Me: I never knew that there existed a "fragrance community." Now that I found it, it's interesting to me. I've always enjoyed "smelling good" and in champagned fueled poking around reddit, I found this sub. So, I thought you guys might be interested in my thoughts on some of the fragrances I've accumulated over the years, essentially immune from an internet community that I really didn't know existed. A little bit about me, if you're interested. I'm 44, male and am "in finance." I am at a point in my life where I am divorced, financially independent, and dating women across an age range from 24-50. I mention this only because it seems like a lot of the fragrance discipline seems to be oriented around what the opposite sex seems to find attractive. Sure, all that is fun but mainly, I enjoy the ideas of scent memories and the stories that are in the smells I wear. Probably unnecessarily romantic but in the long run, we're all dead so..who cares? May as well have a blast while we're here..
Anyway, here is a quick look at my "scent wardrobe," I think you guys call it? And my thoughts about some of them.
Adidas: Sport Fever I bought this probably 15 years ago at a drug store because once upon a time, I enjoyed a Hugo Boss fragrance which came in a round ball and smelled like oranges and coriander. This had orange on the label and seemed "sporty." It smells approximately like Creed Aventus (more on that later) because it has a lot of fruit and mint business going on. It doesn't smell anything at all like the Hugo Boss that inspired its purchase. It's just ok. It smells like a drugstore cologne that cost $5. It's not terrible but don't buy it. There's nothing exciting going on, here. If you want to toss this on after a shave, no problem but don't expect to smell amazing. Also, though, you won't smell bad. Next.
Aqua Velva: Musk This stuff.... It's another $6 drug store smell but it smells like getting deals done in New York City in 1986. It's too strong and it smells artificial but it somehow smells like business. I feel like this is what men think men should smell like to get the secretaries excited in the movie "Big." There is a woman out there who will follow you anywhere because you wore this but you better want her because all the others will think that you smell like Harvey Keitel in "Bad Lieutenant" but maybe you A, don't care and B, want to smell exactly like that. You should own this.
Aqua Velva: Aqua Velva Ice Blue This will make you smell like you just got back from a submarine assignment in WW2. It's great to throw on liberally after a shave. Least of all because it burns like a mother fucker and will mix with your coffee and morning cigarette to wake you up. I used to wear this all the time because my cheating ex wife liked it. Probably because it reminded her of her grandfather. Even at the time, I thought, "This appeals to women who have daddy issues." It probably still does but for probably obvious reasons, I don't wear it anymore.
Ariana Grande: Cloud I bought this because a really cute sales 20 something year old sales girl at Ulta told me that it smelled exactly like a much more expensive perfume while I was there buying nail polish with my kid. To be honest, I didn't give a crap what it smelled like. I was hitting on the 20 something year old Ulta girl. It smells like dessert. I'll wear it sometimes but not when I expect to be taken seriously. This is actually a fun fragrance and not offensive. If I'm "jeans and a sweater" and picking apples or something, I'll wear this. It's like an actually reasonably well made version of what I think I remember the freshman girls in college wearing (which was probably Charlie or Teen Spirit deodorant or something.) I should probably throw this out or give it to my kid. The 20 something and I went out a few times for drinks but I think she needs surgery to remove her cell phone from her hand and an intervention on her social media addiction.
Bath and Body Works: Bourbon I go to Bath and Body works because they sell Proraso shave cream, which you can really only get in Italy, under the name of "Bigelow." They also have fragrances which I will occasionally sniff when I go in to buy shave cream. This one was one of those. I have a thing for stuff that smells ambery and churchy and this one gets there. This has that "new perfume" smell. I don't know, is that "ambroxyn?" who knows. But once it mellows down, it's really rich and smooth. Very woody and masculine. It's probably a little "young" for me but it's pretty generic and just smells like "fall." That said, I haven't worn it this fall, yet. It's strongish and I've had people either tell me that it smells "nice" or not comment on it at all which is potentially a worse indictment since they definitely smell it.
Bath and Body Works: Dark Amber This shit smells delicious. It smells like powder and amber. Period. I like the smell of amber way more than powder but this is really nice and cold weather feeling. I think that this is might be a shittily created scent because Bath and Body works, right? But it consistently gets me told that I smell good. This seems inoffensive, generally pleasing and I like the way that it smells, even though it isn't really that complex. You can buy this pretty worry free. Could also easily be worn by a woman.
