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Ask Slashdot: What To Do Before College?
First time accepted submitter MtownNaylor writes "I graduated high school two days ago and am currently enrolled to attend college for studying Computer Science. I spent last summer working as a contractor, programming in Java doing work for a single company. I am looking to further either my career, my education, or both this summer. The problem is that I have found it difficult to find summer employment or internships programming for a multitude of reasons (lack of opportunities, lack of experience, lack of degree.) So what is a high school graduate who wants to work as a programmer to do?"
Pick an open source project that you find interesting and get involved in it. It will give you experience in coding, working with people, and look good to the type of employers you would probably want to get hired by.
Well, I can remember that summer and I spent it working in the fields, bailing hay, framing houses and working as a busboy/waiter/bartender at night. But that was just because that was the best way for me to earn extra cash before college. It was made clear to me that I was expected to pay for all of my schooling just like everyone else in my family and, growing up under the poverty line, that made sense. So if you have any legal way to acquire extra capital then that's what I would do. Bagging groceries isn't going to help your coding abilities but if it gives you enough breathing room to prevent a loan shark from taking advantage of you in college, I'd take that option.
Now had my family been able to pay my way through and acquiring capital was not an urgent necessity, there still wouldn't have been any internships or jobs available for a programmer at my location. In this situation and knowing what I know now, I would have opted for other paths:
1. Approach an entity that doesn't have a lot of money (e.g. school, library, city council, county park, church, whatever) and ask them if they need anything improved or fixed IT-wise. You can take an off-the-shelf route like just reskinning phpBB for a library forum or implement a server for voting on new books to acquire or an announcement system for school closings or even a static calendar page for events. Maybe you build it from the ground up like new reservation system for people who want to reserve a book at the library before they drive 40 minutes to pick it up. If the facility likes it, they'll use it. If they don't, well at least you learned something. The thing is, you'll build experience working with real-ish requirements and even if it amounts to nothing you'll learn why. Aim for something simple to ensure success and try not to reinvent the wheel. Now-a-days with Rails' scaffold system, you can stand up CRUD apps in no time. I remember a lot of broken processes as a kid that I saw at Boy Scouts, parks, libraries, etc where a simple registration form would have saved a couple people a lot of work.
2. Contribute to open source. I'd shy away from starting your own open source project. That is actually difficult to do unless you know someone demanding it and then you're kind of being held to get it done. Anyone can check in a project to sourceforge or github (and they often do) but without users it quickly withers and dies. I'd suggest looking into an active project and seeing if you can understand the source code. If you can contribute, that's great. That's experience and that's something you can put on your resume -- even if it goes defunct by the time you graduate.
3. Copy last year's course pages for the beginning CS and Math classes you intend to take and start working through them. Seriously, I wish I had thought of this way back then and if they're still up for your college, grab them and start looking at the problems so you don't get a wake up call. My college required me to take four semesters of calc as a CS major and that was a harsh reality indeed. If you start working on a project now and it's great by the time you get to the course, your professor might ask you to become a TA for some extra cash. Sure, it's brown nosing but it also feels really good to be prepared.
Those two suggestions are assuming you don't need capital and there's no paying gig. If you don't like them, hell, just enjoy your summer -- when you succeed you'll be working 9 to 5 and I sorta wish I had spent more time at the pool, hanging out with friends, playing music with crappy bands, playing baseball with pickup groups, etc. Don't forget to live a little.
My work here is dung.
I know you're looking for work stuff to do, but this is most likely the last real break you're going to have. Because it's classes & internships & part-time jobs & everything else. Take some down time to just relax...read a book...chase some girls/guys/whatever You're only young once
Contribute to an open source project? It'll keep you sharp, let's you work with other people, and it won't look bad on a resume' if you contribute a lot and do good.
The great thing about coding is you can create your own experience. I would find an open source project and contribute, and start building ups portfolio of published code.
This is probably the only time in your life you can have some fun, guilt free. Don't forget to take advantage of this.
lots of opportunities for this during the next four years of your life. Spend the 2-3 months you have doing whatever you want if you can manage it. Life is about to change.
I'm doing the same thing as you, minus being able to get a job beforehand. What I'm going to do this summer is start learning. There's so much on the internet to learn that you can be way ahead of everyone and make college a lot easier. Of course since you said you have a job programming java, you're clearly ahead of me, but there's always more to learn and it's a great opportunity i you can get your hands on an internship.
As a college Computer Programming undergrad, who has already applied for several internships, I say good luck.
It will indirectly help your programming career. wwoof.org
...if you can, and see the world; there's lots of time for work later.
I'll mentor you for free. Just skype me at (php.pro).
Slashdot Valentines Beta Massacre: iT WORKED! The boycotts killed Beta!!
If you don't need the money, enjoy your summer! Spend time doing hobbies, volunteer opportunities, working on open source projects [programming]. Worry about education and internships when you get to college.
It'll be A LOT easier to get employed after your sophomore year. You should try after Freshmen year, but no guarantee it'll happen.
Maybe take a general ed class that will transfer at your local community college if you must do "something productive"
This summer marks the end of your childhood.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Why not work on an Android App of some kind? Download the Android SDK! It's free, the Eclipse development environment is free, and the SDK even has a really nice emulator so you can run your Apps even if you don't have an Android phone.
"False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black
two chicks at the same time, dude
I would suggest relaxing. You're not going to have many more summers like this and you might as well enjoy it. This is especially true since you just graduated - most of your high school friends are probably still around, you may not get the chance to see them again.
Go out and get laid FFS.
If i were in your position i'd start working on a nice mobile application. Get the bulk of the app done before school starts and hopefully it won't take to much time from your studies to maintain and expand on it. Additionally when it comes to get a job next summer you can point back to the app you built the summer previous.
Spend 4 years in the National Guard or one of the major branches. Learn some discipline and responsibility. Not only will you be a better student, but you'll be more likely to get a job.
if you have an itch, scratch it. Work on a personal project - something that bugs you or that you can improve. Personal accomplishments like that can make a huge difference come job interview time.
Get a working holiday visa. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workingholiday/unitedstatesofamericaworkingholidayscheme.htm
Go to New Zealand.
Enjoy the best year of your life.
Go home.
Start your career.
You've got the whole rest of your life to work for somebody else! Landing internships will be much easier once you have a couple of years of college under your belt. The bigger companies all have official programs where they recruit students and pay them competitive wages for summer work. That'll help a lot to pay for school or at least get you some spending money.
At your age and point in your education, the easiest way to find an internship is to know somebody who works for a smaller business that is looking for an intern. You're generally not going to find this stuff listed in the online job classifieds. If this isn't an option (and maybe even if it is), working on something non-paid can still be a great way to learn new stuff. Two great ideas: write your own app or contribute to an open source project you find interesting.
Work as a Hand in a CNC machine shop. Lots of programming there. and you get to experiece an alternate reality of programming by turning or milling out large pieces of metal. and now a days especially in the midwest, a Well qualified CNC progammer that knows the fanuc"G"code has been few and far between.
Write something. Participate in the Liberated Pixel Cup http://lpc.opengameart.org/ or write a game on your own. I just wrote one and it was fun: http://magigames.org/runestone_defense.html
The best programmers learn on their own. They tinker at home. Don't rely on school to teach you everything, or even most things.
Or you could just party and drink and get laid. :)
One common flaw of tech people is failure to be well rounded.
