Ask HN: Areas for new grads interested in lower level work? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Areas for new grads interested in lower level work?

12 pointscareabit11 comments

I will be graduating next year with a CS degree. My issue is that most of the jobs I see are web dev and I am primarily interested in lower level areas.

I do not see many opportunities for CS graduates interested in lower level work. A lot of the postings I do see in low level work seem to be in embedded, and desire CE and EE grads.

Re: embedded, I am more interested in software than hardware, but hardware does interest me, although I'd prefer to spend as much time as possible coding.

Basically, what areas should I look out for that might be open to new grads? I really want to find an area with lots of depth and opportunities to go deep in the stack. That is what brings me the most joy when it comes to programming.

Along with ideas for lower level areas, are there any project ideas one could recommend that would be interesting to work on, and that perhaps might help if included on my resume?

Thank you

Compilers, tools, libraries.

Also things such as flight software, aerospace controls, hardware. Plenty of industries where their hardware needs to run on low-level to keep costs low (both in material and energy consumption).

Thank you I really appreciate this!

A lot of the general low level work related to CS are largely web dev. I'd suggest targeting companies/roles that are not software tech related. Avoiding a majority of SaaS companies is a start, looking into specific manufacturing companies and related defense companies is another suggestion. Right now I'd suggest the aerospace/flight and automation-manufacturing areas for depth and opportunities. I assume you're looking for both internships and jobs you could definitely find something quickly

Do you have any experience with aerospace jobs? I've looked at some and there seems to be a decent amount of C++, which I enjoy.

Not directly, but I have interviewed for some. Yes, they are more C, C++ rather than any web although Python is prominent too. Have you looked at any specific companies?

Having a few years of DE experience, I'm thinking about the same thing. I guess it's slightly different from a new graduate, but having some low level projects should help, or at least some higher level C/C++ projects to show competence in the language.

I think an easier maneuver is to find a job that works on developer tools (library, monitoring tools, etc.) that do not necessarily use low level languages, and then gradually move into a low level job. But I have yet to begin to test it.

What's DE?

data engineer

There may be something to be said for working in industry generally, e.g. all the soft skills issues such as dealing with management, colleagues, deadlines, interviews, the touch-and-go nature of private companies. These can help with career development, regardless of the tech you work with.

Some of the paid open source internships are at lower levels.

https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/resources

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