Bigelow: Lemon 1999 This is, to my mind, just great. It smells like lemons and salt water and once you spray it on your skin, it almost disappears unless someone is right on top of you. There's very little complexity here but the lemon smell is so pure and clean. I cook a lot so I really appreciate pure smells like garlic, lemon and strawberries. This doesn't smell "like" lemon. It smells lemon. It smells like you just walked by a lemon tree in Sicily. I don't wear this because I want to smell good to anyone but me. It stays tight and really close to you. You're not going to leave a lemon cloud behind yourself. This one, impossibly, came also from Bath and Body Works. If it were $200 at Bloomingdales, I would have bought it. I think it cost me $30. This is great. Next time you're in Bath and Body Works getting cookie scented hand sanitizer, buy this.
Burberry: London This smells like the drawing room at Christmas from the Nutcracker. It's fucking brilliant. I'll wear this in the middle of the summer when I want to smell like Santa Claus is coming. It hits all the spots. It's clean but heavy. It just smells like home and comfort. If you want to feel at peace while things are seemingly out of control, wear this. I don't remember why or when I bought this but it smells like comfort. Buy this.
Burberry: Touch People have commented that this smells great on me. I think it smells like shit. It smells like a baby powder bomb. I really only wear it very occasionally because it apparently smells much better on my skin than I think it does. Don't buy this. I don't trust people who say that this smells good. Too heavy, too sneezy and too much powder. No go.
Burberry: Brit for Him This is ok but only smells "sophisticated" if you don't know what Guerlain fragrances smell like. I honestly think that there are $5 CVS fragrances that smell better than this. It's really thick and has a fake rosy smell to it. I smells like they tried hard to make it smell good but focused mostly on making it smell "strong." I don't love this one but will very occasionally wear it to convince myself to not wear it next time.
Burberry: Brit Rhythm This smells better than the Brit. But is also probably too "young" for me. It's got a nice vegetal flavor going on and smells like it wants to smell like basil and patchouli but it also smells very grating and aggressive (while still not offensive.) I could wear this but I'd vaguely smell like everyone else in my firm. Pass on this one. It's ok but not great. It's pretty generic and smells at the same time like everything else but just enough different from everything else that it's not quite the same.
Cartier: Pasha de Cartier Now, we're starting to get into serious business. This smells like money and also, vaguely, my pediatrician in 1979. Pasha just smells aggressive. I'm pretty sure it will fill a room with a strong but tolerable smell. It smells uniquely like Pasha de Cartier. You know it immediately, when you smell it. It smells like you paid an interior designer to tell you to have no furniture except for Relling chairs in your office. It smells like you own a 911 turbo which you've never taken above 80 mph. It smells like you could fuck the wife of the guy you're talking to but you'd probably chicken out if it came down to it. I love Pasha de Cartier.
Cartier: Declaration This shit stinks. I love it but it stinks. When you put it on, you think, "Do I smell like cumin seed? Will people think I stink?" The answer is "Yes." I wish I were brave enough to wear this more often. It is an absolutely fascinating smell. But the only one who will find it "fascinating" is you. Do NOT wear this in public. But DO buy it. I dare you.
Creed: Aventus I paid way too much for this because I was in Bloomingdales and was looking to spend "stupid money" for no reason whatsoever and the shopper girl told me that this was the next hot thing. It seems like this is highly regarded in the fragrance reddits but I don't think that it's worth the price. It's funny because somehow, in the store, it seemed a little steep but not wholly unreasonable. So I bought it. But I have worn this very infrequently. I can't put my finger on it but it's simultaneously strong but weak. Sweet but not. Cloying yet subtle. I originally thought that it smelled good but I don't anymore. When I put this on, it somehow convinces me that it smells great and will smell even better but it never makes good on that promise. It's weird. I don't hate it but it aggravates me that I paid so much for it, to smell essentially like fruit cocktail. It's just ok. I feel like maybe Guerlain and Penhaligons have spoiled me and I would have enjoyed this more if it had been way less money.
Davidoff: Cool Water Coral Reef This one, I like. It seems like "dirty" Cool Water to me. I like cool water just fine but this is a little bit more (or less.) There's nothing ground breaking, here. It smells like the sea, sans fish and stink. When I'm on a boat, I will wear this. I don't know how to be more plain. It seems like there's a minty bit in there that pushes it a little beyond the saltiness of Cool Water. I think Cool Water is really a classic and this is a good if slight improvement on it. You can't go wrong with this one but it's also not going to knock anyone's socks off.