This might seem like flame bait to some, but the simple reality is that the USA, which long dominated the technology landscape ever since the early days of Silicon Valley, is becoming less important over time. More and more both hardware and software design work is being moved to India and China, with the USA fulfilling roles in marketing and branding. Being able to speak a language that lets you communicate with other people in their own native language can be a KEY asset, and can position you as a liaison between those two worlds.
Pick a project. Look at a website, find something cool. Now duplicate it in your own work. Try and make it better. You will gain a ton of knowledge, and you can show your code to the next employer.
If your parents did their finances well they will be paying you to internship for free somewhere. If not... take a job selling coffee / delivering pizzas in the evenings.
And you need to be spending 1 hour a day, every single day weekends included, filling out grant applications.
Just my $.02 and what my kids will be doing once they graduate high school.
Get involved with an open source project. Go for fame rather than money. When you're looking for a job or internship, it certainly can't hurt for you to have your name attached to a few successful projects.
The situations are not exactly parallel, but after dot com bust, I was out of work for two years. I spent that time writing a CMS and putting together an internet hosting service -- small potatoes, maxed out at ten clients -- got a backpack, stuffed it with a good selection of tools and did piecemeal small business system and network support. When the economy improved and companies started interviewing again, I could show that I hadn't spent two years on the couch watching the sci-fi channel -- I had actually accomplished something, because "I feel the need to be useful". It put me ahead of the pack.
Showing commitment to your vocation, even (especially?) when you're not getting paid to do so, may put you ahead of the pack at a crucial time.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I'm in the same situation as you, in my experience CS/computerknowledgeingeneral is way more useful in combination with other passions than it is alone. Go do fun stuff find out what you love. I'm into music so I'm doing a bunch of shows this summer with a funk metal band, and I'm doing all the technical work recording the album. More on the computer science side, I love game design so I've been working on a small project that was inspired by a variety of different things. I also have a job designing a website and some web apps, and I've realized that I really enjoy the variety of tools (and unique ways you can use them) in web design. It's like a puzzle--and it turns out the person I'm designing the site for is a teacher at my college, I'm going to be an RA for her class freshmen year. I didn't seek out any of these things individually, I got into all them by being friendly with a lot of different people--and talking to a lot of different people that I'd never met before. Going out to town or wherever and meeting/hanging out with people is far more productive than it sounds, at least if you're spending time with a variety of different people and are open to meeting new people.
Get laid as much as humanly possible during your free time, because once you start your CS program you will never find enough time or worthy candidates (at least, hanging around the CS labs).
If you can afford it, enjoy your last summer to yourself. Unless you become a teacher (or filthy rich), you won't have the same rhythm in your life anymore, so make the most of it.
Maybe I'm just being to nostalgic, I worked 6 days a week my Final Summer fixing bicycles to make extra money for school. And I ended up with way more spare cash than most of my college friends, but that summer my core highschool friends did a ton of fun once-in-a-lifetime stuff that I had to miss out on.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
is the ROI of college actually going to benefit you? If you've got a good skillset you could use those traditional years building something useful and putting experience on paper instead of throwing dollars at a piece of paper that says "Hey! I know things... in theory".
I have bad news and good news for you.
The bad: if you haven't already found an internship by June, you're not going to find one. Most internship programs start screening and interviewing applicants around January, or even earlier. I've been in aerospace and commercial engineering work for 30 years and I've never seen a summer internship program that didn't already have their candidates in for interviews by March or April at the latest. And by the time the term ends, lodging and all the other logistics are already worked out.
The good news is that most intern programs are looking for college students, not HS Grads, so you have four or five more chances to qualify. Join the ACM and IEEE chapters at your school and let them know you want to apply for summer internships.
At this point I recommend two things, not mutually exclusive, both of which have essentially been mentioned before:
1) Find a project to work on... either FOSS or just a homebrew thing. Something small enough that you can finish so as to demonstrate your development skills. But also push the envelope and pick a project that will force you to learn something new... one or two minor things. And then document what you learned by writing a report; 2 or 3 pages will suffice.
2) Have fun. You're an entering freshman. You have no idea how little free time you're going to have come fall. I recommend you blow off some steam and go do some fun things you've always wanted to do. It's going to be at least four years before you have a chance to do that again. You will not be criticized for doing that.
I can see the fnords!
First of all, I'll second "open source". Speaking as an employer, having someone come in with an open source project they did is more impressive than a couple years experience as a drone. It doesn't even have to be a good project, or one that's nicely finished, just something you were passionate about. Passion is often the distinguishing feature between two candidates.
Google Summer of Code is another option and probably a little nicer on your wallet!
Read math books appropriate to your level, Algorithm Design Manual by Skienna, or start on Cormen, et al.
If you're dead set on something hands-on, three months is really only enough time to make an app. Think one up, write it, and release it.
For work, do something social. You're not going to make much money writing software for someone else at your level, so have some fun and meet people. Wait to be stuck in a cubicle talking only with nerds until your job offers work out to an annual salary at least $3k times your age.
I agree, I really do, but many aren't providing any reasons why:
1. No employer is going to care what you did the summer before you went to UG
2. The work leading up to the degree you learn at the end of your UG work may not challenge you at all. Working to "get ahead" may leave you frustrated and bewildered as to why you worked so hard.
3. School is just school. Just do it, enjoy it while you're there, get good grades, and get a job after you're done (or go on to advanced studies, whatever).
As for this summer, enjoy it. If that means writing code for fun or screwing around w/friends, do it. You'll be able to do that stuff in college too but in a much different way--especially if you want to do extremely well.
Good luck.
Anything that pays enough to help pay the cost of college.
I am looking to further either my career, my education, or both this summer.
Well, I can't give you any advice for this summer, but I highly suggest you complement your CS degree with some kind of management, business, or finance degree. Because that's going to be the only way you'll be able to further your career once you get a few years out of college. And strongly consider getting an MBA at some point within the first decade after graduating college.
I know you said you wanted to work as a programmer, but you'll earn a better living in management or finance. You can always program as a hobby on the side while making at least 3X what your friends that went to work as programmers make.
Get experience. Internships and jobs are not the only way. Open source software, personal projects (the two can overlap a lot), do whatever you want. Just write code if you want to get good at it. Get on StackOverflow and ask/answer questions (once you have the relevant knowledge).
If you can talk about programming well, show you truly understand it, then people will know you are capable. To be honest, you'll learn more doing that than doing your degree, if you do it right. The internet is a great resource.
I did this before I went to Uni, and - I don't want to brag, but to show I am not just saying it with nothing to back myself up - I am 2 years in, having gotten firsts both years, and have an internship at IBM for the summer. With no prior experience working for a company (not even non-relevant experience). If you can learn and show you are capable, it's not a barrier.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
Have some fun with your last summer before college. Spend time with your friends, especially those who you will not be seeing in college. You should also study fun things, things that schools do not teach you. Read books (not just programming books), study interesting approaches to programming (Forth comes to mind -- not commonly taught in schools, not strictly applicable to most careers, but definitely an interesting language that is worth studying, if you have time). College should be about having your mind opened; if you want a head start, spend some time opening your mind before you arrive.
Palm trees and 8
If you can't find a paying gig, volunteer. Find a church group that needs a quick web-app to organize their fundraisers, find a local group of girl scouts that want a decent looking web page to advertise their cookies...
Point is, find a technology solution to solve some groups needs. This develops problem solving skills, not just in writing code, but in automating processes. When I interview applicants, those that have had some volunteer experience greatly out-weigh those that have no experience and, sometimes, even those that have had working experience.
Make an android app of your own, or a web app.
