Mit ocw if you get past cs50 from Harvard. Specifically 6.1010 or 6.009 (fundamentals of programming), it's less introductory but it's the next step after learning python and will make you a strong programmer. You get out what you out in. Answer from HeroHaxz on reddit.com
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › how do i prepare for computer science major?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: How do I prepare for Computer Science major?
January 19, 2023 -

I’ve been seriously contemplating quitting my part-time job and going to community college (only education i can afford currently) to get a CS degree. I don’t have any programming experience, I graduated high school (luckily) about two years ago, but forgot a lot of the math. What areas in math or school subjects in general should I refresh on to prepare myself? or is everything in CS new and I’Il learn it once I start school. Hoping to get advice from people who graduated or at least attempted CS. Tried posting in r/computerscience but my account was ‘too new’. Thanks.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/itcareerquestions › how do i get into it while studying computer science?
r/ITCareerQuestions on Reddit: How do I get into IT while studying computer science?
February 25, 2024 -

Hi there,

I am a computer science major set to graduate next spring but I want to get into IT as I don't really enjoy what I study. Can't really change my major as I am already too deep into it. I am looking to get a job or internship now but I have a few questions to ask.

What kind of jobs should I be applying to helpdesk, sys admin?

What skills, certs should I look to learn?

Is my computer science degree irrelevant in this field?

Aside from obtaining the skills and certs, how else can I bolster my resume?

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Apply to everything, expect to get a help desk job. Certs will not help you now, apply for more jobs. No. Relate whatever you have experience in or have done to the roles you are trying to get.
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Hey, I'm a CS grad who transitioned to IT. Most (if not all) IT jobs will accept a CS degree in lieu of an IT degree. In fact, CS degrees are much more flexible than IT degrees. To answer your questions: What kind of jobs should I be applying to helpdesk, sys admin? You're going to have to start at the bottom like everybody else. Help Desk is most likely going to be your first step. Since you haven't graduated yet and have a year left, you might be able to snag a co-op or internship and get a head start on being able to transition out of Help Desk earlier than most. What skills, certs should I look to learn? Skills: Troubleshooting, for one. You've debugged code before so it shouldn't be much of a leap to learn to apply it to other pieces of tech. Secondly, research. You're probably pretty adept at GoogleFu to figure out how to do X or Y in a given language so, again, you're just applying it to other things in a similar vein. Certs: I got my current gig with no certs at all, and I'm no expert on certs so if I'm wrong on this someone correct me, but given you're going to have a CS degree you can likely skip the A+. The Net+ and Sec+, the other two of the CompTIA trifecta, are certs you should probably look into. Is my computer science degree irrelevant in this field? Absolutely not. From the Wiki: The most versatile option [for degrees] is a Computer Science degree. This is because the foundation you gain in CS is applicable to ALL areas of IT, including programming. Keep in mind that this does not mean you have to be a programmer. The Comp Sci curriculum teaches you a strong foundation of how computers work (hardware, software, and networking, as well as how they all work together) which is helpful in all areas of IT. Also, learning to program teaches you logic. This helps you to be able to figure out complex issues in IT even with no prior exposure. Finally, having some basic coding knowledge will always help you in IT. Aside from obtaining the skills and certs, how else can I bolster my resume? Homelab. Some people say it's useless but frankly given the amount of people trying to break into IT, literally anything that puts you a cut above will help. Telling an interviewer you actually applied your knowledge and did in will probably tell them you're not working from zilch. Run a Linux VM, set up a Plex server, do some data migrations from your Google Drive to a NAS. Choice is yours. I would definitely consult the Wiki in the sidebar for further advice and guidance.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/cscareers › how hard is it to get a job with a computer science degree?
r/cscareers on Reddit: How hard is it to get a job with a Computer Science degree?
January 28, 2025 -

I am currently studying a computer science degree and I am in my third year. Just wanted to know what are the chances I get a good job after I finish my degree. When I was in secondary and college I heard that computer science paid a lot of money so I choose it over a maths degree. I would say that I am doing pretty well and am on the road to achieve a first class but just scared that I might not be guaranteed a good job. People were saying to do a masters to have a higher chance but how hard is it really to get a job after completing a computer science degree?

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reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › is a computer science degree necessary in today’s market?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: Is a Computer Science Degree necessary in today’s market?
November 11, 2023 -

I am a special education teacher with a masters degree and after working for 10 years in the field I want to transition into a career in ed tech.

I completed Harvard’s CS50 Introduction to a computer science via my local university for free and I fell in love with it. I am currently finishing some courses on Udemy for some fundamentals to prepare me for the next big step.

I am debating on getting a bootcamp cert or a formal computer science degree. I understand that experience is also valuable, but I want to increase my chances of being hired.

With today’s job market, what would increase my chances of breaking into the field?

