Starting my journey in computer science!

[mariosconsta]

Hello guys, soon i will start my bachelor in computer science and i am really excited! I wanted to ask for any tips or heads ups so i can make a dynamic start!

[manikyath]

try to not get demotivated when the teacher's powerpoints are from 2003, thats what killed it for me...

[Tarzan]

try to not get demotivated when the teacher's powerpoints are from 2003, thats what killed it for me...

They don't use LaTeX?! (Beamer, for ppt.) Damn!

[CydiaDash]

I'm going to be doing this course... In about 5 years

[KE2012]

They don't use LaTeX?! (Beamer, for ppt.) Damn!

 

Nope, power point is the most used program my proffs use (electronic and computer engineering) and LaTeX is horrible, no idea why anyone would use that POS. (I was forced to do my report using it for an assignment, its creator needs shot.)

[manikyath]

They don't use LaTeX?! (Beamer, for ppt.) Damn!

exact quote: "i was hired just this week to teach you folks windows server, it's going to be new for me as well, i've been exclusively using linux since 2003"

 

thats pretty much the reason i quit college, i'd be fine if it was one class like that, but EVERY FRIKKIN class was like that.

we had to write on our exam CAT4 was the best available ethernet cable, capable of 100Mbit...

[mariosconsta]

That's depressing..

[sqwidee]

Welcome to instant job security. Every organization needs an IT guy or a code monkey. Hopefully you can be operating above that level, obviously, but at least you have a secure bottom line

[Tarzan]

Nope, power point is the most used program my proffs use (electronic and computer engineering) and LaTeX is horrible, no idea why anyone would use that POS. (I was forced to do my report using it for an assignment, its creator needs shot.)

 

Latex is horrible?! In my university, all the "scientific" thesis MUST be written in Latex. Latex is so more efficient to work with than WYSIWYG softwares (Word, namely). You need a learning curve for sure, but once you know the basics, it's awesome. I've even converted my girlfriend for her master thesis, and she's studying... Germanic languages!

 

Read that: http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/wp.html

[vorticalbox]

Welcome to instant job security. Every organization needs an IT guy or a code monkey. Hopefully you can be operating above that level, obviously, but at least you have a secure bottom line

Haha this is so true I'm just finished my hnd software development so I'll be starting yr 3 computer science.

Should be fun seeing as I didn't learn that much this year, but if c# and some better ways to do things in PvP(this was actually from this forum not my teach)

But I don't get how education establishments can use years old courses and it's fine.

Just to give a hot of what my hnd was like my 3D modeling and animation unit actual had a requirement that was "stored on a floppy disk". A 3D animation of 30 seconds.

[KE2012]

Latex is horrible?! In my university, all the "scientific" thesis MUST be written in Latex. Latex is so more efficient to work with than WYSIWYG softwares (Word, namely). You need a learning curve for sure, but once you know the basics, it's awesome. I've even converted my girlfriend for her master thesis, and she's studying... Germanic languages!

 

Read that: http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/wp.html

 

Sure I give the 'language 'a learning curve, my report was a monster to write and by the end I had become rather efficient with it, but I still fail to see why any one in their right mind other than those writing complex maths papers or possibly chemistry students would use latex as their primary word processing program.

 

My experience of using the horrible 'langauge' was a bad one however, I was forced to do it on a certain program called openleaf (why the guy wanted us to use that website specifically is beyond me) anyway, you make a change to your document and it took ages for it to compile / update. 

 

If I tried it on a good compiler then maybe I might of had a better experience to the point I would agree, but from my experience I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. 

[madknight3]

any tips

 

There's a lot to be gained outside of class. Attend the CS departments events as much as you can and be social. These events might include programming competitions/hackathons, special talks from people (profs, students, others in the industry), general meetups, etc. Even as a beginner who might not understand everything, go to the events anyway. Get involved in your CS student society, either directly by being part of them or by attending their events. Get to know your fellow students and get to know some of your professors. Not only can you make some good friends, the people you know can help your career. Also take advantage of every internship opportunity you can so you can get some work experience before you graduate.

[Nuluvius]

There's a lot to be gained outside of class. Attend the CS departments events as much as you can and be social. These events might include programming competitions/hackathons, special talks from people (profs, students, others in the industry), general meetups, etc. Even as a beginner who might not understand everything, go to the events anyway. Get involved in your CS student society, either directly by being part of them or by attending their events. Get to know your fellow students and get to know some of your professors. Not only can you make some good friends, the people you know can help your career...

 

Yes literally I cannot stress this enough, networking is critically important. I wish I knew just how important it was when I was going through my degree - and that was relatively late in life as well!

 

Also take advantage of every internship opportunity you can so you can get some work experience before you graduate.

 

I also agree with this. Though I did things quite a bit differently than most... I had the offers and possibilities for various internships but I really wasn't keen on them or the connotations of being an 'intern'. This was in part due to how old I was at this point; the choice between loosing yet another year of my life or finishing the degree earlier with bigger gains and more risk weighed heavily on my mind at the time.

 

Instead of undertaking an internship I rang around and was lucky enough (age and experience played a big part) to find a company willing take me on - a real job and not even a junior position at that either. This was probably one of the biggest things responsible for setting the tone of my career to follow - getting thrown in at the 'deep end'.

 

While it was very good for experience and income I'm not sure that I'd recommend it to most people - especially younger people. The pressure of having to work like that alongside a degree in it's third year with the dissertation/thesis component is absolutely immense. One feels as if one's life is literally imploding in around them. The stress, the fear and the teetering on the abyss of total and complete failure takes a horrible toll...