Try to scope it as "proof of concept" so you can build it in a month. If you actually finish in a month you can polish it. If not, you have two more months to get something shippable. You will do your education well to just try, but you will further your career by actually building something. Doesn't have to make money, but obviously having a stream of income (even if not full-time) is not "furthering" your career, it is actually a career.
Try to really manage the project, give yourself targets and status tracking, use an agile methodology or even a tool like basecamp or Jira if you can get a free trial.
On top of all that, however, I'd recommend developing *yourself* in a different dimension entirely from your education/career. Take lessons on a musical instrument, work on cars, plant a garden, bicycle, volunteer, or something ... not to look good on a resume, just to build you, yourself, as a person. The network effects of connecting with people with shared interest that aren't related to programming will also be useful. (And college chicks love a guy who can play a guitar even if it's a lame-ass 3-chord thing.)
smoke weed, get drunk, play video games, go to the beach, skateboard, whatever
you've got like 50 years left to do that work shit..
Hang out with your friends, especially if most of your friends are going to a different college. However do try to work some odd programming jobs here but don't forget about a social life and having fun. Unless you are having to pay for the entirety of school and you are going to an expensive out of state school you don't need to work a full time job. Especially as a computer science major, if you are in a city like Austin you will be next summer be able to find $20+ hour internship.
Start your own business. You're in an industry where the clients know nothing about the fabrication -- like many but not most industries. What's impressive about the programming industry is that the clients actually know that they don't know anything about programming.
So it's easy to get started. You'll obviously be limitted in the beginning, mostly due to lack of infrastructure. But that's ok, since you'll still be making a nice $20K in year one. Within three years you'll have found yourself with enough infrastructure to react in professional business ways, and you'll be at the $50K level. Beyond that, the projects you select, the clients you foster, the talent that you develop, and a little bit of luck will take you as high as you want.
That's what I did, and I wound up dropping out of university after 18 months. Should have done it earlier.
After five years, I was making the equivalent of $80K (as a business owner, you pay way less tax). Now, at 33 years old, I've got a nice new large house, a sportscar, the equivalent of $120K - $200K depending on the year and the number of vacations I take. Life is incredibly smooth, I can't get fired, it's unlikely that I'd lose all of my clients in the same month. I've been through multiple economic down-turns with little effect (things are smoothed out over multiple clients).
What I don't have is paint on the walls, and it's killing me. But I just don't want to spend time painting when I can go out and have fun. And I don't believe it paying someone else to do something that I can do that easily. It's a major problem in my life. It's almost as big as last week's major life problem when I had two fun things to do in one night, and it took five days for me to find a neighbour able to take my show tickets.
Major life problems take on a whole new meaning when you set your hours -- and I don't just mean work hours; I mean sleep hours too.
MIT open courseware. Take all the courses now. That way you can get ahead of the curve by leaning from the TOP professors instead of the second tier ones you will have elsewhere. IF you do good enough you could test out of many classes for course credit so you can be further ahead of the game.
Right now is the best time to be a teen before college. You have world class undergrad and graduate level stuff available to you for free. Eat all of it and ask for more.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/
Really, do it now. Do it tomorrow! You're young with no wife, no kids and no major debts (mortgage and college.)
You will almost certainly fail (~90%) but there is a small chance you might succeed modestly (~9%) or even succeed wildly and become pretty wealthy (1%) but in almost any of these cases, you will equip yourself more fully for life during and beyond college than any of your peers.
Best of luck.
Elgon
Find a project that you interests you, maybe even software you use already, and try to fix some bugs.
Looks great on résumés as well as being a good learning experience.
It seems that others are saying similar things, but my general thought here is, don't expect a real programming job. People complain about CS graduates lacking experience, so a high school kid? Forget about it.
If you need the money, find the best-paying job you can get, even if it's working as a waiter. These jobs offer good experience too. There are many jobs that require some kind of customer-service and communication skills, and something like waiting tables provides experience for that.
If you want to gain experience as a programmer, then just come up with something that will help you learn, even if it's not a paying gig. Get involved in an open-source project. Or invent your own project for yourself. I don't know what your programming level is, but you could do something like writing your own blog software from scratch. There are tutorials to get you started, and then you can pick apart other open source projects to see how they do things. If you're more advanced, maybe think of a feature you'd like to see in Firefox and figure out if you can implement it.
Just experiment, try things, and play around. Even if you don't create anything very good, the attempt is a good experience.
Take this time for relaxing and adventures. Take this time while you don't have any obligations. Looks like you've already got some work experience before college and A LOT of college grads don't have that when the first get out. However, once you're in the school year and are still having trouble finding an internship or a part time job in your field, go to your instructors and seek research work. It probably won't pay well (or at all), but it looks good on a resume. Don't over work yourself while in school (24 hours a week max). I made the mistake working too much and not having much fun in college. Don't do the same. College can be the most fun in your adult life and can pave the way to more fun later if you do it right.
Enjoy your summer, it will be one of your last. Travel, go camping, toss back a few beers, anything but work.
This year will be my 4th years in college...
I recommend "projects", look on craigslist to see if anyone needs something designed (small business) or check at temp agencies.
Try not to work out of your field if you can afford to, because all the employers I've interviewed with, thier eyes just sorta glossed over "blah blah summer job";
if you have to pickup html/web design for coding...its related and almost always in demand
What should a future programmer do over the summer before college?
Take a manual labor job, lose weight and get in shape. You'll be surprised how much easier it is to get pussy. You may not even have to work at it. And we didn't have cougar match up sites on top of it.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
My father told me once, "You've got 40 years of working ahead of you, enjoy your youth. It's the one thing that we always wish we had more of."
My favorite summer was between high school and college, before everyone went off in different directions. Have some fun, travel, chase girls, go camping... whatever floats your boat. Spending your summer writing code, is not something that you'll look back at and say,
"Man... I wish I had spent July and August writing code instead of that time at the lake with my best friends and that blonde girl from two cabins away..."
You're booked into college?
Go have fun, make friends, party it up, live your fantasy. You'll never get to do it again, and your summer internship will do nothing for you long term!
Take terrible pay to get an opportunity at a startup. The startup will eventually fail (most likely), but you will have the start of a resume. Since you pay tax it can be confirmed that you work there. The fact they are no longer in business means there is no one for them to contact to confirm details. I'm not say'n to lie on your resume, but use of colorful wording can be contradicted by someone at the company who wont be as colorful describing your time there. Eventually try to find a job that pays somewhat decently and stay there for a few years. Once you have a few years there start looking for a higher paying job elsewhere. You'll have the work history to be marketable, but the security of an existing job while you hunt. Don't jump on the highest pay job offered, but instead research the company and make sure you want to work there. Essentially move through unstable low pay jobs to build your work history and target long term, stable and well compensating jobs as your end goal.
Good luck out there, and remember... have fun with it.
Nexion
The parent poster suggests you join the National Guard.
I have a friend with a masters in CS, was a highly respected engineer at Apple. He was a recreational helicopter pilot who always wanted to be a rescue pilot working for LifeFlight or a similar air ambulance organization. So he joined the National Guard to get flight hours and get rescue training for domestic disasters, which he felt was an OK trade for boot camp plus one weekend a month and two weeks a year.
He's in Afghanistan now.
-- Terry
Take any job. You aren't going to get a job doing what you want probably and that's ok. So if you want money, and work experience, take it where you can get it.
I did work summer after high school as a surveyor's assistant. Actually was a good job and I'd consider going in to surveying if I ever get sick of IT. Minimum wage stuff but hey, the work wasn't bad, it was a job, it was outside, and since I was living with my parents minimum wage meant plenty of toys.
