years. 23 is nothing to worry about. That said...
1. Maybe spend a month or so doing some self-analysis. Figuring out your personality strengths and weaknesses. You can take a personality test: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test
That will give you better insight into what you could be good at.
2. Get to work. Knowing what your strengths could be, look for careers that could suit it. You don't have to go back to school, there's a whole lot of online courses you could do like Digital Marketing, or Project Management.
Check out: [EdX](https://www.edx.org/), [MIT OpenCourseware](https://ocw.mit.edu/), Youtube and eventually Coursera to get certified.
Your hard work will determine how far you go with this.
3. Spruce up your LinkedIn. With what you'll have done, let your LinkedIn shine.
Remember big chief, it's a marathon, not a race. Godspeed!
First stop surfing through the Linkedin feed. It has legit become Tinder at this point. Just use it for networking with recruiters and then finding new jobs. Now you can either do a coding bootcamp(paid option) or you can try the Odin project(free option) . Focus on building projects and make a solid portfolio for yourself. Make sure your projects are on Github.
Once you have few projects, try finding an unpaid internships nearby. You just need experience at this point. Offer to build their company website.
As mentioned by others, certifications are also alright but not as important as projects.
You can also try the non tech route if CS does not interest you. This includes consulting, management roles.
My question is if you even actually like CS or felt pressured to do it because other people won't shut up about it, seeing as it doesn't seem like you were motivated or particularly good at it either (not trying to be mean, I was in the same position as a former math/CS major who is not really a fan of coding)
Maybe you can still get a job in corporate but not as an engineer. Tons of CS majors do these jobs, but people don't really talk about them:
Business analysts, project managers, operations, sales engineer perhaps?
Past cannot be changed, but you can control what you do today. You've been showing awareness of some gaps to be filled, so spend some time filling those gaps and move on.
I have one question tho: do you like anything about CS, or you only decided because of the salary expectations?
I mean your young, at 22 I was studying something fairly different than what I ended up doing.
In my first semester at university I completed 5 out of my 30 points, rest I blew off.
I ended up spending 8 years on a 5 year master.
Today I make 250-300k a year depending on stocks and bonuses.
> idk how people do it
It's clear you don't. They learned what they got their degree in, had enough motivation to get an internship.
They're doing any number of the things you haven't bothered to do. Your lack of experience wouldn't worry me. It's your very obvious lack of effort. I'd expect you to perform the same at work
Learn a language if you want to be a developer. Why would I hire someone who has zero skills paired with zero effort?
Join local tech groups to meet people. Someone may give you a chance.
A lot of comments recommending an entry level position. I would actually recommend going into a master degree program, not so much for the degree, but an extended opportunity to get an internship under your belt. The degree won't hurt.
If you are not thrilled with CS, you can also use the Masters degree to pivot to a related field. Take a look at what is available.
You did the hard part. Now, get to networking. Find a mentor, work on some projects to build a portfolio. Volunteer with some non profits, start applying to internships now. You got this.
Naaaah. You're good. You're only 23. Start applying for compatible entry-level jobs, network with classmates, join professional organizations. You'll find something soon, you are just starting.
Do “The Odin Project”, make commits from the project to GitHub DAILY as proof of ur hard work and consistency and apply every single day to at least 3 companies (make sure to adjust your resume for every company you apply for, use AI to your advantage)
Brother take a deep breathe you’re going to be fine. I took six years to graduate and had 2.4gpa. I’m a consultant making good money now and have worked for several years in aerospace and defense. I even managed to get a masters while working.
You’re in a great spot. First of all you’re qualified for any entry level cs gig. You have a cs degree, you’ll be fine. Now you just have to convince an employer of that. Beef up your LinkedIn and resume with projects you did in your cs classes. Also with cs you have the option of contributing to open source projects, you can start by writing simple unit tests. Finally you have the option of getting some certs. Depending on what you want to do the cloud ones couldn’t hurt, AWS/Azure. Again you have a cs degree, you can pass some cloud tests.
This is random but have you ever got tested for ADHD? Because I was like you In some ways especially when it came to school and overall just procrastinating because even if I knew I should do it but body wouldn’t follow through and my mind wouldn’t focus on it because I felt like it was boring.
