What You Need To Know As A CS Student
What every computer science student should know (most of this article’s content could apply to other fields).
You need to explore
When you are a CS student, one thing to keep in mind is that you need to explore different areas, why is that? it permits you to discover what you have passion for the most and what you are interested in. If you want to be a software engineer, you need to explore mobile development, backend development, and many other specialties. This way you will set your goal and start your trip to it.
Start now, not tomorrow
I knew people who started earlier and before they finish their university studies, they were great engineers. Why is that, because they started learning and practicing in the first years of their university study (Maybe before that, at high school or less!). Also, they didn’t underestimate themselves, they didn’t say, Oh! this topic is too advanced/hard for me to understand.
Choose your friends wisely
Choosing your friends wisely is a priority, if you have a friend with bad habits, you will inherit bad habits and vice versa. I remember when I was at college, I had a friend (it still my friend and it will always be) who I love chatting with him, he always brings what is new in software engineering and we exchange a lot of information over the years we study together, not to mention his kindness. A friend like that will always feed you with useful information for you, the case for me was to listen only to what I need and avoid the bullshit that adds nothing to me. Consider losing friends as a life side effect and don’t be sad about that because you will encounter people that pull you down and prohibit you from being a better version of yourself, so it is your call, you let them down and go up or you stay attached to them and stay at the bottom.
The environment is the key
The environment is everything around you, the best environment for you is where you find people who have the same/common interests as you. They will push you to the next level and will be your motivation to accomplish your goals. This point is attached directly to the point just before “Choose your friends wisely”, so you notice that everything is related.
Try and fail
What if I told you that failing is not a failing, after every try and failure you gain an experience and you gain that experience only if you try, that is why failure is the beginning of success. That is why you need to keep learning, practicing, and building even if you failed, we don’t always succeed from the first shot.
Grow your network
You need to be active, go to workshops, and participate/attend meetings/events, you will have the chance to meet people and get to know them. These people will be opportunities and a source of help for you. When you have a problem you will know who to ask, in addition to that, a lot of people get hired through recommendations, and they will call you for offers. Also, I would like to mention LinkedIn, a great website. open an account on this website and share your knowledge, what you learn/learned, and what you do, this will let people see your achievements, and believe me, this will open a lot of doors for you. Finally, I don’t need to mention hackathons for you.
Time management
I know you heard the saying “time is money”, you have to know to manage your time well because whether you are studying or working, in both cases you don’t want to waste time on silly things. When you learn to manage your time effectively, your productivity will increase and you feel more satisfied with yourself, a mess creates another mess.
Real-world experience
Being a student is not an excuse not to work and gain some real-world experience, you can do internships at companies you can do freelance, and you can even work as an employee in some company. By the time you graduate, you will find yourself ready for the professional life and your resume will allow you to get hired easily. Some people find working and studying at the same time very exhausted, that is why you need to learn time management.
Distraction is a monster
Yeah, you read it right, distraction is a monster. Things like putting your phone in silent mode while you are studying might be tedious for you but it helps, at least for persons who don’t control themselves when a phone notification rings. That was just an example of distraction, there are other forms of distraction, if you find something distracts you from doing your daily tasks, you must avoid it.
Your mentor is your superhero
Have you ever felt lost? well, mostly, one of the reasons that could be responsible for this is that you have no clue about what to do because you don’t have someone that has more experience than you to tell you what to do or where to go. A mentor is someone who has way more experience than you and can guide/teach you so that you can get on your feet quickly. Finding a mentor should be at the top of your priorities, especially when you are a fresh college student, any extra help never hurts.
A healthy body equals a healthy mind
I love this saying, the healthy mind is in the healthy body. What does it mean? it means that there is a strong connection between physical health and mental health. Stress, anxiety, and depression are three things that we all have experienced and they affect our minds. Doing sports regularly and eating healthy food build you a healthy body in which you will experience less stress, anxiety, and depression, and that increases your mind’s peacefulness.
Don’t believe everything you read
I will keep this short, people can lie or give false and misleading information for many reasons. Your job is to know that, and don’t believe everything you read on social media or other places. Do some extra efforts to confirm whether the information is true or false by checking multiple sources.
A CS student will be always a CS student
Well, even when you finish your studies, you will still be a student. We are lifelong learners, we can’t stop learning or we become rusty, it is a very fast-developing field. Keep learning and enjoy that.
Summary
Well, this it not a summary or some kind of conclusion but I want to let you know that I wrote this article with the intent of helping you, I wish you found these points very useful for you. I might update this article to add more tips, take care of yourself.