It can help too because it is work experience. Something I can say, as someone who hires university students, is we'd like someone who this isn't their first job. We don't require it, but if it is down to you and someone with similar skills but work experience, we'll probably take them. Reason is some people have difficulty adjusting to the idea of regular work. So if a student has already had a job, they've overcome that. We'll take someone with more computer skills with no work experience, of course, just saying that if it comes down to a deciding factor, that's the side it'll come down on.
Then, in terms of getting in to IT/programming work, well look around on campus. Most universities hire a lot of student workers. The jobs are generally very flexible with regards to class time and you can often find ones that will let you do a whole lot if you show you are competent. I'll give students as much as they want and can handle.
Only thing I'll warn you is don't think you know everything, and don't think you'll get a senior level position. You'll get a student position, which generally don't pay that much (that's why universities like them), you'll be the low man on the totem poll, and the people you work for probably will know more than you. Just don't think you are going to come in and be top of the heap (we had a grad student that asked for a job, wanted to be an IT manager for a year until he graduated).
At any rate I'd say the parent's advice of "enjoy the summer" is a good one. You won't screw yourself or anything. But if you want a job, just be ok with a regular minimum wage job. In terms of more relevant work experience, look at it in university.
After HS a buddy and I went camping in the mountains for a couple of weeks. It was awesome.
The summer my brother graduated from HS and I graduated from undergrad (before grad school) we hiked on the Appalachian Trail for a month. It was a life changing experience for me.
Camping does not cost much and you get some fresh air. Backpacking pushes your body and gives you time to think / reflect.
And you can meet some interesting folks...
A serious thing to consider is, how much does college cost and is there anything you can do beforehand to get out in three years (or less) instead of four.
College is fun but life and freedom REALLY begin after college. If you set yourself up for a life with less debt you have a lot more options once you are out of college and really free.
So while taking the summer off might be fun, it's even more fun to position yourself for some serious freedom in your twenties.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Come on man, hang out at the lake and try to get laid. If you don't need the money, no need to work
party be young and carefree while you can.
The phone is ringing, I cannot linger, watch out butt here comes my finger.
Don't take CS take a tech school / IT class load it will give the skills needed for the job.
If at all possible work out a map of your school with all the needed "waypoints" so that you do not waste time getting from class A to Class B. Bonus points if you can actually see some/all of your teachers.
oh and a bit of a tip as soon as you get your school email address start signing up for the various company school programs
DreamSpark is a keyword for the M$ stuff.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
I know I am going to catch a lot of mod-downs for this but, NEVER GIVE YOUR WORK AWAY FOR FREE.
Working for free establishes the value of the kind of labor you engage in at zero, which means you and others have a more difficult time finding (paying) employment doing that kind of work. It doesn't just hurt you, it also hurts every other person who does that kind of work by increasing supply at zero dollar cost. Not only does it do so for all your potential employers, it also does the same thing in your own mind. The more you work for free, the more convinced you will become that there is no monetary value in your work.
You can do development on your own time and money and then sell the product to anybody willing to pay for it. That puts you in a better position because you can show the prospective clients that it works, but only deliver it if they agree to your terms.
This is not to say that you shouldn't contribute to FOSS software. There are ways of getting paid to develop FOSS and if you want to do that, that's a great idea.
So he wanted to be trained and paid and give nothing in return? There's a group for people like that. It's called everyone, and we meet at the bar after work to discuss how life didn't work out like we wanted.
GET FUCKED UP!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
No, your part-time jobs will not all be in front of a computer. You might have to lower yourself and do something else.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Defer your college year, head to Australia for 6 months working odd jobs, hitchhiking, surfing, sleeping with various other foreign backpackers.
At your age I had no problem doing tech support and getting programming experience.
Whether or not you land a paying job, take a college level course (or two) at Udacity.com It's free, only runs for 7 weeks, and classes start next week. There are some foundation courses as well as some more advanced topics. I have already taken a couple myself and plan to take one each hexamester for the foreseeable future.
In all seriousness, go get laid.
Unless you are paying for it in cash, the debt will hardly be worth it.
You'll spend the next four years in college, and in all likelihood 45+ years afterwards working with computers. Broaden your horizons, get some life experiences. I worked as a camp counselor and life guard over the summers. A bad economy meant there were few internships then.
Don't "further your career or education". Go do something else!
The summer I graduated from high school my parents lined up a job for me, working with computers for a small business, giving me a great opportunity to start building professional credentials. I appreciated it, but I turned it down. Instead a friend and I got on a plane, and set off on a 6-week tour of England, Wales, and Scotland, camping at caravan parks in a 1.5-man tent, and getting from place to place by bicycle and by train. It was an extraordinary experience. Some bad, some good, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
There will be another summer next year, which you can spend working on cool programming projects or whatever, and there will be year after year and decade after decade in which you can do that sort of thing as much as you please. You have a whole lifetime of formal education and career ahead of you. But you will never have another entire summer in which you have entirely closed the book on one phase of your life, but the next phase is patiently waiting for you unopened, a few months off in the future. You have the freedom to do damn near anything you are capable of doing. This is a once-in-a-lifetime window of opportunity. Do something worthy of that.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
I'm not trying to be a dick, but your writing sucks. That's going to follow you around for the rest of your life unless you fix it. Find some good writers to read and try to pay attention to how they do it.
I took a summer job in a metal shop, and learned a ton of suff I was never going to get from a formal education.
The real world is filled with messy, hard, interesting, demeaning, uncomfortable, fun, maddening jobs. You could learn how a mean boss makes you do shoddy work just to get out of his face; something that may be important to remember in the future. You will meet interesting and boring people. You will probably meet racists and homophobes and criminals. You may not appreciate or like them, but you might understand the world a little better.
You could learn the properties of A5 tool steel. You could learn how to mop a floor. You could learn how to use a micrometer, and statistical process control. You could learn how to drive a forklift. You could learn about hazardous chemical handling. You could learn the value of safety equipment.
And you'll get very little of that from behind a keyboard.
Now quit reading /. and go get a job.
John
Take a year off. Make a travel plan to see the world. Stay in hostels that have wifi, and split your time coding for open source projects and exploring the world.
you are 18. go out, get drunk get laid have some fun. get a meaningless job and just have some fun.. You'll thank me for this advice in about 15 to 20 years.
If you don't have any financial constraints then you may want to consider simply enjoying your summer - chasing hobbies, activities, travel plans that you usually don't have time to do.
The average case life trajectory for a CS grad is such that this one of the only two totally carefree extended vacations you have left from now till when you retire. You are done with high school, no major responsibilities, hopefully gotten into a university that you like and not many things to worry about for the future yet.
Your next three summers are going to be internships or summer jobs to get some experience using the CS skills that you start to learn in college. The only other care-free vacation you get from here on will be the summer when you graduate and are waiting to start your first job (assuming you get a job that you like and they don't expect you to start immediately after college).
Post that you are restricted to three weeks of vacation an year where it is hard to fully unplug from work.
So, you should evaluate if the experience you are going to gain by working some kind of entry level CS related job is worth it or not.
Just have fun. You'll be better after, no matter what you do.
Pick something as far from programming as possible, and do that.
I was convinced from a very early age that I wanted to be a nuclear physicist (this was back before it was politically corrected into "high energy physics"). I learned everything I could about it, learned all the math, derived neutron numbers from information gleaned from "The Curve of Binding Energy", and basically absorbed information like a sponge.