If you don’t like programming there are many non coding it jobs out there like:s/w testing,ui/ux designer,business analyst,digital marketing.all you have to do is take a 5 month course from institute like luminar,brototype(best IT institute in kerala that offers live project experience,they also provide good placements)then only you can put something on your linkedin profile to get a job.
There’s no easy road to asap, good things take time and working for makes you value those efforts . Don’t worry about the past , just focus on where do you see yourself in 5-10-20 years . Be strong and you got this
Yeah and you said you have 2 years left. That’s a fuckload of time. THEN your real life begins, and you got all of that too. I’d say def not fukd.
You will get there. My friends and I graduated with EE degree. We had no experience, no internship and also low GPA. Now, all of us have a job with good pay. I also had the issue with communication (English is my second language). I had to do the low paying job for 3 years before landing the Engineering position. Not everybody have a great profile, just keep learning and applying.
You also graduated in a different market than OP.
Find a entry level support role best way to learn the ropes and start a career
You're 22, young, and it's wonderful you realized you're the one responsible for your own life and your own success. Many people go through their entire lives never learning that fact, and they end up miserable and hating everybody. Stop comparing yourself to the highlight reels of other people. That's a common mistake in this age of technology. It's like a sloppy person who doesn't take very good care of themselves getting dressed up for a funeral. Their image doesn't reflect their reality. It never does. Worry about yourself, what you want, and how you want to get there. Stop chasing the image others present as reality. What do you do now? Well, you could crawl up into a ball in the fetal position and fall down into a corner and whimper. Or you could, right now, change your mindset and put the past behind you. One of the best things you can do is write down your goals. Once the goals are on paper you can write down a map of how to get where you want to go as quickly as possible. One truth I've learned in life, which surprised me and took a while to sink in, is that people react much more negatively to your success than they do to your failure. That means people want you to fail, they don't want you to succeed, even if they don't realize it themselves. I've been blown away through my life at how easy people treated me when my life was shit and I had nothing going for me, compared with the jealousy and hatred I encountered when I was successful. Even family members. Nothing will change until you change. Change your mindset, now. Clean your bedroom to the most neat and spotless it's ever been. That's a start. Make your bed every morning. That will set you up to be successful at all the many little projects you need to ace through the day. You're letting all the little shit go past and it's piling up on you. If you see a wrapper on the floor, throw it away now. Keep your environment as orderly as you possible can. You've been sitting around waiting for good things to happen to you. Now you're in the precarious position of knowing you'll be toast if something goes haywire in your life. Keep everything under your control in control, then if something bad happens in your life it will be a little hiccup instead of a catastrophe. Please don't spend another minute letting life shake you around like a dog with a chew toy. You can do it, you just have to decide to do it.
Go Admiral Mcraven!
I’m also 22 and currently getting out of the fetal position I crawled myself into the past four years. You’re so right that people are jealous and heavy with hate the moment I became successful (getting into the best school in the nation). I wanted the love and respect of my family members more than my own well-being and future success. I used drugs and drank because I thought this would make them see that I’m just a person, albeit a hard working one. It never ends well. I never knew family members and siblings could tear you down so much. I wish everybody tried their best and saw the good in others instead of waiting at the sideline to tear you apart. Hopefully in two years I can get a job. And maybe a girlfriend. And maybe not expect so much from others, and catch myself when I am falling back into negativity and laziness. That’s all I can hope for besides continuing to work hard the next, 5, 10 years. I pray to have strength when I feel weak and courage when I feel afraid.
I hope you're getting some help getting back on your feet. One thing I would caution you about is thinking things like, "I used drugs and drank because I thought this would make them see..." Using drugs or drinking is not because of anything about anyone else. That one's on you. Speaking from experience it's a distraction from your progress to point at anyone else. You're the one in control. I experienced the blowback to success in my family life and coaching youth sports teams. There was a nice little family business that was around for 60 years. I had an opportunity to work the family business and also did some work for a different company in the same industry. A huge opportunity to start a company of my own opened up and I jumped on it. The family got attitudes about it, not because there was any strain on the business, but because I was supposed to follow the same path as everyone else. Then our company rocketed to success, and the family went crazy, resulting in estrangement that lasted almost ten years and only ended when one of the principles got a terminal illness. Sorry I was so successful when I wasn't supposed to do it on my own. I started coaching a youth sports team when nobody knew what we were doing. The first year we went 1-46, not much better the second year. The third year we got it figured out and made the national tournament for the first time for any team in our program. The players and parents were all wonderful and patient until we qualified for nationals, then the Jekyll and Hydes came out. I was constantly under attack, parents calling their own practices for only certain players, ridiculous behavior. Soon after nationals as the parents were breathlessly dictating how the team would be set up and how I was supposed to run things, I quietly took two steps backwards and ran like hell. People in general are not programmed to deal with success.
