Skills Every Computer Science Major Should Know

Are you a Computer Science student in college? Feeling overwhelmed with all the new programming languages and technologies coming at your way every day? Perhaps, you may be asking yourself. Should I learn all the technologies my friends are learning?

No worries, this purpose of this article is to help you along your journey.

When I was a Computer Science student, I remember the times when I felt overwhelmed with all of the new technologies and programming languages that were coming out at the time. Sure, I had some skills under my tool belt, but with the rapid pace of technology, sometimes I felt I didn’t know what new things to learn to prepare for the job market when graduation time comes along.

So, today I am going to share some of the skills you can start learning to prepare when graduation time comes along. These are based in my experience as a professional software developer and working with Computer Science students over the years as a tutor, and teacher.

These tips are going to be even more helpful for you if you are going to pursue jobs in software developer after finishing your degree, as some of the tools are most used in these areas. However, just having this knowledge can help you gain a perspective from someone who has already graduated from a Computer Science degree like myself, thus, serving as mentorship and guidance.

My goal is to help you as an upcoming Computer Science student.

Before we start, here is a video version of this content as well:

Now, let’s get started.

How to use a Version Control tool

A version control tool allows people to keep track of changes in software development projects. There are different version control tools out there, such as Git and Mercurial. In my experience, these tools are used often in different software development teams to work on large-scale applications. These could be open source applications or even projects that are being developed in a company. So, knowing a version control tool and how to use it will help you work in software development projects, as well as apply for jobs.

My advice is to learn what is a version control system and why is it used for on a deeper level. That is, invest the time in learning what value does a version control system add to software development teams. Also, I would suggest picking one tool and learn how to use it. The best way I think to learn how a version control tool works are to actually use it on a project that you are currently working on.

If not, then I would suggest to start working on a side project, create a code repository and upload your code in a platform such as GitHub. The more you use the tool, the more comfortable you will feel and you will gain the confidence in your ability in using this tool.

Learn how to use a version control tool and use it in the development of your projects

After you learned and you feel confident that you know one version control tool, then I would suggest adding this to your resume. This will be very useful when applying to jobs and going on interviews. If you are not sure of which version control tool to start with, then I would recommend doing an online search in job posting websites such as Indeed.com on the different job postings.

You could type in terms such as git with the location of where you would like to work at (state or country) and see the different job postings that come up in the results. The one that comes up the most, that’s the one that I would recommend investing the time learning.

In my opinion, this will help you make sure that you learn a tool that help you achieve your professional goals when you graduate. Thus, giving you a competitive advantage when applying to job positions that receive numerous of applicants.

How to Make Your Code Efficient

This one is very important, because as I have learned through the years, writing efficient code will help your app run smoothly and perform at a higher level. As a result, keeping the users of your application happy, keep providing the best experience and the most amount of value possible via your app. At this stage of your journey as a Computer Science major in college, I would recommend investing the time in mastering essential concepts such as Data Structures and Analysis of Algorithms. In my experience, these concepts are great tools to have under your belt to help you make the code you write more efficient and perform at a higher level.

Make sure to understand things like time complexity, moreover, I would advise practicing repeatedly in applying these concepts and understanding what changes you can make to optimize your code. Know the difference between things like, what does O(n) and O(n2) mean? What changes can I make to take it from one time complexity to another?

Build a solid foundation on the concepts necessary to make your code efficient when needed

Don’t worry if you are not an expert at optimizing your code at this point, at least focus on building a solid foundation on the fundamental concepts. You can practice these skills by solving algorithm challenges online or from sources such as your textbook.

There you have it, some tips you can use on what skills you can start learning as a Computer Science student right now before you graduate. If you liked this article, please share it with a friend, this way we can help other Computer Science students who need this knowledge.

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Comment down below some of the tools or skills you are currently developing as a Computer Science student. I would like to know.

I hope this helps!

If you liked this article, I think you might be interested in this one as well:

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Top 10 Version Control Systems

Disclaimer: Results may vary. These tips and advice are based on my experience and opinion as a former undergraduate Computer Science student, tutor, teacher, and professional software developer. Everyone is different, so, the advice shared in this article may or not work for you. Also, I am not sponsored by GitHub, it is a platform I have used and I want to share and help others with what I have learned through the years.

Originally published at yadielcabrera.com on March 10, 2019.