Find elsewhere
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › best way to prepare myself for a cs degree?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: Best Way to Prepare myself for a CS degree?
November 10, 2023 -

Context; Taking a gap year currently, plan to enter Penn State for Computer Science in Fall 2024. Zero underlying experience in anything related.

Hello World,

My purpose for creating this post is to get some opinions from Developers and Engineers about what would be the best way I can prepare myself for entering a 4 year Compsci program. I have been told that the first 2 classes at my local Penn state campus will be intro to C++ and C++.

My question is, does anybody recommend a course/boot camp that I can start doing now for free or cheap that can help me prepare myself for this 4 year journey? Whether it be learning C++ or Understanding the basic theories of Computer Science. Also, would it better to dive into that language or master the theory part first? ( this might be an obvious answer but I’d like reassurance from someone with experience)

Also any additional tips that could help me will be very much appreciated.

Thanks In Advance!

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reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › getting a computer science degree in my 30s
Getting a Computer Science Degree in My 30s : r/learnprogramming
July 10, 2023 - I'm in my 30s and I just started in an AAS in computer science. Good luck, we got this! ... I think you're more worried about your age than you need to be! 30s is nothing, you'll be fine. And as others have said, AI is not a threat to you or any other developer any time soon. Getting a CS degree (either a BS or MS) will ideally set you up well for a job in programming, but do your due diligence.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › start comp sci degree from scratch or try to get it in six months?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: Start comp sci degree from scratch or try to get it in six months?
August 17, 2023 -

Currently at USC as an English major and Im looking to take comp sci as my new major but if this were to occur I would be looking at a four year course plan, so currently a 20 year old junior, making me graduate when Im 24. I seriously dont know if I’m willing to do this. Should I take on usc course plan or maybe join like WGU to earn my degree in halve the time or even a quarter. I’ve heard people getting there degree in six months time. I’m very passionate about computer science but don’t know if I want to spend another four years going after a degree from ground zero. Any thoughts? Would really appreciate any advice:)

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/itcareerquestions › how can i get my foot in the industry with a computer science degree?
r/ITCareerQuestions on Reddit: How can I get my foot in the industry with a computer science degree?
January 9, 2023 -

So I’m graduating with my Computer Science degree in 6 months and I’ve been looking into Network engineering and Security Analyst jobs in my area, and I’ve noticed they are requiring about 3 years of experience to get into these “entry level” jobs. I have no prior “work experience” in tech so my question is how should I go about getting my foot inside the tech industry? I’m currently working towards getting the CCNA and Security+ certifications and I think I’ll have them by the time I graduate. I’ve read a lot from other subreddits that you need to get a help desk job to start off, is that true? What can I do at this level to get some sort of entry level job since I have no real experience?

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/cscareerquestions › what can i do with my cs degree?
r/cscareerquestions on Reddit: What can I do with my CS degree?
June 19, 2023 -

I graduated two months ago with my bachelor’s in computer science. However, I don’t have much besides that to put on a resume, except for my senior design project and a summer job where I was cold calling for a cybersecurity company.

Given how oversaturated entry-level SWE jobs are right now, what is my best move to get a decent paying job with my CS degree? The idea of grinding leetcode and building a portfolio with a bunch of side projects honestly does not sound appealing to me, especially as I start to lose that “new grad” title with each month I spend on those. Surely there is something in IT or another tech field that I can break into without needing other qualifications?

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/askcomputerscience › looking to get into computer science...what's my first step?
r/AskComputerScience on Reddit: Looking to get into computer science...what's my first step?
November 24, 2019 -

Hello, I've been a hobby programmer for a couple years. I'm somewhat of a geek and have always loved computers.

I'm 24 years old and haven't been to college.

I live in a popular university town, that has a public university, a couple private universities, and a community college.

Should I first pursue the computer science Associate of Science Degree from the community college? Should I get the community college degree and then major at the university? Should I skip community college altogether? (By the way, would the associate degree be enough to land a job, without pursuing a higher degree?)

Sorry for my ignorance, I don't have any experience with the college/university system.

Thank you for your time!

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General academia advice. If you are paying for the degree yourself, take every transferable class you can at the community college. It will save you thousands and the classes are often as good (and sometimes better). I did this with my EE degree and took a fraction of the loans some of my peers did.

All of the non BS holders I’ve worked with had 10-20 yoe, so I can not speak on that aspect.

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Agree with u/dataGuyThe8th - get most credits as cheap as you can. Find a program in a private university that will accept credits from the community college.

You don't need a BS to get a job, it just really helps land that first interview. That being said, if you have been doing stuff on your own for awhile and have a body of work you can point to, that can go a long way.

The best thing that advanced education can give someone, as compared to a self-study, is that usually you are exposed to a much wider array of ideas/concepts that helps those people be more well rounded and flexible in the field.