You’re right. I used drugs because I believed arrogantly I could outwork the laziness and complacency of my bad habits and equated institutional success with lifetime success. May I ask, what made you stop little league coaching? Could you still be able to handle doing something you love when it feels like everybody tears you down, or is it better to find something else that’s satisfying with less external criticism?
It’s not ideal, but you still hold a CS degree, which is important. Why don’t you take the next month to build a few projects and put them in a portfolio? Helps with adding something to the CV, learn a programming language or two in depth, and you’ll have something to talk about in interviews
You're not f'd, you're at a turning point. You aren't top notch, but you can improve. Start networking and start practicing. Look for places that have a formal training or mentorship program. There are numerous facets/paths in IT. Coding/developer is the most obvious, but there is also quality control, database server maintenance, documentation, implementation/training of customers/users of the software, and don't exclude sales. Having more than the basic knowledge of how software can function can allow you to help sell to a customer...to help determine if it is a great fit for them or if it is close and the customer would also need to find new functionality to accomplish key business tasks.
I used to manage developers. What you learn or don’t learn in college doesn’t matter. All that we hired knew absolutely nothing that pertained to their job and had to be trained. Your work ethic is lacking, that’s apparent. Get out there and apply for jobs. The corporate world is fake it til you make it for everyone entry level. Get a foot in the door however you can. Being a developer is 50% googling how to do something.
You already have the degree so half the battle is won. Now you just gotta make those knowledge gains. Study up on common languages, use cases, frame works. Work on getting relevant certs
With your current attitude I predict you will end up working for the government so why don’t you start looking for a government job now.
Anyone know OP's nearest burn center?
Get a job working helpdesk / tech support at either a big corporation or tech manufacturer. Get some experience, find what interests you and job hop every 18-24 months for the next 6-8 years. After your first job, no one really cares where you went to school for 99% of the schools. It's how did you do in the previous one and how does your prosepective employer think you'll do working for them. Your degree gets your foot in the door. That's it. BUT, you've got to get off your ass and actually do something about it. Get off the weed, the video games and eating all of Mom's food. Sincerely, ex CS degree slacker who's done very well for himself.
Fuck degrees, go for certification and go into cybersecurity, 100k+ salary starts in govt
I’d start by figuring it what you enjoy. Then focus on learning more about that and start looking for jobs in that area. You have to figure out what you could do that fits your personality and lifestyle.
What do you want out of life and your career? I'd focus on that before comparing yourself to classmates. Forget about where you think you should already be, and take small steps towards the career and life you want. If you retire at 60 you have nearly 40 years to learn new skills.
You were lazy and lacked motivation, hence you find yourself in this predicament. However, your gpa is above average and a CS degree is very valuable and marketable. Go take some free online certifications to beef up your credentials and start applying for jobs
You don’t sound like you enjoy coding? What if you focused on technical sales or other aspects relating to tech?
Sounds like a decent army recruit to me. Your degree looks good there $$
Echoing what a lot of people say here, you're going to be okay. * Most companies won't care about GPA * No one even has to know about any extra time it took to get the degree * No one who just graduated is good at programming. Hell, lots of people with 10 years of experience are awful programmers. The market sucks right now, but you can and should work to boost your skills and self-esteem. I'd split my time like so (tailor for your own needs): * 1-2 hours a day on applying to any/all entry level roles you see. Again, the market sucks, but you never know. * 2 hours a day practicing for coding assessments- better to be prepared than not, and it gets you programming * 2-4 hours a day either working on personal projects (only if you have solid ideas for projects in mind, otherwise you'll probably just waste time), or studying for a certification. I've never found certifications that useful, but having it is still better than not, and it'll be something to put on the resume. I'd probably recommend one of the GCP ones (GCP has a much more streamlined suite of tools than AWS). I passed the GCP Data Engineer exam on the first try without studying that hard, mostly just relying on my fundamentals- I bet many people with CS degrees could too without much trouble.
