Graduating from a Computer Science degree? Read this.

The day is near …

You are currently on your last year of completing your bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Graduation day is coming, you are about to enter the tech industry as a software developer. Now, what?

It can be scary going through this transition, however, it’s part of the journey of becoming a professional. You may ask yourself, do I know everything necessary to start my first job as a software developer?

No worries, I understand how you might feel. So, today I am going to share some things I learned through my journey when graduating from my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and entering the job market.

Before we get started, if you would prefer a video version of this content, then check out the video below.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Also, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, Felix The Dev, where I post videos every week with content that can help you as a Computer Science student finishing your degree.

Version Control Tools Are Essential

Through the years I have learned that using a version control tool is essential to work as a software developer, in a job or even in open source projects. In basic terms, version control systems are tools you can use to track changes to your code, on a small and even a large scale. As a project evolves, the code base can get larger, also, other developers can join your team and work on the code, so version control systems are great tools you can use to help you in the development of your projects.

The one I learned as a student was Git, which is open source and free to use. There are other options out there such as Mercurial and SVN. A practical way you can start learning Git or other version control tools is to work on a side project, create a repository and upload it to a platform such as GitHub. You can do this before you start your first job, by doing this, you can start using the commands of the version control tool of your choice and get familiar with it.

This way, you know what a version control tool is and how it works. In my opinion, this can help you as a recent Computer Science graduate because you will be able to start contributing to the code base of the project you start working at a faster rate, that is, because you have a basic knowledge of what is a version control tool and how to use it.

If you need help getting started with basic commands, creating a repository and uploading your code to a platform such as GitHub, then check out this video. I explain step by step how to upload your code to GitHub with a basic example.

Dive Into Using The Command Line

Before finishing my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, I started to learn how to use the command line. As time went by, I started diving into learning basic and complex commands, such as creating a directory in your computer, navigating through the files you have in your computer, among other commands. This really helped me not only when I graduated and entered the market as a software developer, but also as a student because I was more efficient as a software developer. I could perform tasks on my computer at a faster speed compared if I didn’t use the command line.

If you are using a Mac, I could recommend learning using commands such as cd to change a directory, ls to view the files in your current directory, among other commands. Note that, these are applicable in other operating systems such as Ubuntu, but just to give you a very brief overview of what you can start learning before you graduate from your bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and entering the job market.

Do Some Research

If you already have an idea of the type of role you would like to pursue after graduating from your bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, then something I did and it worked for me, was to research job descriptions for the type of role I wanted. For instance, if you would like to pursue a role a front developer, then by doing a quick search on platforms such as Indeed you might see technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Also, some frameworks based on the JavaScript language such as Angular, React and Vue. Write down the technologies you might see the most, then work on some side projects in your free time.

By doing this, you can have some of the skills that are required for the role that you want to pursue. Also, it can give you an advantage over other candidates that are interviewing for the same position if you decide to, later on, add these new found skills and technologies to your resume.

There you have it, tips I have learned through my journey as a Computer Science student. These were things I learned when I was about to graduate, that is, transitioning from being an undergraduate student to the professional world.

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Comment down below, which was the tip that helped you the most. I would like to know.

I hope this helps!

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Photo by Emily Ranquist from Pexels

Disclaimer: Results may vary. These tips and advice are based on my experience and opinion as a former undergraduate Computer Science student. Also as a tutor, teacher, and professional software developer. Everyone is different, so, the advice shared in this article may or may not work for you.

Originally published at https://yadielcabrera.com.