Then I went to my first year of college (entering as a sophomore due to my AP credits), did well in the first couple of quarters of physic classes (started in at the junior level, since I was pretty advanced in physics already), and things were going great. Then I was visiting a lab, and saw my first microcomputer with a graphics card (a Terak 8510, as it turned out).
Now I'm a software engineer for Google, having worked previously for Apple and IBM.
I tripled in physics, math, and CS, and physics taught me an incredible amount about how to think about problem solving that I couldn't have achieved without studying an actual hard science, but I'm not working in the field by building bombs for TRW to balance on top of pencils of fire.
The point of this little autobiographical journey is that, even if you know what you want, you might not know what you want /more/, until you encounter it.
So set yourself up in a situation where you'll encounter something outside your comfort zone, and which is far away from your experience to date. You might find you hate it; you might find you love it, but either way, in doing that, you'll find out more about yourself and the world. And if you find something you hate, remember that you can do something you hate while looking for something else; a summer is long enough to sample up to half a dozen things you find that you hate.
If I had my summer between high school and college to do over, I'd probably try for the news room at a newspaper, an art studio co-op, a cruise ship, a CPA firm, a law firm, an airline, or randomly opening the yellow pages.
-- Terry
Programming is a thankless fucking trade. You'll work long hours, for shitty pay, and get no respect. I'm still doing it after twelve years because I'm a demon-ridden idiot.
I would find myself, bitchslap myself, and tell myself to go have some fun, stop taking things so seriously, because life is too short. Most of my high school friends (who I haven't seen in decades), worked at a waterpark during the day and partied by night. I drove to the city and worked behind a desk doing Lotus 1-2-3 and dbase /// crap, then drove back and collapsed only to get up the next day and repeat. What a dumbass!!
Learn botany.
Figure out what you want to do on your own, with out asking anyone what you should do, this is why youth today have so many problems with reasoning skills, you have to use them.
here is what you can do before college. Go find a cliff or a bridge somewhere, then take your entire fucktarded family. Have all of them jump off to their deaths and after that jump to yours. Then there will be less fucktards in the gene pool.
Learn to program a self-driving car from Sebastian Thrun www.udacity.com (among other courses)
Start building a self-driving car (or plane) for Sparkfun's Autonomous Vehicle Competition in Boulder, CO next Spring
Intro video to class: http://youtu.be/Uqt_pRbR8rI
Footage from this year's Sparkfun AVC: http://youtu.be/F78GNbhPDTg
Or do a team sport. Not that it will help you get a job on its own, but much of candidate evaluation also depends on the fit for the team you are applying to. Most of my learning how to be on a team came from hockey growing up. (BTW, I said rock climbing because it's a great trust building activity, and if you're use to working solo it forces you to depend on others/help others which is absolutely necessary).
Baver
seriously, you don't wanna be the kid that died of alcohol poisoning. No one likes that guy.
Whats a programmer to do?
Program.
There is a ton of open source projects on the internet.
But I feel sorry for you, since obviously you can't think for yourself. SoE (Sony online Entertainment) hires programmers who can't think for themselves, give them a call.
Be seeing you...
"So what is a high school graduate who wants to work as a programmer to do?"
Seek professional counseling. You know not of that which you think you desire.
8*)
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
You'll only get so far with just programming skills. Now's a good time to brush up on writing, so you come across as intelligent.
For instance, TFS leads off with "I graduated high school two days ago."
"I was graduated from high school two days ago" will make people think you're refined.
"I graduated from high school two days ago" most people will accept.
"I graduated high school" is actually wrong, and people will think less of you for it. It doesn't matter what you think, that's what other people will think.
Usage books are actually fun - an outline of the API exceptions that is English. A good programmer can handle these sorts of rules with ease.
There are some usage websites, but the best stuff is still locked up in books.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
So he wanted to be trained and paid and give nothing in return? There's a group for people like that. It's called everyone, and we meet at the bar after work to discuss how life didn't work out like we wanted.
He was already a trained helicopter pilot; he wanted to make himself available to fill in for things like Hurricane Katrina while the full time military was off playing whack-a-mole with Al Qaeda. He was offering them a lot more than what he expected in exchange.
Make no mistake, this was a bait-and-switch based on the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) he was contracted for when he signed up.
-- Terry
...to go out and get experience in another field that interested me. Relatively few jobs in software development are purely about computers. Most involve programming in knowledge of another field where the computer system will be applied.
You've had a summer of coding in the workforce already, and that puts you ahead of most incoming freshmen. Go out and learn about something else because you'll need it later. It'll help you to know what you actually want to do with your degree when you get out. You have the next several years to focus on the computer side.
Okay, so maybe that was if you had a million dollars.
Still...your chances are arguably better now than nearly any other time in your life.
(I didn't say they were good, just better than they will be when you're 40, statistically speaking)
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
You are reaching the end of the time when you can ignore the real world and let your parents worry on your behalf.
Have fun. Serious can wait.
So he wanted to be trained and paid and give nothing in return? There's a group for people like that. It's called everyone, and we meet at the bar after work to discuss how life didn't work out like we wanted.
Best post ever
Freelance QA & development http://one-shore.com
Flip burgers - by knowing how the liberal arts majors will be making a living, it'll give you motivation to stay in a STEM field.
And end up as yet another under educated tech school grad. Bad advice. These guys do not know how to adapt because they've been taught how to do things by rote instead of by thinking, and they're taught the current techniques and fads which do not help when the times change or the job does not exactly match what was in the classroom. These train you for the sorts of jobs that are most easily outsourced or given to the lowest bidders. These schools very often are oriented towards students who could not get into a university and thus can be dumbed down; you won't get rigorous mathematics for instance. These are the worst places to be for someone who wants to work with computers or computer science as you'll be railroaded towards an IT services job.
Do all the jobs you won't want to do later but will add experience to your overall life, unless you want to spend your career in academia, in which case, ignore the rest of this message. I am basing this on you wanting to enter the work force with a career using Computer Science, but hedging your bets to ensure you get a job in the Computer Field (Software development, algorithm design, etc).
Example of summer jobs and part time weekend jobs:
Hotel Front desk clerk (learn to deal with rich people and systems)
Telemarketer (Yes, it SUCKS, but learning how easily people fall for this stuff and how to talk on the phone is invaluable)
Store Retailer (Learn why people buy stuff, how advertising really works)
Fast Food Clerk (Learn about food, people who work multiple jobs just to live, and/or are just trying to survive, it'll humble you in a good way, especially if you are fairly well to do already -- like not having to actually work to pay your way through university)
H&R Block tax clerk (Learn about taxes (to save yourself money later) and to learn how to deal with stressed out people)
PayDay Loans clerk (Learn how easily people get suckered, and learn to have pity for your fellow humans)
There are many other variations, but getting a good feels for sales, people, and getting a work ethic early will serve you better than anything else you can do.
If possible, try to get some of the following in as well:
1. Heavy work / Construction - even if just on a Saturday to volunteer with a family friend to carry stuff, learn how hard this work is (you'll really appreciate the University education and the ease of your physical life because of those choices). Try to pick up skills, as sooner or later, you will use them. Also, being in computers we (as computer people) tend to let the physical aspects of our lives slip, learn how to do hard work, to push the body. And no, a day or two a week at a gymnasium is NOT the same, that is a controlled, relaxed environment, not one where others are waiting on you to get their work done, etc.