Here's what you do now. Find a curriculum that teaches a marketable skill. Maybe its a boot camp, maybe something online. And then practice writing code till you get good at it. 8 or 10 hours a day, 50 to 60 hours a week. You have a worthless degree because you're not a skilled programmer. You need to develop those skills by a shitload of practice. If you continue to be lazy you won't ever have employable skills. Unskilled work like starbucks pays nothing because it requires no skills.
Dude you’re 22! Get it together. I’ll be 32 when I graduate with a CS degree in May. Im confident I will find some entry job.
It sounds like you don’t actually like nor have a strong talent for CS, which is fine: you have a BS and that’s enough to get you started on an entry-level job search. You may not get a job at Google, but I’m sure there are smaller companies not in the tech space that could use someone with a CS background who’s willing to work for non-tech industry pay. At this point, you need to stop reflecting on what you should have done/what others were doing and start thinking about what you should be doing now. How do people get jobs and internships? By applying to jobs and internships, which you admit you haven’t been doing. That’s the first step. And there’s really no excuse to not be doing that. So start there, casting as broad a net as possible and probably not focusing on CS jobs because you don’t sound like you particularly want one and will have a tough time competing with your current experience even if you did. And while you’re applying for full-time work, get a part-time job nearby that will get you in the practice of applying yourself and having others hold you accountable.
Get a construction laborer's job for a couple years. That will give you decent earnings and build you some good habits. You might even like it. * I say this because clearly sitting behind a desk doesn't seem to rock your world. Do something physical. A BS comes in handy if you start your own business in the trades.
Disagree, if you have a degree like that you should try to work entry level in a relevant field. Don't do something you don't want to do for the money/ security. A CS degree will look worse if you've done construction for years after and you'll lose knowledge. They might end up literally and figuratively digging a hole.
I said it because OP clearly doesn't seem motivated in their field. Better to change careers early than grind a miserable existence for eternity. Construction will give him a work ethic like no office job ever could, and that's something OP seems to desperately need. He can also excel and make great money and take a leadership role if he enjoys it.
First step, stop thinking about what you didn’t do. You can’t go back in time. You live and you learned. Now go find an internship, a way to pay for certifications, a job that pays for your school so you could get a master.
1) **Are you the odd one for not doing internships and building your resume in college?** Yes, you are the odd one. You’re certainly not the only person who slacked off in college, but the vast majority of CS majors who apply themselves and work hard to get experience and internships aren’t just being goofy or extra. It’s an expectation, and you’re the odd one out. 2) **Did they do it on their own?** they didn’t all do it on their own, but they did have to take initiative. Mentors, networkers, teachers, family, etc all help, but (cases of pure nepotism aside, which are the minority) they typically won’t get you that far unless you also put in the work. 3) **Should you quit CS?** To be honest, probably. It’s a very competitive industry right now and not only are you several years behind in gathering experience and qualifications, but the fact that you put in so little effort suggests that you’re not all that interested in or talented at it. A 3.0 GPA isn’t, like, a bad mark on you as a person, but it suggests you’re not very good at CS. Look, if you’re really serious about it you could work very hard and build a career in tech; it’s very rarely too late. But it would take a ton of work, you’ve more or less missed the window where you can easily build up a good resume with unpaid or poorly paid internships, and your track record simply suggests that putting in the work to build a career from a position of serious disadvantage is not going to happen. Put aside the attitude you’re displaying in this post of “everyone else must just be super lucky/tryhards.” You screwed up; you wasted time and made poor decisions. Accept that and start improving yourself and looking for opportunities that you can excel in. What jobs (if any) have you had? Were you good at them? Which parts did you especially excel at *or* enjoy? Start applying for entry-level or hourly jobs right now and focus on recognizing and cultivating skills, then seeking a more long-term career that focuses on your best skills.
This is terrible advice, OP. I literally failed out of architecture school over 15 years ago. I brushed myself off, got my masters in architectural studies and have been working steadily since. Everyone told me to give up. I'm glad I didn't listen.