 

That said the rewards of such an endeavour are equally immense and offer a very real initial boost to one's career. You not only have real world industry experience on your CV but you have this along side a degree which shows potential employers something else entirely; it demonstrates hard work, dedication, resourcefulness, perseverance and immense mental fortitude.

 

My advice I guess is simply this: don't be a sheep.

[TonyStark]

What college classes offer is a way to think and nothing more...You don't learn something you "study" in college unless you have a hands on experience....at least that's what I've seen in the last 15 years in the IT industry...

[-rascal-]

Hello guys, soon i will start my bachelor in computer science and i am really excited! I wanted to ask for any tips or heads ups so i can make a dynamic start!

 

Be familiar with some of the most-common programming languages. If you want to get a head start, don't go in completely blind...like everybody. Now at least the basics of C, C++, and Java. They will have to teach them to you in first and second year anyways. 

 

Understand how memory allocation, memory management works (i.e. pointers, arrays, "malloc", structs). This is important in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and in Computer Science.

 

Being familiar with a list of programming languages, OTHER than the ones they ALL teach you at school, will allow you to stand out from your peers / classmates. This will a strong "selling point" when you look for a job/career. Keep in mind, this is only one check-box in the job interview list.

 

This may be out of your zone, at least for now, but cloud computing is a big thing, and it is up your alley. Look into things like Amazon's AWS.

Be creative, play around with some of the things like....the Raspberry Pi, Arduino board, or the MaKey MaKey.

Setting up, and managing a little home server (i.e. NAS) is something to consider -- another check-box on the list.

 

The last few points were advice given to me by a soon-to-retire Engineer, and someone people in the Comp-Sci industry. (With Engineers in the family/relatives, you get a good network with other people) I may have missed a few opportunities to be able to do some of this stuff, personally.

At least I can pass the information on to somebody who has the time, and is only preparing to step up to the plate.

 

Comp-Sci is not an easy field of study to take on, and it is not suitable for everyone. Make sure you enjoy what you do / study. It won't be very good if the 4~5 years you spend trying to get your degree makes you feel like hell, and you aren't motivated to do any of the stuff.

[mariosconsta]

Really great tips, being social and active from the start seems like first priority (apart from studying of course)!

[Crabtr]

I think one of the biggest things is that as you progress through your degree you shouldn't be focusing on the why but rather the how. Learning how to program is important and any good computer science course will teach you along the way but you need to make sure you're really soaking in the theories and ideas you're being taught and not their specific implementation. I'd say that you should be trying to maintain a nice 60/40 split or perhaps even closer to 75/25 in favor of theory over programmatic implementation.

Also don't allow yourself to form bad habits. I'd really encourage you to follow an industry standard style for the languages you use and use proper source control (Git, Mercurial, etc.).

Also register for Github's student pack!

 

try to not get demotivated when the teacher's powerpoints are from 2003, thats what killed it for me...

Functionality > aesthetics 

[manikyath]

Functionality > aesthetics 

well, a powerpoint about winderp server 2003 isnt all that functional anymore when using winderp server 2008 R2...

[mariosconsta]

Be familiar with some of the most-common programming languages. If you want to get a head start, don't go in completely blind...like everybody. Now at least the basics of C, C++, and Java. They will have to teach them to you in first and second year anyways.

Understand how memory allocation, memory management works (i.e. pointers, arrays, "malloc", structs). This is important in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and in Computer Science.

Being familiar with a list of programming languages, OTHER than the ones they ALL teach you at school, will allow you to stand out from your peers / classmates.

Well it's kinda too late to get familiar with a programming language atm cause in 1 month I start my bachelor, how bad this will affect me? I'm afraid i won't be able to run along with the class due to i don't have any strong experience with programming..

Also i am thinking to steer myself into computer engineering at some point and work with servers and database management, any thoughts about this?

[tomix1024]

1 month is still enough.

we have a programming lecture (two weeks, 1.5 hours lecturing, up to 4 hours practicing) where almost all (important) facets of the c language are covered.

 

anyway the focus won't be on programming but on theory.

[Nuluvius]

Well it's kinda too late to get familiar with a programming language atm cause in 1 month I start my bachelor, how bad this will affect me? I'm afraid i won't be able to run along with the class due to i don't have any strong experience with programming..

 

Neither did I really. After the first week I discovered I had an aptitude for it and shortly after that I had destroyed most of my competition with ease. I had one nemesis right through to the final year where I befriended the individual and we joined forces. Sadly though we were let down by our group who were shit and didn't put the work in... I digress.

 

You'll be fine if it's right for you. If not you should know quite quickly.

[madknight3]

Well it's kinda too late to get familiar with a programming language atm cause in 1 month I start my bachelor, how bad this will affect me? I'm afraid i won't be able to run along with the class due to i don't have any strong experience with programming..

 

You can learn a lot in one month if you put in some effort. The intro class will likely be easier if you have some knowledge going in however they are usually designed for people with no prior knowledge so you can still do well regardless.

 

The language you'll learn will depend on your specific class. Some schools use Python, some use Java, some use C, etc.

[Art Vandelay]

Just remember, just because your professor said it, doesn't make it right.

 

I had a prof tell the class that i += i+++++i; is valid. He later mentioned how to optimize an if statement that made literally 0 difference with compiler optimizations. I actually timed it to see how stupid it was to care.

 

almost all (important) facets of the c language are covered.

How much of the c language did they get wrong?

[evilarceus]

I'm going to be doing this course... In about 5 years

Haha, in about 6 years

[mariosconsta]

Another question. I have a lenovo y510p multimedia laptop, 16GB ram, i7 core cpu 2.4ghz and the SLI GPUs nvidia GeForce GT 750M, is this good enough to cover my bachelor needs?