2. Military - It can REALLY help with jobs, teaches you how to deal with stress, will prepare you for understanding group-think and will train you in skills you may not be able to get anywhere else. The reserves can also help pay your bills and give you a free social club while in University. Just don't loose yourself and realize you are doing it for the reasons you are doing it, it's easy to get carried away.
Two other things to do:
1. Go for interviews, apply for stuff you have NO CHANCE of getting, go knowing you have no chance but take the experience away, don't be afraid to ask the interviewer what they think you need, or where you went wrong, how or what you could do to really get this job. Generally, if you are nice, they will be very nice back and if you show you are willing to get there they will remember you. I got two jobs after university just because of this... It's easy to embarrass yourself now while learning versus doing it later when you are desparate for a job and can't afford to screw up. So use your youth to take those licks and walk away a stronger, better, and smarter person.
2. Try to get jobs outside your comfort zone (except morally or ethically problematic) while you are young and can learn what it is that really makes those jobs uncomfortable. Learning about yourself now is extremely important. I kind of skipped this for my first 3 years of University and didn't get the diversity until later, and by them realized it was too late to change my degree... Sometimes, if something is extremely important to you and you like it as a hobby, you may be better off majoring in another field and using your hobby knowledge to enhance that field instead.
In any case, good luck, and try to minimize your student loans (or any loans) with jobs. And, nothing looks better to an employer than seeing someone who knows how to work hard, especially when just starting as they have no idea what sort of person you will be to work with. Mil
As difficult as it may be to believe this, if you're poor and expecting to finance your education through a combination of grants, scholarships, and loans, working a summer job may be the worst decision you can make.
Things may have changed since my college days, and they may differ from state to state, but here is how my financial aid worked out.
New York State calculated financial aid eligibility taking the minimum income of the past 3 years. My sophomore year in high school I only got a part-time job and made about $800 all summer. I managed to save about half of it. My junior and senior years I worked almost full time in the summer and part-time during the year, and made about $3000-$4000 (this was at a time when minimum wage was $3.50/hr).
Freshman year in college, my aid paid for everything except books and activity fees (yes aid was more generous and costs were lower back then).
Sophomore year, my aid was reduced by $800 because of the earnings I'd made 3 years previously years and I had to take a student loan for that amount.
Junior year, my aid was reduced by about another $2200. I caught on to the pattern at that point. I was faced with the choice of quitting my part-time job right away and taking out a loan to pay expenses, or having to take an even bigger loan the next year. Remember, if I had not earned any money at all and just leeched off my parents, I would have come out of college debt-free.
So, my advice is, understand what your financial aid picture is going to be and how your earnings will affect it, before you rush out and get a job.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Everybody suggesting that you find work in something other than software development is right, or at least half right. Whatever work you find, you're probably not going to be getting paid much. So make sure you're doing something you can take pride in. I worked at Cinnabon that summer, and at that point they still made rolls from things that were identifiably ingredients. And you know what? Rolling them evenly is hard, especially the little ones.
I realize this doesn't sound all that glamorous, or like it has a lot of room for personal growth, but I learned something about analyzing my own work and trying something different next time until I got it right. You probably already have these skills, at least in nascent form (I did), but learning to use them in a different context will sharpen them.
Whatever skill you pick up, you might find yourself surprised when you pull it out sometime in the future. I was rolling out cinnamon rolls on the bottom of a canoe the next summer when I was guiding in the Boundary Waters, which was cool because not a lot of other guides could do that.
TL;DR: Work in a place where you can acquire a new skill, take pride in what you do, and use it as an opportunity to improve your self-assessment.
And don't work at a Cinnabon. As far as I know, they all have pre-made frozen rolls that only need to get baked. There's no pride to be taken in that kind of work.
Some people (though a minority) suggested to take on a problem you're passionate about and create a software project. If you're considering this, I suggest to start with small projects, and don't get stuck on a big one if there's no chance of finishing. It happened to me, and it's not the end of the world, but in the end you get some experience with failure (which you get if you fail fast too), and some programming skills, and nothing else to show for it. Myself, I looked at code analysis tools, and thought that I could create a better static analyser, with more heuristics and a better understanding of the code. I started to lay out the project in C++ and create classes and the part that reads a binary and produces an internal representation. I had a lot of interesting thoughts, and it was a quite pleasant period (so I'm not sure I actually regret it), but in the end it will not help my career one bit.
Many development engineers that I work with have fascinating personalities, experiences, and curiosity.
In the break room I see their eyes light up while telling enthralling stories from their respective lives.
These are the people who might track mud onto the carpet at work, because living on something like say, a hobby farm, gives them a depth of experience that becomes a model for the computing systems that they create.
The correlations that model life to technology are endless.
My friends who are electricians and HVAC technicians understand systems as well as programmers, but use a different, physical language.
Do your parents make a favorite meal? Isn't the technique in a recipe much like a procedural flow in software?
When you experience life outside of technology, you begin to see things like plumbing concepts that have flow and pressure that are much like data rate and throughput.
If you work as a grocery bagger and the grocery store manager says, 'There's a ton of people in line, can you bag a little faster?'
In technology, you will begin to see that people in the grocery line is much like IOs cached in a memory pool.
See the world so you can re-create it during your career.
Best of luck!
I hear it's all the rage these days... well that and bath salts.... have fun, get an STD.
Set your sights high, make it do something you think is cool. List it for sale in the various App stores, and if doesn't sell, list it for free.
Even if no one ever uses it much, and it does something you think is cool you can be proud about it. It'll also make for a good conversation topic the first couple interviews you do for "real" jobs/internships.
Unless you need to work to save up for college, I'd suggest enjoying your summer instead.
Why?
Because when you join the workforce after college you are never going to get an entire summer off again. And depending on how your college career goes you could find yourself spending your summers studying as well.
You're still young. Enjoy it while you can.
Janitor, waiter, or store clerk.
I know that doesn't sound like what you wanted to hear. However, it has an important career purpose. It gives you a reason to suffer through the tough days ahead of you.
I'm in science. You know what really kept me going when I had too many college exams and not enough time? I thought back to my time working in a grocery store. I remembered evenings spent dealing with ornery, sometimes desperate, shoppers. I remembered restocking the douchebags (yes, really). I remembered thinking, as I shelved those douchebags, "This is the lowest point in my career. No matter how bad things get in school, it will be worth it to not ever have to do this again."
Also, it's nice to sock some money away so you can afford to do interesting things when you actually get to school. That's more important than anything you could possibly do right now. No one will care what your high school level programming job experiences are, even if they are very good ones. It's just not going to be taken seriously.
Check the hourly job postings at the University. They usually are looking for someone with your developer skills but not willing to pay much for them. Or just check the Fine Arts department there. They probably have a web site that needs development when it's not being owned by Russian hackers.
It all starts at 0
Travel and learn about the world around you. If money is limited, try to hook up with a few friends and do a road trip. Alternatively, work abroad as an expat/work-study programme. It's something that you'll never forget and will help you to become a more well-rounded person in general. Whilst formal education is certainly beneficial, there are things that can't be taught in an academic setting. Time is needed to find and discover both yourself and your interests. I speak from experience - I travelled extensively and it turned out to be a real asset in both my life and career. There's plenty of time to work the grind - go explore and have fun. :-)
Get a summer job in your field. You will acquire attitudes that will be useful when you start your studies in the fall.
If you're having trouble finding work, phone companies up. Make it clear that you are looking for summer work in your field of study, and many employers will be much more sympathetic. A lot of them are willing to give students a hand up if the student is demonstrating initiative. (They were there too at one time, and often they need people who will do grunt work.) If companies don't work out, try calling up your future professors.
