Ask HN: Advice for a final year Comp Sci student (Getting into Google,FB,MS)

2 pointsby vortex31há 14 anos2 comments

I am in the final year of my Computer Science course in a reputable college. I have above average intelligence and am willing to work hard. The thing is, I haven't spent the last 3 years of college wisely. I do love computer science and programming, but simply slacked off these last 3 years. A couple of my direct seniors in college got hired by facebook and about 6 of them by Microsoft during campus interviews. I feel guilty for wasting all this time and for not utilising my potential. Many of my friends have been coding on TopCoder and similar websites while I have done nothing... Apart from this, I have quite a load in the upcoming year with my final year project for which my professor results in terms of publication in some top-journal.

Anyway,

What advise do you have for me? I have about 3-4 months from MS interview and about 8 months from Facebook. Google doesn't come to my campus, but I hope to make it through the online application. Is this sufficient time? What should my study plan be like? I know it's subjective, but how good do I need to be?

P.S - I have ordered the CLRS (Introduction to algorithms) & Algorithm Design Manual from Amazon yesterday.

1 comments

Armaronhá 14 anos

Why work for the current market leaders? Work for the next one! How do you know which one that will be? You don't. Find work, start your career, see what happens and go with the flow (and bend the flow a little to where you want to end up). Don't stress working for one of the big boys, you'll have tons of competition. Including university graduates that are a lot smarter than you are. Find yourself a nice smaller company or a job as a consultant. Get experience and look for better and more interesting opportunities.

That's what I did after I graduated as a bachelor in computer science. First I worked for a small local company, pay sucked but it was 10 minutes from where I lived. Now I work for a large consulting firm, good pay, sometimes long hours and sometimes an afternoon off, but I have to travel about 3 to 4 hours a day to get to my work.

Most importantly, look for projects that interest you and make sure your employer is dedicated to educating you further because you don't know shit when you leave college / university. Take it from a guy with about 3 years of working experience under his belt.

vortex31há 14 anos

Thanks for the reply. I will definitely apply to many other smaller companies as well, especially startup as I hear that you can learn a lot in them. My thinking behind preparing for these big companies was that even If I don't make it, at least I will be able to get into one of the smaller companies. If I am not wrong, most companies do test how good your algorithm/data structure skills are front up.