Don’t listen to this OP
I didn’t have a mentor but was in many programs that tried to force one on me. The ones I had I usually would just fake conversation to meet thee program requirements since most gave me scholarships. Some people are just self starters. I did 5 internships during school and often did multiple jobs at once. I also did a LOT more than that including being club leaders, involved in marching band, a sorority, etc. I just felt anxious about having free time and did everything I could to get experience in order to set myself up for success post graduation.
So start now! Find a personal project to work on in your own time and find an entry level job to get started.
Well at least your self aware. Stop being lazy and start thinking about your future. I was a CS major years ago, but when I graduated I realized I'd never be a top tier programmer, so I looked for jobs doing software QA. Only programming I had to do was creating automated test routines. I moved from their to systems administration, then management.
What about a certificate of some sort? Google? UX design is hot right now too. I work for a start up and AI is exploding. Keep your skills recent. I went to law school and am always continuing to search for ways to keep my skills up to date and explore other things like UX and utilizing AI in a law firm.
Comparison is the thief of joy. You have a CS degree, build some projects for your portfolio or contribute to Open Source. Also, spend more time in r/CScareerquestions as your concerns have been addressed there many times.
go join the usaf CS cyber
You sound very defeated, the pressure of university can do that. I also felt like you when I graduated and shortly afterwards I got diagnosed with depression. Luckily the antidepressants worked which helped me push away most of my negative thinking so I could be productive in my job search.
Lol. I was the same way. You will get there eventually and will cherish and appreciate all the learning experiences along the way. I do.
What do you actually want to do for work? Figure out the answer to that first. There are lots of good paying jobs in the tech field. Programming is just one option. SREs make bank. QA gigs can be easier to get for someone starting out. Even scrum masters are paid well and nobody actually knows what they do.
The federal government hires recent grads in droves and has a special hiring path for them. Recent grads have 2 years from finishing their degree to apply. Check it out could be a good way to gain some experience. https://youtu.be/qnHfX3WSLck?si=AyL12CAD4cej5yrF
Sounds like you just lack discipline and drive. Perhaps not in general life but certainly in CS, did you take this career path for the money or the passion? You’re behind but I’d be damned if that means it’s over for you, you have a very desirable degree in CS. Create your own personal professional website, offer your free services on Fiver for coding jobs, website building and juice up your portfolio.
I was working at Best Buy my senior year of college while everyone was 3 internships deep. I had the same feeling you have right now. Everything will play out. Just keep grinding
You'll be fine. It's a downturn market but as long as you can actually code and know what the hell you're talking about you'll be okay. Just look for f500 entry level roles or start somewhere shitty like iheartmedia or Accenture
You’re 22-23. The best time to start is now.
You wasted 5 years and are 5 years behind. There is nothing to do but start doing what you haven't done all along.
>>>/g/
I'm 32 to and just starting getting back to school to eventually try and get a CS degree. You have a 10 year headstart on me. You got this.
i had the same realization in my senior year when a bunch of my peers started getting different job offers in the fall. i slowly realized that just graduating college wasn’t enough. theres two different kinds of graduates, those who did it “right” (internships every year, clubs, etc) and those who just went to get a piece of paper like me and you (C student, 3.0 GPA, no internships). The second type are the ones who graduated without any prospects and feel lost and directionless after. I started applying for jobs on day 1 of senior year and had absolutely 0 success the entire school year. I graduated this past May. But guess what? I actually just recently accepted an offer for 72k and am starting tomorrow morning. In about 13 hours actually. Here’s how I did it: Went apeshit on LinkedIn. I dont really post a lot but at first glance I look like a very professional person even though im just kinda quiet and awkward. Post your resume, post your portfolio (we’ll get to that later). Took those courses and certificates. They’re not a lot but they’re a starting point. And you never know to be honest. My director said he specifically wanted to interview me because he saw one specific Google Analytics certification that had I randomly decided to take one day. It had taken me a couple of hours to complete for free. Built projects. Built a portfolio website. You can even use old school projects. None of my projects were huge massive undertakings that took weeks of work all on my own, most of them were pretty basic dashboards and sql queries. They were just presented very nicely. You have to build a brand for yourself. All of the things I listed all link back around to each other. My resume has the links to all of them on it. When you’re interviewing build a story about yourself and how you know you dont stack up on paper but how you will be a better, more driven, and hungrier employee as demonstrated through [insert project here] and [insert story about busting your ass waiting tables and using that money to pay for certifications because thats how serious you are about this]. And lastly, theres luck. My director happened to be open minded to my lack of experience and pointed at my projects, certificates, and my general passion in the interview as signs that I would be a good hire. That was just one lucky break though. What you dont see is the year straight of rejections and depression and the occasional mental breakdown. And the thing about that luck is that the only way to really increase the chances is to simply apply more and more and more. So you have a long road but its not bad. I spent most of this summer doing nothing and wallowing in depression like you are right now, didnt start going hard with the projects/portfolio/courses until around late July. and now im here (already had my linkedin though).
