My Regrets as a Computer Science Student

Back when I was a computer science student, there are a few things I could've done differently to give myself a better experience - things I could've done to learn more and improve my skills - things I wish I knew. In this video, I refer to those things as regrets because I didn't do them.

 I may be biased, but I'd say ignore these timestamps and just watch the video all the way through! But I leave these here for anyone stopping by the video.
New channel or...? (0:00), 5-sec Vlog (0:39) Official Intro (1:06), Treating College like High School (2:06), Thinking CS was Software Development (3:30), One Thing I DON'T Regret (4:12), Neglecting Office Hours (5:53), Procrastinating (7:32), Another Thing I DON'T Regret - Get Internships EARLY! (8:58), Do YOU have any regrets? (10:23)

Should I make a new channel or what?

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I document and share my experiences on topics including computer science & software engineering. I'm a full-time Software Engineer and a part-time YouTuber. My less nerdy activities include fishing, hunting, surfing, and snowboarding. I'm just here to have some fun.

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[fknight]

_The above was posted July 20, 2023 by Forrest Knight_

Original Post: I may be biased, but I'd say ignore these timestamps and just watch the video all the way through! But I leave these here for anyone stopping by the video.
New channel or...? (0:00), 5-sec Vlog (0:39) Official Intro (1:06), Treating College like High School (2:06), Thinking CS was Software Development (3:30), One Thing I DON'T Regret (4:12), Neglecting Office Hours (5:53), Procrastinating (7:32), Another Thing I DON'T Regret - Get Internships EARLY! (8:58), Do you have any regrets? (10:23)

Should I make a new channel or what? Answer in the poll and leave your thoughts below!

[furbol]

A Computer Science Story
First semester: 80 students
Second semester: 40 students
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. How many will remain? Find out on the next episode of Survivor!

[ify]

Also don’t forget to code outside of class and work on projects that interest you.

[fcus]

I'm procrastinating right now by watching this video

[stavfeldman]

Dude looks like he works at a surf board shop in Florida, chills with his friends at the beach on the weekends while listening to glam metal. And knows how to enjoy life better than anyone in this comment section

[Code-Cherry]

When he said googling things every other minute I felt that

[hannah_red]

I totally agree on internships! I am a graduating senior in Computer Engineering, and I have done 4 internships. Internships really showed me what working was really like, and helped me find where I want to work. Despite being in the depressed COVID economy, I already have a job offer lined up for when I graduate in December!

[jayjayxx]

YouTube spying on me, putting this in my recommended as I do introduction to software engineering. Good vid tho.

[whoisderion]

My biggest regret is not having found your channel earlier! Thanks for the tips and, by all means, feel free to make a part two :)

[zahra]

Him: i just had about 1 to 2 hours of homework after school
Me: cries in asian

[youtubeaccountx]

Right, when I got into my first CS class in college I was expecting to learn a bunch of programming languages, but in reality we just learnt only the concepts and wrote a 10 line program in C++ for two days, and never did any other programming.

That first CS class made me hate CS. Because the material was way too quick. I started reading the first 3 chapters while taking detailed notes of every paragraph, and then it got too overwhelming since I was spending nearly 10 hours for each chapter just taking notes each week. I didn’t have enough time so I stopped reading the textbook all together and started to hate it because I was just memorizing the concepts without actually understanding their uses. I understood how they worked, but not at all their applications.

My advice: read the textbook briefly and don’t read every word, so that you won’t become overwhelmed and stop reading all together.

[Yesitsmedaphne]

I definitely regret not using office hours and the TAs. I should have asked a thousand questions. I also regret not knowing about internships until my last year. Apparently, you need a year or two of experience for entry level dev jobs.

[BlueTreeCode]

Some advice for those who are going for CS degrees, when the professor says to start each project at least a week before the due date, it's best you start it as soon as you get it, no matter how simple it may seem. I would also say that I regret not going to office hours. The only class I really went to for office hours for was Graph Theory, and I wasn't even technically in the class. I was waiting for a special permission number, which I never got lol.

[neol]

The interesting thing about studying is that even after college on the job or at your own business you're doing even more studying and it is life long learning to stay current.

[mrndc]

I think that’s what I’m most afraid of – getting internships early. I’m currently a freshman in college majoring in CS, and I have little to no knowledge about coding. So, when I try to apply for internships, I’m afraid that these jobs that an intern does will involve hacking Amazon’s database or something wild.

[zenn]

Ah yes, every human being biggest regrets

Procastinating

[marioegocheaga]

I'm a upcoming sophomore for CS, thank you for actually being relatable with my own regrets on my first year in this major. Time to change myself for the better

[Cyberspine]

The single most important thing I learned in five years of university is perseverance. After breezing through high school it's easy to think things will just come to you with little effort. The really meaningful challenges take a lot of work and patience to get solved, and are a lot more rewarding for it.

[thiliniwish]

Valuable advice. especially the difference between high school and college- I never realized this. I was the best student in my school even without trying, at the college, I struggled I could not understand what is happening.

[TheRealJohnMadden]

One of the biggest things people should take into consideration if they’re gonna pursue any IT jobs or anything related to CS is that it never ends. You’ll constantly be trying to keep up with the latest tech or wondering if you need to bring getting the newest CompTIA cert or if your current if good enough. It’s a rough life especially if you’re married or in a relationship, it’s just constantly hours in front of the screen.