As for enjoying your last summer, that's something that I would suggest holding off on until you've completed your first year of studies. Simply put, if you don't go into first year with the right attitudes, you may not make it through first year. And even if you do make it through first year, you may not have the right attitudes to get and hold down a job after graduation.
Without a summer job how do pay for all the booze, ammo, fireworks, drugs, and petroleum proper summer requires? If you can fund these things without a job you should reconsider your entire plan.
I keep getting older, and they stay the same age...
If you need an internship on a project you can use on a resume and a site with high visibility I may be of help there. I don't disagree with the folks who say have fun, date girls, and I would add network with people now cause you don't know it yet but it will help later.
usrockets.com
I suggest you practice working as a team with someone you are not in the same town as, on this or some project.
I have had several interns in the past and they have said great tings about how the particular experience I sugested really helped their careers. Mainly in the fields of aerospace and chemistry.
Ask yourself "what would Elon Musk do".
If you don't know who that is, look him up on Wikipedia.
Very few people after reading this guy's bio will argue with that advice.
Find something wrong with it, and fix it. Or just enjoy the goddamn summer and go get some girls. Even if you fail, you will not regret in the future. But the "wasting my youth and summer" part... well.
I would spend the summer writing cool programs while at the same time I would get some introductory discrete mathematics and algorithms book that I would start reading. I guess it depends on where you are going, but I myself read Don Knuth's Concrete Mathematics and Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis the summer before I enrolled in CS and math at Princeton. This was a big help, though the latter is not needed for CS.
Go work in a national park for a summer the money sucks the job sucks but the people are wonderful and you get free rain of the park. I worked for Glacier Park Services one summer and I still have fond memories of my time their..
The parent poster suggests you join the National Guard.
I have a friend with a masters in CS, was a highly respected engineer at Apple. He was a recreational helicopter pilot who always wanted to be a rescue pilot working for LifeFlight or a similar air ambulance organization. So he joined the National Guard to get flight hours and get rescue training for domestic disasters, which he felt was an OK trade for boot camp plus one weekend a month and two weeks a year.
He's in Afghanistan now.
-- Terry
He's serving his country and doing his duty.
This is perhaps not the outcome he might have desired, but he knew going in he was entering military service.
I have known men who served in WWII and joined the Guard or Reserves afterward to hang out with their buddies and wound up in Korea, so this is not a new story.
However, these are not reasons to discourage a young man from service to his country.
Have you no scruples?
I spent the summer and what would have been my first semester working at a job that paid $10.50+ an hour data transcribing for a federal contractor. Something where I could work 20-30 hours a week during school and still make more money than most of my peers. While it did delay my graduation, I was able to use that to move up in the company to my current position working as help desk (I just graduated about a month and a half ago). The business experience and clearances do help getting calls for positions after college (I have an interview for a SysAdmin position tomorrow).
Anyways, I would say try getting laid at least once while the girls are still naive. Telling college girls you're a CompSci major really seems to be a turn off for some reason. But seriously, for programming, working on open source projects will help heavily, and working on mobile applications for Android or iOS will provide something tangible as well. When you start school, check with the professors, a good chunk of them have some sort of pet project to work on. One of the professors at my school had projects related to an interactive campus-wide map available to develop for.
Read all of Richard Branson's books regarding running your own business and entrepreneurship in general.
Also, open a Roth IRA now and start saving at least 10 percent of everything you make.
Particularly against the deadliest poison known to man: iocane powder
Have fun, you idiot!
Seriously. Talk to the CS department at the school where you were accepted. If they have summer sessions or camps, there might be something you can get involved in and get paid. It would be a tremendous opportunity for you to meet different professors, the administration you will be dealing with and get to know some people still in high school that might be in summer camps offered at the school. The only other thing I could add would have already been suggested. This might have too! But, the bottom line is you will have plenty of summers to get experience working ahead of you, and those opportunities might be better if you befriend the right people and do good work. Or, you might get inside, not like CS and save yourself a lot of hassle changing majors now rather than later.
That is what I did with my Summers and I was a CS major. I don't know how good it looked on my resume when I was looking for a job, this was late 90s, so there were plenty of jobs. But, dealing with children and parents of those children shows people skills.
So, my suggestion would be to "Be Creative" don't go looking for programming jobs, look for things that demonstrate your abilities outside of programming. Volunteer opportunities, but choose something that is interesting to you. Tutor summer school kids or something like that. Teaching demonstrates the ability to communicate. I am sure there are lots of other great ideas.
As far as what to do before and in college:
1. Delete your facebook account immediately. Never go back.
2. Don't drink. Do not hang out with anyone that drinks. Spend all of your time alone, in your dorm room. Don't tempt yourself.
3. If you have a girlfriend, dump her immediately, do not date until your finished with school.
4. Do not participate in Summer/Winter/spring/fall breaks. Take classes all the way through.
5. Do not buy any of the books listed as needed for the classes you are taking. Wait until you're in class and they ask you to take it out... then dig through your bag and say "Oh man, that's the one I forgot!" pick it up at the student bookstore on the way back to your room. 75% of the books that were listed as "Required" for my classes were a. never used in the class and b. written by the professor teaching the class (i.e. it was a scam to get you to buy his shit)
6. Replace the video card in your computer with the oldest, most worthless once you can find. Make sure than even doom would have trouble rendering on your computer. Do not play any video games... ever.
7. Get rid of your smartphone.
You may think this all sounds extreme... but after you're out of school with your insane GPA, you'll be able to pick your job... your girl... what you want to drink... 70% of my classmates dropped out the first year. Think about that.
Skip the college. You can learn everything you need without paying the big bucks or the four years for college. Nobody has ever asked me if I went to college, what my degrees were, what my GPA was, etc. All my customers care is if I can solve their problems for them. I can.
Many comments focus on chasing girls etc. Why the assumption that only males would be interested in studying computer science and looking for summer work.
He joined the military, as YOU said, "to get flight hours and get rescue training for domestic disasters." Well, he's getting exactly that. That that training happens to be flying medevac missions in Kandahar is not due to a "bait and switch" - you go where the military needs you, not where you "weally weally WANT" to go.
If you sign up for the military, and somehow are left with the idiotic notion that you can never, ever, possibly be deployed to a warzone - especially when there's two major active deployment areas - then I'm sorry, but you're a fucking moron. You can debate the merits and constitutionality of federalizing and deploying National Guardsmen until you're blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is, there is a LONG history of federal control & deployment of NG units, and to pretend that that'll never happen to YOU knowing that just makes you really, really, really dumb.
If he was truly "guaranteed" a helicopter job, and suddenly informed he was unable to do that, then:
1) If it was through no fault of his own (e.g., the Army just doesn't have a job open, or they phase out his particular MOS), he was almost certainly offered the option of voluntary separation (discharge), or the choice of a few others that he DOES qualify for;
2) If it was because he wasn't able to meet the requirements of the job, the Army would pick a new MOS for him that he DOES meet the qualifications for - and this is clearly stated in an enlistment contract;
3) There is no MOS that offers a "and you'll never have to go to an actual war zone" guarantee, either.
...you realize that working and having a life are not mutually exclusive, right? You don't have to party 7 days/week to enjoy the summer (I would be bored by the time week 1 was over).
If you can't find a summer gig and/or you don't need the money, find an open source project (as others have mentioned), or work your way through some new programming books. But most importantly, study/work on something fun, even if it's not programming related. I always want more time to study what I WANT to know, instead of what I NEED to know. Take some time to study whatever you want.
