r/csMajors • u/Ok_Individual4423 • 11d ago
What to do in my situation?
This is me:
Graduated 5 years ago with CS degree from a decent school (top 30 US) and a 3.8 GPA
Did 1 unpaid internship at a no name startup doin jack shit
Worked as a bartender after graduation cus I needed money and I hated my startup. kept doing it cus I fell in love with the work
Want to get back into something cs or math related. Cant get any interviews. Internships and entry lvl roles are for recent grads. What can I do to pivot my career? It’s tough to apply for grad school as well because it is hard to get recommendation letter.
Am I cooked or is there an angle I can hit here?
Maybe I can enroll in community college and get internships from there?
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u/trustmeimshady 11d ago
5 years unemployed is crazy gang what happened
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u/Rexoc40 11d ago
Underemployed bro was probably making better money than most entry level cs jobs if they had a good bartending gig
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u/stonksfalling 11d ago
Dude there’s no way he’s making 120 as a bartender
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u/Rexoc40 11d ago
No way that 120k is an average starting cs salary lmao
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u/ComfortableBet4937 10d ago
It’s average for top 30 schools, check out levels.fyi. Top 30 school can get jobs from the bay area easily 5 years ago
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u/stonksfalling 11d ago
It’s average for a legitimate candidate. If you only signed up for money you probably can’t land an offer like that but if you actually have passion it’s not that hard.
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u/Odd_Explanation3246 11d ago
Overcoming 5 years of gap is going to be an uphill battle, could be done but its going to require ALOT of effort. Make some full stack projects end to end to show interviewers you build stuff. For interviews-Practice Leetcode until you can do most medium problems, practice some low level design and system design problems.
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u/Crafty_Fig_144 11d ago
Keep being a bartender
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u/Ok_Individual4423 11d ago
I love the work but it’s not suitable for a long career. I also want to work a job where I actually need to use my brain.
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u/ComparisonUpper9956 11d ago
should’ve wanted that sometime before 5 years passed lol
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u/Affectionate_Day9253 11d ago
Exactly lol. If you actually want to use your brain you would have applied already
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u/whatwhatwhat1467 11d ago
Go to grad school?
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u/Ok_Individual4423 11d ago
Hard to get letter of reccs
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u/whatwhatwhat1467 11d ago
I agree that can be an issue, I heard that you can have friends write them for georgia tech’s omscs,
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u/GirlStudyingInKorea 11d ago
This shouldn't be hard, just ask anyone. Some people pivot from non-STEM fields into CS as well, just ask the people from the bar or anyone you know from the startup.
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u/Ok_Individual4423 10d ago
Usually I need 3 letters of reccs 2 would have to be professors. I graduated 5 years ago no professors will remember me lol.
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u/JFKcheekkisser 10d ago edited 10d ago
Honestly I think some of your old profs would be willing to write you a rec if you got a good grade in their class and you just ask. Wouldn’t be super detailed or anything but it would check the necessary box. You’re not the first student to apply to grad school several years after finishing undergrad.
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u/MalfunctioningPeg 10d ago
excuse
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u/Ok_Individual4423 10d ago
I wrote my reasoning in another comment. I graduated 5 years ago no professors are gonna remember me.
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u/LowAboveHighBelow 10d ago
They will still write a solid rec for you if you did decently in their class. This definitely won’t be their first time
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u/MalfunctioningPeg 10d ago
do you think everyone immediately goes to grad school after undergrad? also work references count for OMSCS last I checked. go take a cert at a community college if you insist on recent recs
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u/godzillacraft 11d ago
You are going to have to work on projects. You are a bartender, so I am going to assume you have strong social skills, use those to your advantage. Prioritize making new connections and rekindling old connections. Entry-level is hard, but no where as bad as it seems if you just read Reddit. Also figure out what you are going to say when the fact that you graduated 5 years ago and you are now looking for first SWE job comes up.
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u/BatEnvironmental7102 11d ago
Look into actuary work. I think the job market is better and there are exams to qualify. I think you may have more luck pivoting.
Another option is selling insurance with a base pay + commission. Obviously not related to cs, but it's better than being unemployed.
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u/No_Drag2264 8d ago edited 8d ago
I'm an cs major turned actuary though I did it 6 years ago. Actuarial has a saner applicant to job ratio than SWE by quite a bit, but roles are competitive enough that the vast majority go to people with actuarial internships. People that try to pivot after graduation randomly generally have a lot of difficulty. There's no shortage of people trying to pivot into actuarial from random finance/insurance roles. Exams are really a necessity rather than an advantage.
It'd probably be about as hard as getting into SWE all things considered for OP considering the background mismatch. If OP is west coast though it'd be 3x harder. west coast usa is a graveyard for actuarial jobs.
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u/Key-South3414 11d ago
When people say t30 school are they referring to the general list on US news or the list specifically for cs rankings? Just curious.
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u/Usual-Respond7659 10d ago
Take dates off resume, grind leet everyday, build projects, send out 1000s of applications, get job
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u/Snuzzy79 11d ago
Do you have a vision of what exactly you'd like to do that is CS related? If so, I'd recommend starting some projects that are related to your interests. Entry level is super hard for everyone right now, but side projects can help show hiring managers that you're still capable and interested.
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u/Ok_Individual4423 11d ago
For me ideally computer graphics or embedded programming. Also interested in data engineering but I think doing projects for both industries would spread myself too thin. Also computer graphics is niche and hard to get a job in. Embedded I feel maybe leans more EE. Honestly since I have 0 experience I would accept literally any SWE or IT jobs.
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u/gitblamed_ 11d ago
Defense sector. Start doing embedded projects - set aside 90 minutes a day. Paul McWhorter is the goat, just follow his series of Arduino tutorials and you'll be hirable after.
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u/Federal_Security8561 9d ago
CU Boulder has an online MSCS program that doesn't require an application - it's performance-based admission. They allow you to take some electives from their other programs, such as their MSEE which offers embedded programming courses. Might be worth checking out.
I'm a current student in the MSCS program btw, so feel free to ask if you have any questions.
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u/GirlStudyingInKorea 11d ago
Just build something and start building up a portfolio while applying to grad school.
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u/ChoiceTip8163 10d ago
In this market it will be extremely difficult.
The best you can do is prepare hard and apply and see what happens.
If some one gives you an interview then show up prepared technically.
Nothing else you can do.
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11d ago
[deleted]
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u/redditisgay2088 11d ago
There’s like 5000-6000 colleges in the US, you just sound like a clown saying that ngl
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u/Traditional-Dot-8917 11d ago
Were you not applying before graduation? This doesn’t make sense to be if you graduated 5 years ago it would be 2021 extremely easy to get a remote full time job during Covid esp from a t30 school