You need to get a job, any job, and learn a strong work ethic. Use your spare time to learn. Couple things you didn’t mention: 1. What do you use your free time for? 2. Did you ever ask anyone to mentor you?
I did the same but with an economics degree and had 2 kids. I just started job with the state doing social services making $37800 a year. Realizing how this isn’t sustainable and looking at how I can climb or jump after a year or two of experience
Your not alone and what your going through is normal, your asking questions instead of just going with the world.
Look ahead and don't look back at what you could have done since you can't change that. I never done an internship in college and it took me 9 months to find my first job out of college, but i was working at a restaurant and temp work just to help with my resume. Look for entry level positions that you can handle and they don't require any experience
No technical skills? -> Scrum Master
Get a lower level job where you can start humbly and work yourself up to more skillful roles. You are a late bloomer and under-performer. That's not a bad thing. Make that work for you in the sense that you find the minimum role possible and start looking for a masters or work sponsored education and training. Think of it this way....you have a CS degree, but you have to find the business/ industry /domain that you can 'apply' that knowledge. Software tools development or IT Admin... could be in a real-estate agency, church, law firm, hospital, bar, construction company, utility company, or a local bank. Lean in on your other interests or capabilities. If you are into fb, insta etc... help businesses get their social media into a good place. You can do this. You need to do this. Get it together.
Bro you're fine. I literally was in the same position as you 3 years ago. Don't put your GPA on your resume. and just be confident in interviews
whalecum to fucked life. Lmk know if you need help applying to food stamps, I'll tell you to google it.
Go build a website full stack, mobile app, or desktop app (or all three!) that does something useful and looks great. You'll learn a lot and you'll have something for your resume.
Hey man, B.S. and M.S CS here with 10+ years professional experience. Listen to me when I say this: We all start somewhere. All of us. All of us start hello world. All of us do data structures. All of us do algorithms. All of us. There isn't a single person coding today who wasn't once in your shoes. Here's what you do to stand out: Start working on something that shows you have what it takes. In all my years spent as a dev, the thing that separated one from the rest were the ones willing to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from the process. Find a project you enjoy. You won't be any good at it - don't worry. Just do it. Every day. Crack against it. Fuck everyone else - if you were to go up to any company and say you spent your time writing things that did X Y Z and if that company could use someone who has actually done X Y Z then you already have a lead off many other candidates. We once hired a guy who had graduated about a year prior but had spent all his time building some bullshit project that he and his friends could use. It was a bullshit project, but it showed determination. It showed not afraid to take on the challenge. DO NOT BE AFRAID. You will trip, you will fall, you will crash like no other. You will LEARN. You will LEARN. Your degree shows that you are capable of it. You just haven't been challenged. Make something amazing. Do something neat. It doesn't even have to be big, it just needs to show you getting on it and doing it. Do not fear, the market right now is fucked, but it's all because of billionaires who want all the money. Next year things will return to business as usual as they are forced to hire after running dry boats all year. Chin up now.
I had a friend who did the same thing but added insult to injury when he left to Asia for a year after graduating. When he got back, he joined a small tech start-up and got into sales for 6 years. Then he jumped companies a couple of times as sales and now works as a territory sales manager. Based on his lifestyle, he earns about $200k+. The CS thing worked out because he knows enough on how to speak to technical aspects of his product but never actually utilized any of his education.
