Ask HN: 7 months out from CS bachelor's degree. Advice on next steps? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: 7 months out from CS bachelor's degree. Advice on next steps?

3 pointsMax_Ehrlich6 comments

I've been on the job hunt for a while now, and I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I would greatly appreciate any and all advice you might have in this matter.

Age: 22 Visa: Permanent Work Authorization Location: NYC, open to relocation

University: University of Maryland, College Park Graduated: December 2024 Degree: Bachelor's in Computer Science Internships: 1 GPA: 3.631 / 4.000

Time spent searching for work: 7 months Spammed applications: 1,046 Targeted applications: 230 Total: 1,276

Responses: approx. 16 Final rounds (then rejected): 2

Here is what I'm considering:

Maintain finding a tech job without studying more as my top priority. But also prepare master's in computer science applications on the side.

1. July - Sep (next three months): intense job hunting, trying to rely on the network that I've acquired through networking to find a job. The goal is to have a job offer by the end of September.

2. Backup/Pivot: While intensively looking for a job between July and September, I'll prepare applications to master's programs.

Further study/career pivot ideas:

- CS master's programs (standard progression due to my background) - Master's in Financial Engineering (out of interest + potential)

Apart from waiting out the clock and getting a shot at two more internships (and so jobs) during the master's degree, the other benefit can be to change fields into finance or otherwise.

Apart from tech, I've always been fascinated by finance and law. Law is a massive commitment so I have deprioritized it for now.

However, a MFE would not be just a casual backup plan. I will have to spend significant amounts of time grinding math and the pre-MFE certifications to have any chance at a top MFE program. The MFE curriculum and the idea of being a quant, or at the very least being in finance somehow seems exciting.

There is the MBA which I will not qualify for since I do not have work experience. There's also a Master of Finance but that seems to be a watered-down version of a MFE, with less math.

Other possible programs: operations research and industrial engineering. But these are also math-heavy like the MFE.

You've been looking for 7 months - too long to keep looking. Go back to school and get a Master's only(that is, don't seek a PhD). Obviously the market is questioning whom they should hire, if anyone.

Don't get caught entering the market at a low: you'll never recover for your entire career. Instead return to school, wait for the market to improve and only then begin again to apply. Good news: subject area is your choice and you might meet a life mate while you're in school!

Just beware, a lot of Master programs now are requiring you to commit to a Ph.D. if you want funding. Otherwise, it may be prohibitively expensive.

The thing valued now more than ever is experience. The market is flooded with inexperienced developers who are little better, but a lot more expensive, than an LLM. If they go for a Master without having a good internship when they come out of it, then they're likely to find themselves in the same boat they're in now.

I know people with Master degrees and Ph.D. who've sent out > 500 applications and can't get work. I've seen others send out ~200 and get excellent offers. The biggest difference I can see is internships - both time and quality. Internships have always been the path to a good job, now they're the critical path.

I haven't heard anything on whether internships are getting harder to get. If that's the case - then dayum! I'd probably pivot and look at what skills are needed to be a successful founder and go the startup route.

Could you please elaborate what defines the quality of an internship?

When I was in grad school, I had one unpaid internship at a flashy startup, and a paid internship at an established company. The latter led to a full-time offer, while the former ended up being such a waste of my time that I left it off my resume for years out of spite.

Some features of a high-quality internship imo:

- mentorship by smart/experienced people

- opportunity to work in different departments or on different projects. There's no need to hyper-specialize early in your career

- the company is actually interested in using internships as a pipeline for their full-time staff, not just as cheap labor

- yes, paid adequately

---

Things that don't matter:

- a young workforce. Yes it's good to have a blend, but it's a yellow/red flag to me when everyone at the company is under the age of 30. Some things only come with experience. Plus, you only get to learn from the older generation once, and that's early in your career (when they are late in their careers and about to retire).

- remote work. Buy some dress clothes, nice shoes and walk into the office and network. Hallway conversations can turn into friendships that last a long time. In-person meetings, presentations, boring town halls that you can joke about with other interns...that all matters early on, just as much (or maybe more) than just improving your core skillsets. Those connections will grow in value over time, and just make you a more sociable person (which is a lacking skill in engineering in general...)

- random perks. You can buy lunch/snacks/whatever with your own budget, that should not be the reason to go to work.

There are three major components:

1. Quality of company reputation.

2. Work performed, roles & responsibilities.

3. Measure of impact.

Most of these are reasonably self-explanatory, but I want to stress measure of impact. That's your hook to sell future employers. What did you bring to the table and how did you utilize it to the success of whatever project you were working on? You want something more than I showed up to work and did what I was told. Did you see the bigger picture and the value you could provide?

This is the measure with which to evaluate internship opportunities, leaning heavily into (3). Sometimes (3) and (1) may be at odds: it's often the case you can have a greater impact at companies not having such a great reputation or being unknown. The more (1) declines then you want (3) to more than compensate. That sort of thing.

I think you should do some more investigation and spend more time thinking about your "backup plan" - a master's degree is no walk in the park, even though it's "easier" than a Ph.D. Plus, it can be expensive. I'd consider staying in-state and going to a solid engineering school with good industry connections.

I don't know much about an MFE degree but it sounds rather specialized. Would you better served by just doing a broad Master's in Computer Science degree, and choosing a specialization? Finance is something you can easily learn on the side, I'm not sure how useful it is to go to school for it. Same goes for an MBA.

Another option worth consider is Georgia Tech's Online Master's in Computer Science (https://omscs.gatech.edu/). I've heard very good things about it first-hand from a colleague, and even considered it myself (before deciding I don't really need a second master's degree...). This would allow you to perhaps pick up part-time work/freelancing while doing your master's. Plus the degree is something like $10k all in, which is a huge bargain for how good the program is (top 10 CS I believe).

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