How to Prepare for a Career in Computer Science After College
If you’re interested in a career in computer science or technology after college, good for you! These careers are often highly paid and very sought after because not just anyone can do them. In order to make yourself attractive to the best employers, here are a few ways to prepare in college for your career after college
Figure Out What You’re Good At
If you like computer science, the course of study has many applications. Because you might not know exactly what you’ll want to do after college, it’s better to focus on what it is that you’re good at when deciding where to focus your energy. If you’re a math whiz and great at flow-charts, maybe you should focus on programming and engineering. If you just love management, perhaps focusing on information systems is the place for you to be while also getting a minor in business.
Study Math
There’s no way around it, you’ll need to learn math for a career in computer science. Programming and engineering require it heavily, and any other specialization will probably necessitate at the very least literacy in it. If this isn’t in your top skill set, think about extra tutoring or a study group to help you bone up.
Start Programming Now
If you’re not in college yet, start learning how to code. There are many, many coding languages to learn, so you might as well start picking up what you can when you can. Whether it’s Java, HTML or C++, you will absolutely be doing yourself a huge favor by learning these languages online or from friends before you get to school. If you’re going to be a computer science major at Claremont College and they don’t teach a certain programming language, pick it up on your own. You’re only going to make yourself look good to different employers the more versatile you are.
Keep Up With Trends
If you want a good career in computer science after college, start becoming aware of what’s happening in the technology field now. If you keep up with what’s being developed and discovered, you’ll be more prepared to sell yourself to potential employers. Or you could simply know which ones to aim yourself at in the future. Knowing a market by keeping up with blogs and important figures is key to working in any field, especially the ever-changing field of technology. Incidentally, if you start finding yourself uninterested in learning about anything in regards to technology, it might be a time to switch majors. If your school is willing to let you switch, you could find out more about their communications classes or business classes. You could still do something in computer science at a later date, but you wouldn’t waste time in undergrad on a course of study that you ultimately don’t like.