Dior: Sauvage This is garbage. Plain and simple. I bought this because I was talking to another guy in my office about fragrance and he told me all about how Sauvage was that best thing that had been released in the past hundred years. So, I went to see my guy at Bloomingdales and got a bottle. This shit stinks. It smells like Axe body wash. There's something in it that makes me think of the "too much cologne" guy. I don't even care about the stuff that's under that. The primary smell is the "too much cologne guy." I was honestly shocked. I didn't figure that Dior would release something so brutal and blunt. Maybe this is just too "young" for me but I think that it's unnecessarily heavy and falsely deep. Not impressed. I like Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue Sun for women WAY better. More on that later. Regardless, Sauvage is a no go. Do not buy this.
Dolce and Gabbana: Light Blue Sun This is a women's fragrance. I don't care. It smells amazing. It's not unisex. If you're a man and you wear this, you're going to smell like a chick. But a really sophisticated chick with her shit entirely together. This smells like the beach and salt water and the sun and coppertone. It smells like a day that you wished you'd known was going to be as perfect as it turned out to be so that you could have paid attention better. This smells like a sexy librarian with a trust fund who you think, "She has no idea how hot she is." You're wrong. She knows exactly how hot she is and she wrecks men like you. I love this and wear it regularly during the summer. When told that this smells good, I always think, "Of course you think it smells good. I smell like the woman with the story you'd like to be yours."
Dunhill: Edition Do you want to smell like Magnum PI? For an hour? Buy Edition. Edition is magical. For a very short time. If you want to smell like James Bond, killing people after you just met a smoking hot spy at some roulette table, you need Edition. I don't know what this smells like. But it doesn't last long. It just smells like British. I don't know what more to say about that. It smells like green plants and assertiveness and a Jaguar XK150. You'll think you smell good and you'll be right but nobody else will be able to smell you after you leave the house. Edition smells absolutely amazing but you better do whatever you're up to quickly because it will leave you just as quickly as you put it on. This is like a less aggressive de Pasha. Buy it and then, be annoyed that it lasts for shit. Come to think of it, James Bond movies are only 2 hours long so maybe it lasts exactly as long as it needs to.
Dunhill: Fresh Do NOT buy this. Because it smells amazing and like very few other fragrances and it is my secret. This is very near all the other "sea" fragrances but goes further, somehow. This smells like the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in the best way possible. This smells like Nice in August. The sea is there, the flowers are there, the food is there. This smells like that linen shirt that you almost don't put on because you think, "This makes me look like P. Diddy...I probably shouldn't wear this." But, yes, you should and who cares? Dunhill Fresh is so slick and subtle but also different. Nobody will tell you that you smell great because you just will and it smells like you're expecting to smell great and it's not a big deal. I've worn this on the Mediterranean and it was exactly perfect. It doesn't need to be warm and sunny to wear this. But it will definitely remind you of the days of summer.
Guerlain: Habit Rouge I bought this because my grandfather always had it. This smells like your grandmother's ass and lipstick when you first spray it on. But....wait. It turns into something amazing. I don't know how but it does. Habit Rouge starts out smelling like fake roses and playdoh. And then, it somehow morphs into something that can't be described. It smells like meritocracy and maturity and magic and the drawer of a dresser that has smelled exactly the same in one of the houses on Bellevue Avenue in Newport for 100 years. Be clear. You will not like or "get" Habit Rouge the first time you wear it. You will think that it smells like an old lady. You will think that it's a lot of things but none of them, "male." Stop. Let it sink in. Let it sit. Habit Rouge is so good it should be illegal. You need to have balls the size of Godzilla to wear Habit Rouge. Or, wear Habit Rouge and you will end up with Godzilla sized balls. I don't want to be crass but, there are two fragrances (both Guerlain) that have elicited the statement, "You smell fucking amazing" in bed. The first is Habit Rouge. Once you get Habit Rouge on your skin it's nearly impossible to understand why other fragrances exist at all. Habit Rouge mixed with light body odor and the smell of having been outdoors is so good it should be a federal offense.
