I got admitted to a college CS undergrad program ; Veterans , tell me what it's like

[Elok]

Damn, Drake beat me to it...

[Asher]

while we're playing stereotypes...

Originally posted by pchang
Because in the US, the Indians have to compete against the Chinese students.

Both of which do very well in academia but tank in the real world as they bomb interviews and other displays of social skills.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DanS
What makes you think that Indians don't already dominate US universities?

Not if we Chinese have a say in the matter.

[Urban Ranger]

Re: while we're playing stereotypes...

Originally posted by Asher
Both of which do very well in academia but tank in the real world as they bomb interviews and other displays of social skills.

Not that you know anything at the doctoral level.

[DanS]

In the New New Thing there were lots of Indian developers but no Chinese developers.

There's something going on here... Perhaps the Chinese developers had a tryout at our universities, but were shipped home after their degrees because they couldn't make the cut.

[pchang]

or maybe they went home to fuel the phenomenal economic growth in China. China is leaving India in the dust. maybe because all the talented chinese that used to leave the country came back.

[Wiglaf]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
2nd in the US



Congrats

aren' t you going to carnegie mellon university?

[Kuciwalker]

Yes. 2nd in the US for compsci.

[Pekka]

You all suck tessies.. it's all about what you do with your time and what kind of plan you have. I know many academics with super high remarks, yet they are not getting anywhere high... why? Because they don't have a plan. A degree gets you what? It's a paper. It is you who have to get the top notch job.

Working experience is equal to your academic remarks, so if you don't have any, you're basically going to suck tessies as long as you don't have it. So get it.

So it's more than just grades, it's how you carry yourself and how well you can execute your own plans. It's how you interract with others, it's how you get your thoughts through and have the other ones convinced about you, it's all about the perfect plan and how you network yourself and move on. Degree is just a stepping stone. If you get sidetracked by the glory of it, you will get most likely an average job and that's it.

If you want to talk about percentages, I'm not even in top of my Uni. I'm in between the top and the average. But I still landed the job where less than.. 0.5... or 0.1% who knows got. Why? Because I got a plan and I revealed it, and got peopel convinced they should hire me instead of the guy who had more impressive credentials. They had no vision of themselves.

You can say that yeah you're in top 1%, but then what? Many can't be bothered to shoot for the 1% of academic world when they can be in the top 5% and have a good time plus steal the job from top 1%. It's the whole package they want, not your grades. top 5%, top 10%... they can all do the job. It's who they want, it's the person AND their skills. Where is he going to take us? Is he going to be writing these statistics down on his time of working as well or actually doing something? Is he going to come with us and have a good time on friday, or is he going to go home and sleep in his star trek pajamas? Yes, he is super intelligent, but can he project his vision? Does he have a vision?

Furthermore, what are your social skills? Yes you can do the job, but can you work with people? Can you lead people? Leaders are born, not made. Yes he is an expert, but do we want to work with you?

Can you motivate other people, can you lead your peers, can you adjust into different situation, how do you handle pressure, what is your overall attitude? Do you see the bigger picture, can you prioritize, can you handle all the juggling?

Can you communicate, can you listen and learn?

There is SO much more skills needed than simply degree. Any fool can get one. But what counts is the jobs you can land, good jobs leads to better jobs etc. It's constant upgrading. Social skills combined to technical skills. You need to be respected to advance in some aspect, usually more than one.

I want people who can execute those plans, not just know it. It's a whole different ball game.. You can go and be a software developer, or you can manage the developing project. I think it's obvious which one is the better job.

So my message is... don't get blinded by the light.

The rule of thumb is that the ones who don't score the best scores usually end up getting the best jobs. Why? Because they didn't have to try too hard to score high. They did it because they can handle it and they know it. They just couldn't be bothered to go into the smallest of details, because it simply didn't matter to them. These are the people who can usually make the right moves in the working environment and no one doubts their skills, and they don't have to show it. It's not their only trade. It's only their _background_.

So I'm trying to motivate you to understand that while it is very important to get your degree, I'm also trying to tell you that it's just the beginning if you want success.

For example, you should listen to Asher. I feel he has similar basic feeling about things, and he's going to places so.. I think what we are both saying is that while you have performed well, young grasshopper, and achieved something remarkable, you should drive for more and see the big picture, because the better jobs are not based on mathematical statistics only, and we both have recognized the trend of the moderate top of students succeeding better than the very top.

[BlackCat]

Re: Re: I got admitted to a college CS undergrad program ; Veterans , tell me what it

Originally posted by Zkribbler


First of all, congrats on the fastastic scores

At one time, I was concentrating on Computer and Information Services, but at that time, we were using punch cards, so I don't know how much useful experience I can pass down. Er... if you can't find the on/off switch to the card punching machine, look on its right leg.

Congrats too.

I have the same problem as Zkribbler - started with punch cards. I didn't have problems with the on/off switch, but our typing machines was so hevily used that there rarely was any color left - not fun to mess up the order when you only had the holes to tell what they meant