Do that for maybe ~20 hrs/week, then spend the rest of your time goofing off with friends or playing games.
Speaking 25+ year post High School here is my sage advice:
Go to a party, drink some beer, meet some girls. Rinse, repeat as often as possible.
It is likely that you'll have less and less of a chance to do this in your future, and more and more reasons not to. Don't miss your chance, kid.
Many MIT professors are indeed world-class researchers, but it's an entirely different question whether they are equally good teachers, especially for students who don't have any direct contact with them, as will be the case if you take online classes.
or 3, learn what you want todo in life before becoming a rat in the maze
Fuck a lot of women. I mean, a lot.
Dude, you just graduated high school - this summer is where you drink, party, and poon.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
nuclear physics != high energy physics
nuclear physics deals with a much lower energy regime (MeV's) than high energy physics (TeV's). The distinction has nothing to do with political correctness, and everything to do with different subject areas!
If you had a job related to the field you are planning to study and they don't want you back maybe you want to think about a different field for college.
Seriously, you are probably the cheapest worker they can get and even though you are local and speak their language they don't want you.
The best employment in the future will be writing VIRII at one of many defense contractor. So start learning how to write VIRII.
I suggest having fun and contributing to open source in the mean time. Congrats on your acceptance by the way, at which institution will you be studying?
Spend most of the summer toting 2x4s and shingles, mixing mortar for the brick masons, etc.
Good tan, good muscles.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
take a year off and travel the world on the cheap. you'll see a lot, learn a lot, and meet lots of interesting people.
Spend it contemplating if college actually makes sense for you. Read the blog at www.jamesaltucher.com. He's got some great ideas for things to do before AND instead of college.
Don't listen to all the stressed-out middle agers pining for a care-free high school summer. Save kicking around Europe for a time when your life is crazy and you need to decompress. You're young and fired up and ready to learn and grow. Seize that.
I had two jobs at my university the summer between high school and college. One was doing data analysis and writing software for the school's particle accelerator. The other was changing out rat cages in the medical labs. You can guess which one paid more. Both were valuable experience. I got to know my way around campus, I got to know some professors -- I even got an email address over the summer. NOBODY had email addresses back then! After changing the rat cages I'd sit in my boss's office and use his computer and connect to systems all over the world. I know it's hard to imagine, but that was a rare opportunity at one time.
Universities are gold mines of opportunities -- outside the classroom. Get a job - even if it's changing rat cages - and get to know people. If you keep quiet and do what you're told it'll be years before you're doing anything cutting edge. Seek out those opportunities now. Find the profs doing ground breaking work and change the batteries in their robots or something.
And yes, between working at the particle accelerator, another job at the med school, and learning my way around the fledgling internet, I still managed to go to the beach with my girlfriend a few times and go to a bunch of movies I can't remember now. So I had fun. You will too. But don't listen to the workaholics telling you this is the last glimmer of freedom you'll ever have so make the most of it. Take the opportunity to get a leg up on the rest of the incoming freshmen by catching the attention of some profs now. Even if it means cleaning rat cages.
I know some people will disagree with me, but programming contests can be fun and can teach you a lot. Check topcoder.com and codeforces.com for some very popular online programming contests.
Even though programming contests usually don't teach you a lot about good software design practices (TopCoder has some competitions on that too), you'll definitely learn a lot about algorithms, data structures and computer science.
Besides, with some practice you can land a great job on an awesome company, as many of them recruit on programming contests like ACM-ICPC.
Look, I understand that it is likely that your budget is probably pretty limited, but your best ROI will come from traveling. Just go. The classic spot is Thailand, but Central or South America is less expensive to get to. Once you're there costs can drop to almost zero. If you need some funding for the road, use your java skills on some freelance jobs.
...for a year. The you'll know how computers actually work.
"when hiring programmers, always choose the one that knows assembler" - Andrea Frankel., 1988
Need Mercedes parts ?
Ask yourself if you really want to do computer science or if you want to program for a living. If you want to program get a Software Engineering degree instead. Too many people go into computer science thinking that's how they learn to program and made lots of money. If you want to solve scientific problems, be a computer scientist. If you want to be a developer, go for software engineering.
My advice to you––and I pray that you read it––is change your major and go for Software Engineering. You sound like you want to be a developer. None of my Engineering friends, especially SW Engineering, have had any trouble getting a job. The degree is fairly new, so you may have to switch to a different school, but it pays big after you graduate.
Don't fall into the trap where you think "Programming" == "Computer Science." So many people do, and I cringe every time I see it happen. Decide what you want to do and get the right specialization for the job. Call employers and ask them what they'd rather have, a CS or a Software Engineer.
Above all, follow your heart and be open to new ideas––remember, there is a place for everything, and it's called college.
Well, you could brush up on your Java skills a bit more and write a small website running on a Tomcat server. Or you could do something actually useful to your life, like...
you know...
going outside.
Do you want to work on a distributed retail chain management system? If yes, drop me a line.
You can't handle the truth.
It sounds like you have already done some work and have some references you can use in the future. That contract work you did already is the sorta thing you will be able to point at to land that (hopefully paid) internship next year when you are in college.
You might not be old anytime soon but you will never be young again. Nor are you likely to have a situation like you have right now where its so unclear what you 'ought' be doing that you need to pose the question on Slashdot. After you freshmen year your objects are going to be much more clearly defined. You will have sense how to work toward them and likely want to.
There opportunity cost of 'having some fun' for you is at an all time low, so go do it. Have a summer fling with some girl from your highschool, gather your buds and take a road trip to nowhere for a few weeks. Go hike what you can of the AT or PCT. Do things you won't have the time for later.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
... drinking until passing out at parties.
At Rackspace Hosting, we in the IT department brought on ~20 recent high school grads this summer. Now, to be sure, they are local (San Antonio) folks who were in special technology classes, top of their classes and what not, but the point is that opportunities do exists. We have about 20 college interns as well. The truth is that companies need to do this type of training if they are to be competitive. There is a huge gap between even the best CS degree and a professional software engineer. Oh...and it is too late for this summer, we love you, but please don't flood us with requests.
Yes, but I've never met an absolutely top-notch programmer who didn't have a well-thumbed set --- granted this is a small sample (I've known 3 ``real programmers''), but 100% correlation is a good indicator, no?
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Europeans, Canadians & us Aussies don't have a problem backpacking arround the world, doing a gap year, why Americans don't do it is beyond me.
Enjoy your last few days of freedom. I'm finishing my degree now and I tell you , make the most of your summer. Whatch all the anime ! Play all the games do everything as if you will never have another chance :)
You are, I think, missing the point.
The point is that if you join the National Guard, it's not a safe haven, you're getting deployed as if you had intentionally joined the full time military. There's no practical difference these days between the two. If George Bush had pulled his stint with the Texas National guard in this climate, his ass would have been in Vietnam. Even the Coast Guard is getting deployed overseas.
Add to this that when your contract is up, if you are able-bodied, then you are getting stop-lossed and you're not getting a discharge at the end of your contract period, unless, like my nephew, you are injured enough that you're no longer useful. And then after 6 months, they will then say you are fully recovered, even if you demonstrably aren't, and wash their hands of you to avoid paying ongoing medical.
-- Terry
At the time I took it, if you worked at SLAC, you were a nuclear physicist.
-- Terry
Annoy motivated high school boys by commenting on their posts and suggesting things they _obviously_ don't want to do.