Guerlain: Heritage This is what Chanel Egoiste would smell like if they took the "bug spray" smell out. Again, almost impossible to describe. It's got that "Dead Poets Society" smell but deeper and more serious. It's got a warmer, velvety feel to it. There's a leather background to it and something that just makes you want to keep smelling it. How Guerlains are around $100 a bottle, I have no idea whatsoever. Heritage isn't my "signature" scent but it could be. It could be anyone's. I'm probably wrong but if you're a young guy who has been told to get Sauvage...ignore that and get Heritage. They don't smell the same but trust me that you'll realize that this was a great idea much later.
Guerlain: L'Instant I'm going to keep this short and tell you two things, here. 1. L'Instant smells like chocolate covered orange peel, incense, vanilla and the heavy red velvet curtains in a French whore house and will change but lasts almost 24 hours. 2. L'Instant WILL get you laid. Guaranteed. By women or men who know exactly what they're doing and are unnaturally talented at fucking. I'm sorry to be coarse but some things need to be stated exactly as they are. L'Instant goes great with my Ferragamo loafers. L'Instant smells like you've never made a bad decision because even your bad decisions turn out brilliantly. L'Instant smells like the integrity of Abraham Lincoln crossed with the filth of a really artfully shot porn film. If all Guerlain made was this, they could consider themselves "done." This stuff is in an entirely other league. This is the other Guerlain that has elicited the contextual comment referenced in the Habit Rouge summary. The things that you will do and the situations that you will find yourself in while wearing L'Instant will ruin your life and you'll love every minute. Please, don't buy this. I'm warning you. You'll accidentally buy a boat. You'll have a soundtrack that only you can hear. You'll feel bad for Chris Isaak and Helena Christensen that they were so prudish and awkward in that Wicked Game video in comparison to you.
Guerlain: Vetiver I read somewhere that JFK used to wear this. I can see that. If you want to smell like Don Draper, wear this. It's pretty straight forward and smells like Vetiver. How do I know that? Because I have Royall Vetiver and the smell is almost identical. You can tell that this is well made and classic but it might not be the smell for you. I think that maybe, once upon a time, vetiver was a man's smell. But I think that enough time has passed that nobody remembers when men smelled like this. You'll have to decide how you play that. If you want to know what vetiver smells like, get this. If you want to smell like vetiver, get this. I haven't given this one a fair shot but I want to. It's very even toned and reasonable. It smells like it could be worn by someone dangerous but probably wouldn't be.
Lacoste: Pour Homme This is a great middle of the road smell. This is suit but with no tie. It's citrusy but also smells a little like burning leaves. I had a friend in high school who wore United Colors of Benneton and this reminds me of that. I don't think that they smell the same but I get the same, fun, innocent feeling from those days when I smell this. I think this would smell great on a man or a woman. I wear this now and then when I think, "Oh, I like that one. I haven't worn it in a while. I think I'll wear it today. This smells like a really solid concierge at the Hilton. He'll get you whatever you want and make you feel like a million bucks. No reason not to have this one.
Lacoste: Essential I like this Lacoste, too. It's very simple and very fresh. It smells like a fancy tennis game in 1983. Another high school memory, here. When I was in high school, I spent my summers working at the pool restaurant at the country club. This smells like that. It smells like sporty money but nothing too obnoxious or simplistic. It's exactly what it needs to be. This is a good fragrance for a steak dinner at one of those places where everything is a la carte. If you're wearing a polo shirt with an alligator on it, you should wear this because you'll smell exactly right and it's what everyone is imagining you probably smell like, anyway. Give the people what they want. I don't remember where or when I bought this but I feel like it's probably too cheap to not get. Again, if you're a young guy and someone told you to buy Dior Sauvage buy this instead. I say that because demographic-wise, this skews towards the younger women I've dated. 25 year old women with their first "real job in the city" seem to like this scent.
Lalique: Encre Noir I bought this at Neiman Marcus. I think that I'd be blown away by this if I hadn't smelled anything from Guerlain. This is heavy and smells like Dracula in a mossy forest. This might be one of my favorites if I could stop wearing L'Instant. This is very dark and thick. It's almost choking and intoxicating. It smells like new money. It smells like someone who knows that class and manners are important and is trying their best to be appropriate but didn't stop to consider whether smelling like forest Dracula is necessarily appropriate in all instances. This smells great and is very forgiving despite its heft. I wouldn't let my daughter date a guy who smelled like this but I would appreciate the hell out of his effort. On the right woman, this would smell incredible and dangerous. Buy it but don't wear it all the time.