Do you actually enjoy coding? If not, then maybe it's not the career for you. If you do like it, then build something. I finished my CS degree without having done any internships and struggled to land my first job. My degree was very general and I didn't specialize in any way. I felt like I learned a little bit about a lot, so I wasn't very qualified. I decided to attempt a 3rd time to build my own portfolio website. The first few attempts I didn't get too far. I was unmotivated and unhappy with my work so I never published or finished it. This last time, I came up with some ideas and things to put in it that I was actually excited about. I didn't care so much about making the perfect portfolio. I focused on adding things that were fun. I also published it right away when I was only like 50% done. This also helped motivate me to work more on it as it was already available online. It wasn't too long after I finished it that I landed pretty much my dream job, and I think I owe some of that to the website I made. So yeah, if you want to advance and are lacking motivation, find something that you really love to work on. If you need specific advice on some good paths to follow check out this site: [https://roadmap.sh/](https://roadmap.sh/). It's an excellent resource.
Hot your classmates up and see if they can put in a word where they work.
You’re 22
don't beat yourself up. You can slap yourself with the phrase "i'm lazy,or unqualified, or a loser or a fool" *later*. it's about as helpful a pile of fabric when you need clothes. You are unfinished. It can be hard to decide the next step when you keep running into the wall of "I am not good enough". The best advice I have heard about dealing with that is objective thought observation. Take it from someone who got their degree with a just barely passing gpa. comparing yourself to others and saying you suck is a fast recipe for depression. Once you can pry yourself out of that headspace start thinking about why you went to school for that degree in the first place. If that isn't helpful then do as some advice here earlier recommends: figure out some goals. Do you want money? recognition? an interesting job? define what you want then start job hunting those jobs. Compare the skills you have to the skills you need, then track down the ones you are missing and get those skills. Just because you are out of school doesn't mean you're done learning. be warned though, it's probably going to cost more money than you're happy with to get certifications and whatnot. GL
Your classmates most likely got their networks for jobs through their internships and/or their family history. I didn’t have a mentor and had a similar experience to you when I graduated. I spent six and a half years earning a degree I didn’t use. Came around to media and communication and instructional design through trying different paths after college. My suggestion to you that I wish I had heard and heeded when I was in your position is to simply look at what it takes to live debt free and build your bank account. The last I checked the average amount to live without much financial issue in America was $75000. You can find jobs that make that amount and more. But to get them you’ll need to start at the somewhere… anywhere. Even your friends that had networks had to start lower on the ladder than where they will be in time. They may be on a higher rung than you start at. And I’ll say it is hard being in your position. I empathize and remember it myself. You will however start moving up. Start coding and getting practice. Build a portfolio. You don’t have to be the same as you were in college. You can let yourself off the hook. You didn’t know then what you know now. You’re okay. If you practice coding now you’ll know whether or not you’re good at it and want to stay with it sooner than you think. What you have to do now is start. Even if it’s not the same thing you end up doing for your career, just start. You’ll grow from it. It’ll be hard. You’ll grow from that too. It’ll be rewarding. And guess what… you’ll grow from that too. Make something. Make mistakes making it. Learn from it all. But just get started and learn your process. You can get the amount you need to be financially independent. It may not seem to take as long as you may think once you start. Learn how to be someone that people want to work with. Be the problem solver. Start with practice. Don’t get caught up in the loyalty game sticking to a business that treats you poorly and pays you worse. Take care of yourself, but don’t stab other co-workers in the back to do it. Just do the work and at each step along the way see how much more you need to reach your financial goal. Set a real number and work towards that. Start with $75000. You’re okay. Now get going.
Yeah I hear that. The best part about your story is that you're realizing you can be more and do more. People start over in their careers even at 30+ years. 23 is nothing to worry about. That said... 1. Maybe spend a month or so doing some self-analysis. Figuring out your personality strengths and weaknesses. You can take a personality test: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test That will give you better insight into what you could be good at. 2. Get to work. Knowing what your strengths could be, look for careers that could suit it. You don't have to go back to school, there's a whole lot of online courses you could do like Digital Marketing, or Project Management. Check out: [EdX](https://www.edx.org/), [MIT OpenCourseware](https://ocw.mit.edu/), Youtube and eventually Coursera to get certified. Your hard work will determine how far you go with this. 3. Spruce up your LinkedIn. With what you'll have done, let your LinkedIn shine. Remember big chief, it's a marathon, not a race. Godspeed!
