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Career Advice for Current CS Students

The current computer science curriculum at JMU does a good job at preparing students for future internships. CS 139 and 239 were good at understanding basic coding principles and fundamentals that set an outline for coding standards used in companies. I also found the programming languages course (CS 430) to be very helpful. This course allowed me to learn several new languages throughout the semester. This gave me a good idea of the different types and uses of languages. It also gave me the opportunity to learn Ada , which in turn got me the job at CSC. Being taught Ada for a month in CS 430 allowed me to understand the principles of the language. It also taught me that languages are fairly similar if you look at the big picture though are unique through their own peculiar traits. Knowing this allowed me to transfer my knowledge of one programming language towards another.

 I found that TSC-210 was important because it taught me fundamentals of technical writing. This was important because technical writing has a much different approach to writing then other forms of writing because it focuses on details used by engineers. TSC was also important because it helped me begin my resume. Starting my resume was one of the best projects I did in a class because I will be updating it and improving on it for years to come.

 I learned a few important lessons from my coworkers about my college career and my first job opportunities. They suggested that it was good to not specialize in one thing when you are young and starting off in the tech business, but to explore several different fields within technology/computer science in order to figure out what niche suits you best. One of my supervisors worked in several different specialties before she settled on this one, which she ultimately likes best because she has sampled just about everything out there. I also learned that some companies pay new employees based on their gpa when they graduate. This is important to keep in the back of your mind and a motivator for good grades.