Lalique: Encre Noir Extreme I also bought this at Neiman Marcus at the same time as the other one. Everything I said about the first one stands but this one somehow has a more citrusy furniture addition and the smell of incense inside a confessional. It's hard to decide which of these is better because they're simultaneously very close but also very different. Another solid one. I'm not as convinced that this one would be good "on the right woman" it might be good on the "wrong woman." If you smell her, let me know. I bought this once and would again.
Lalique: Bentley Intense Ok, in defense of "Sauvage guy" in my office, he also recommended this and he was right. I wasn't keen on the idea of a car fragrance. It seemed tacky to me. Is that the second place prize? "I can't afford a Bentley but I smell like their perfume?" But I must admit that this stuff smells great. Super easy to wear with a suit and tie or open collar and jeans. It's very rummy and a little bit leathery and has a smell of iced tea. Maybe it doesn't and I just get confused because it's the color of iced tea. This could almost be a Guerlain scent if Guerlain didn't insist on making everything smell like it came out of a steam powered time machine. It's modern enough to be modern but classic enough to be classic. This smells like a solid upstanding family man who was a little wild in his younger days but has toned it down and has settled into his adult life but still probably shouldn't be allowed to go to a bachelor party.
Michael Kors: Extreme Sky I feel like I shouldn't like this but I do. To me, Michael Kors is synonymous with people buying a Michael Kors bag when they really want a Vuitton but don't have the coin and convince themselves that Michael Kors is just as good. But this stuff smells like lightning and rain. I don't know another way to describe it. It's fresh and windy and feels like what the Sharper Image should smell like back when Sharper Image was cool and not just more expensive Spencers Gifts. (Are these references contemporary? Do those places still exist?) This smells like chrome and glass and track lighting. This smells like the guy at the BMW dealer who's the best salesman there and is somehow making 6 figures selling cars and has no idea that he could triple his income doing exactly what he's doing but selling something other than cars. I don't wear this often but I will miss it when it's gone because by that time, you won't be able to get it anymore. I probably shouldn't like this one but I do.
Penhaligons: Bayolea Do you want to spend an insane amount of money to smell like a barber shop in 1952? Then, this is for you. This stuff smells like a pirate ship if pirates weren't filthy and showered. This is like the best Bay Rhum that you will ever inhale. It smells like someone else's signature smell that they found ages ago for next to no money in some little shop in the Virgin Islands but which you will never be able to get. It smells like it should be cheap but the quality is just beyond next level. This is classic. They say that vetiver is the classic male scent but I think, really, it's this one. This smells like the guy with the 150' sail boat who used to sail his own boat but then hired a captain to sail it for him but then decided that he was going to go back to sailing his own boat again.
Penhaligons: Endymion This stuff is unbelievable. It reminds me of a very British Guerlain. This is up there with L'Instant and is somehow similar but with the addition of espresso. Very sophisticated. You might want to take up pipe smoking if you want to wear this. Or, at least, increase the number of leather bound first editions that you own. This is what Winston Churchill would smell like if he looked like George Clooney. I don't think that a younger guy could wear this. It doesn't smell like an old man but just like you need to mature into your first Kiton shirt, you need to be ready to step into this one. This smells like an F-50 CEO who somehow never has to do any work. No problem whatsoever with a woman wearing this one. I have one in particular who always uses a bit when she leaves.
Penhaligons: Juniper Sling. Gin martini. That's it. This smells like a gin martini without the alcoholic stink. People will ask you if they're correct that you smell like a martini. They will be. This one is fun to wear and I feel like it's a companion to Bayolea. To be fair to this one it only really smells like a martini for the first hour and then it turns into something that smells like the flowery freshness of a garden on a not too humid day. This reminds me of the 100 year old tile bathroom on the first floor of the NYAC. It smelled that way 100 years ago and will still smell the same 100 years from now, long after you're dead. This just smells like class in a bottle. If you actually want to embrace smelling like Gordon Gekko with absolutely no apologies, you should buy this. I don't think women like the way this smells. I don't think that the men wearing it particularly care.
Pinaud: Clubman Classic Vanilla This is in a plastic bottle and costs $6 at your local Walgreens. Penhaligons could easily take this and just dump it into fancier glass bottles and sell it for $150. I think that they've been making this the same way for decades and it is such a sleeper that I almost hesitate to mention it. This has so much going on and is spicy without being too spicy, only faintly vanilla-y and is an all around great scent. I'll go through phases where this is my go-to for a month at a time. This smells the way Mrs. Robinson from the Graduate wanted her men to smell. Benjamin didn't smell that way because I'm sure he wore Old Spice but she let it slide. You're a fool if you don't buy this the next time you have to refill your tooth paste supply.