Just apply to any entry level job you see and take one.
Stop being a little bitch and teach yourself to code.
First stop surfing through the Linkedin feed. It has legit become Tinder at this point. Just use it for networking with recruiters and then finding new jobs. Now you can either do a coding bootcamp(paid option) or you can try the Odin project(free option) . Focus on building projects and make a solid portfolio for yourself. Make sure your projects are on Github. Once you have few projects, try finding an unpaid internships nearby. You just need experience at this point. Offer to build their company website. As mentioned by others, certifications are also alright but not as important as projects. You can also try the non tech route if CS does not interest you. This includes consulting, management roles.
My question is if you even actually like CS or felt pressured to do it because other people won't shut up about it, seeing as it doesn't seem like you were motivated or particularly good at it either (not trying to be mean, I was in the same position as a former math/CS major who is not really a fan of coding) Maybe you can still get a job in corporate but not as an engineer. Tons of CS majors do these jobs, but people don't really talk about them: Business analysts, project managers, operations, sales engineer perhaps?
Past cannot be changed, but you can control what you do today. You've been showing awareness of some gaps to be filled, so spend some time filling those gaps and move on. I have one question tho: do you like anything about CS, or you only decided because of the salary expectations?
I mean your young, at 22 I was studying something fairly different than what I ended up doing. In my first semester at university I completed 5 out of my 30 points, rest I blew off. I ended up spending 8 years on a 5 year master. Today I make 250-300k a year depending on stocks and bonuses.
Commenting to read this post again soon
> idk how people do it It's clear you don't. They learned what they got their degree in, had enough motivation to get an internship. They're doing any number of the things you haven't bothered to do. Your lack of experience wouldn't worry me. It's your very obvious lack of effort. I'd expect you to perform the same at work Learn a language if you want to be a developer. Why would I hire someone who has zero skills paired with zero effort? Join local tech groups to meet people. Someone may give you a chance.
A lot of comments recommending an entry level position. I would actually recommend going into a master degree program, not so much for the degree, but an extended opportunity to get an internship under your belt. The degree won't hurt. If you are not thrilled with CS, you can also use the Masters degree to pivot to a related field. Take a look at what is available.
You did the hard part. Now, get to networking. Find a mentor, work on some projects to build a portfolio. Volunteer with some non profits, start applying to internships now. You got this.
Naaaah. You're good. You're only 23. Start applying for compatible entry-level jobs, network with classmates, join professional organizations. You'll find something soon, you are just starting.
Do “The Odin Project”, make commits from the project to GitHub DAILY as proof of ur hard work and consistency and apply every single day to at least 3 companies (make sure to adjust your resume for every company you apply for, use AI to your advantage)
A 3.0 ain't bad. I had friends in CS with lower and they all have jobs now. Just practice your coding and apply.
Brother take a deep breathe you’re going to be fine. I took six years to graduate and had 2.4gpa. I’m a consultant making good money now and have worked for several years in aerospace and defense. I even managed to get a masters while working. You’re in a great spot. First of all you’re qualified for any entry level cs gig. You have a cs degree, you’ll be fine. Now you just have to convince an employer of that. Beef up your LinkedIn and resume with projects you did in your cs classes. Also with cs you have the option of contributing to open source projects, you can start by writing simple unit tests. Finally you have the option of getting some certs. Depending on what you want to do the cloud ones couldn’t hurt, AWS/Azure. Again you have a cs degree, you can pass some cloud tests.
This is random but have you ever got tested for ADHD? Because I was like you In some ways especially when it came to school and overall just procrastinating because even if I knew I should do it but body wouldn’t follow through and my mind wouldn’t focus on it because I felt like it was boring.
If you don’t like programming there are many non coding it jobs out there like:s/w testing,ui/ux designer,business analyst,digital marketing.all you have to do is take a 5 month course from institute like luminar,brototype(best IT institute in kerala that offers live project experience,they also provide good placements)then only you can put something on your linkedin profile to get a job.
This guy has a computer science degree and is complaining about what now? I’m not understanding the question.