For example, CS programs will expose you to things like finite-state automatons and inductive reasoning proofs and other abstract things where you won't even touch a computer. These are hard for people to self-teach because they aren't as fun, and you may never think you need that sort of knowledge to program. But there's so much overlap, you never know how that sort of thing informs your decisions later on.

A generalization of course - not everyone needs college, many college grads are awful, etc etc. But if you skip that step, you need to somehow make it clear to employers that you are one of the good self-taught people.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/csmajors › no experience in computer science. can someone give me some advice?
r/csMajors on Reddit: No experience in Computer Science. Can someone give me some advice?
April 3, 2021 -

I'll get straight to the point. I am 20 years old now and I was a fuck up throughout high school and graduated with a 1.7 GPA. Something happened in my life that caused me to change and make a 180. I am now a sophomore in community college (will be a junior this spring) and I have a 3.5 GPA now.

I have from a young age always been interested in programming and experimented with Minecraft when I was younger but due to poor guidance and not being old enough I couldn't learn more.

But, things have changed! I am now old enough and I did two years at my community college due to my poor GPA (from high school) and I am now being accepted to the #1 Public University in my state. I will be majoring in Computer science here are my four concerns/questions.

1.) Will I fall behind because I don't know any Computer Science? I'm literally going in blind to these beginner software classes and I am scared I won't learn. This is probably my biggest concern. Don't people usually have experience in Computer Science before they take the major? Will I have a hard time passing?

2.) What are some ways I can start learning programming at home over this summer so I can prepare?

3.) Is there any specific language I should choose to learn that well maximize my potential in the future? Or any language that I should be learning that will help me get through my college courses?

4.) I know Computer Science is going to be arduous but, is there any tips you guys have to studying programming language that will help me be better prepared?

My biggest concern is probably #1 and the rest are just me asking for your guys kindness for any tips/advice.

Thank you guys so much for reading. I am really nervous so I thought making this reddit post could give me some clarity of thought. Thanks! All criticism is supported and welcomed.

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No many start really late. It doesn't matter. If you listen or attend some tech conferences many people tell how they started really late or switch majors at your age but they are working in FAANG. YouTube, Udacity courses, and other online sites. Identify what you would like to work on. Web dev: html,css, JavaScript, backend: python, javac++, android: java, kotlin. Generally speaking, any from python, c++,java will work but it's better to study python after learning c++ or java. Practice Practice Practice
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Lots of people going into computer science do not have a lot of previous coding experience. If you know computer fundamentals like how to install programs, manage files, etc then it shouldn’t be difficult for you to learn in those beginner software classes. In fact, the computer science course may not be what you have to worry about, the other courses part of your program like a math course might be more worth your concern at this point You brought up Minecraft, maybe start close to home and try setting up a Minecraft server and coding a Spigot Minecraft plugin in Java. That’s the ‘fun option’, you can also try a Udemy course or watch some YouTube videos to learn Python. Maybe make a website but be careful as that can be a waste of time because most of the code that goes into a beginner website isn’t helpful for your college courses. You may also want to consider making command line games in whatever language you choose to learn first, and this may help you in your courses. Python is the first language that a lot of beginners seem to learn these days but in terms of college and future jobs it may not help very much unless you are very good at using it for data science and machine learning. I still think Java is the programming language used most in college, so that will get you through those courses. Once you learn one or two programming languages, you’ll pick up new ones much quicker. Having a good knowledge of JavaScript (different from Java) and it’s many frameworks is probably the most useful for your resumé after college or if you’re doing co-op. It may seem like a lot at first, but there isn’t one language you can learn to maximize your future potential, you have to learn several. Whichever one you choose to learn first won’t have a major impact on you in the end. Reading code can be just as helpful as writing code. Find some public code that has been published on Github and try reading it to see if you can understand the logic behind it. That code you read could be something simple like a quiz game program or a tic tac toe game. Eventually that trains your mind to think a little more like a programmer would. Even reading small pieces of code can help as a beginner, so don’t worry if you don’t understand everything in a large code file.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › is it worth it to get a computer science degree, or could i teach myself and be successful?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: is it worth it to get a computer science degree, or could i teach myself and be successful?
June 25, 2022 -

i (23f) wanted to teach myself how to program and code because university is too expensive and i am already 23… as of july.

edit: i haven’t heard many success stories of self-taught learners either.

edit: thank you for all of your help. i have made my decision. i will be teaching myself and if that doesn’t get me anywhere, i’ll go back to school.

edit: i’ve changed my mind yet again. i will be going to school next year but for now, i’ll teach myself to see if i get anywhere. thank you for your help and for the awards! not sure why i was given awards.

another edit: i am hoping to get a career someday that will enable me to take care of my family. my dad in particular. he deserves the world and more, and i would love to buy him a new truck (his was burned down in 2017 by a stranger), and a new house. i have been lower-middle class for most of my life. there was a time things were fine but not these days.

THANK YOU AGAIN EVERYONE