Differentiate Yourself From Other Computer Science Students

Don’t just study, do these 4 effective tips.

Photo by Philippe Bout on Unsplash

Get high marks. As high as you can. And then… what?

Many students face the hard reality late. They have been studying hard for getting a degree in C.S, and once they have finished, they go to see some junior positions to work on, and find that university did not teach them many things they are required to know for them.

So, what can they do now? Before facing this situation, I would like to give you some alternative activities you can do while studying at college, that will provide you with relevant and demanded knowledge, as well as contributing to a differentiated resume.

Join a local association. Collaborating with people passionate about the same things you love, organizing events or working in a project is amazingly rewarding! So don’t be shy, and join a local group of students.

I belong to my local chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery, ACM UPV. There I have met really outstanding people in Computer Science, organized programming contests, helped in events to encourage women in STEM, learned A LOT, and the most important thing above all, made true friends.

I really encourage you to try join a community like this.

I personally consider it the most important tip from the list, because not only it gives you the opportunity to build new technical skills, but also helps you connect with new people who missing would be a pity.

Compete.

Are you that kind of person who does not stand losing, and dreams with being the top of the top at anything? So, competitions are for you. And as a Computer Science student, you have a wide variety to chose from.

1. Sports / competitive programming: this is by far the most popular one. It consists on solving logical or mathematical puzzles, by coding, using Data Structures and Algorithms concepts, usually in a narrow time, individually or in teams. Companies such as Google or Facebook pay high attention to the top performers, and usually they ask these type of questions on their technical interviews.
2. Hackathons: creativity. You have to build a solution to a complex problem, involving many fields, in usually 12, 24 or 48 hours format. The key here is to collaborate with students from different degrees, trying to combine various fields of knowledge into a project.
3. Datathons: Artificial Intelligence! If you like to look for insights in data, machine learning and math, join a datathon. These types of competitions usually last from 2 to 6 months. Furthermore,prizes are really high, going up to 50.000$!
4. Cyber security contests: hack fast. They involve rapidly analyzing where the weaknesses in a infrastructure are, diagnosing what type of attack is going on (and what might follow) and figuring out how to shore up your resources. The most prestigious competitions’ rewards go up to 100.000$!
5. Demoscene: the weirdest. It consists on coding in assembly to create computer generated music clips that show what kind of graphic and sound effects can really be done by using high-end computer hardware to its full potential. With just some bits of memory available!

Worried about not being able to perform well in a contest? Read this article and go for it!

Become an ambassador. Summing up, a company gives you revenues for spreading the word about it. But, why would you do that? Here are the main reasons to join these kinds of programs.

• Free company’s products.
• Cool merchandising.
• Possibility of assisting to travel to congresses.
• Recognition on your campus.
• Experts help.
• Experience with the company, which usually helps for landing a future job.

All this, for free.

Personally, I am a Microsoft Student Learn Ambassador and a GitKraken Ambassador!

Here are you some of the most important programs:

• Google Developer Students Club
• Amazon AWS educate
• Mozilla Student Ambassadors
• GitHub Campus Expert
• Uber Brand Ambassador
• Red Bull Student Marketeer

Want to see an example? Check the DSC from my local university here, and feel free to ask any question that you may have.

Make personal projects. It’s not easy at first, but it is really enriching and valued for getting a job once you have finished.

Here are some quick ideas:

• Build your personal website.
• Make an Android / iOS app.
• Build your own server at home with a Raspberry Pi.
• Create a chatbot.
• Make an algorithms visualization tool.

Let me know if there is something I missed!

Thanks for reading :D