Royall: Vetiver I find this one interchangeable (more or less) with Guerlain Vetiver. It's a little bit citrusy and very thickly vetiver. I read somewhere that the origin of vetiver was from the fact that they used vetiver oil to ship very expensive men's clothing and keep bugs away from it but that the Vetiver smell never really went away. That seems to make sense to me on this one. This is exactly what I imagine a very nice suit would smell like if it were shipped to me in 1870. It smells classic and grassy and seems like it wants to be cloying but never really gets there. I think that for a while Royall stuff was cheap and then expensive and then cheap again. I bought all my Royalls ages ago at Brooks Bros so I'm sure I paid way, way too much for them. But whatever they cost, it's worth it just for the cool bottles with the crown caps.
Royall: Spyce This Smells like super fantastic Old Spice. It smells like a super deep version of your grandfather after he just got back from playing golf in a nice cashmere v neck sweater. If you want to smell like old spice but better, this is a very refined way to go. It really does smell like allspice, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom but it never ventures into cookie territory. It's very warm and fairly heavy. I think that Royall, being Bermuda based, thinks that it has mostly warm-weather type scents. I'd be careful with this in warm weather. It's not unwearable in the warm but I'd go light on it.
Royall: Muske Musky and powdery. This is like a warm manly blanket. If you want to smell like you're very clearly in charge and nobody needs to worry anymore because you've shown up...this is the one. Mrs Robinson wanted her men to smell like Clubman Classic Vanilla but when they smelled like Royall Muske, she was immediately made weak in the knees. This is another one that could almost be in the Guerlain / Penhaligons mix but isn't subtle enough. And it's not apologetic about it's unsubtlety. It's very refined but still rough around the edges. This is what Ernest Hemmingway should have smelled like if he had gotten his shit together, grown up and conquered his alcoholism. Easy buy.
Viktor and Rolf: Spicebomb Fresh I bought this accidentally because I thought that it was Spicebomb. This is nice and easy to wear. It's got a little bit of smokiness, somehow and a lot of citrus. I don't detect much spice there but who knows. I've been told more than once that this smells good on me. It's easy when I'm not in the mood to think too hard about what I want to wear or be bothered to "pick one." Middle of the road, probably could be worn pretty easily by women.
So there you go. Going back and reading this, I'm realizing that I likely have Peter Pan syndrome but also want to smell like something from 200 years ago. But the stories are fun. I look forward to continuing to read all about everyone else's excitement about fragrances. It's a real kick.
submitted by With our final school year beginning, we were reflecting on how lost and confused we were when we first started university. We made a lot of mistakes (still am) along the way, but we’re in a much better place after learning from them and constantly putting ourselves out there. In hopes of shining some light and helping others, we decided to make a comprehensive guide for university students – based on our knowledge/experiences - on how to start your successful CS Career (or gain the wisdom to avoid CS altogether, more on this later).
rishiss Background: I am a 4th year student at UC Irvine majoring in Software Engineering. I am an incoming Software Engineer at a F100 company (received return offer after interning this summer). Before that, I interned at an R & D center for space, a small cloud company, and a small IT company. I have a 3.65 GPA, won a few awards at startup competitions/hackathons, and remain pretty active in my schools CS organizations.
chaitu65c Background: I’m a 4th year student at UC Irvine majoring in Computer Science. I’m currently a SWE Intern at a Unicorn and just wrapped up my 2nd internship at a Live Streaming Company(you can most likely tell who they are if you browse my history LOL). Before this, I interned at my school’s IT department, did research under a professor, and worked on a few small startups that other UCI students were building. I have a 3.3 GPA, won some awards along
rishiss and was pretty active in my school’s CS clubs.
Disclaimer: “But
rishiss/ and
chaitu65c, you don’t work at a Big N, go to a target CS school, why should I take your advice?” You’re absolutely right; we are, by no means, ‘up there’ like some other folks on this sub. And, you don’t have to take our advice! Simply close this tab and do whatever else you want 😊. Our intent is to guide and prepare uni students for a CS career they enjoy, not work at Big N or get the highest TC. Life is much more than a dick-measuring contest, and the earlier you learn that the better.
We have also created a guide with our own personal advice/stories Please, take this advice with a grain of salt. we’re not Tony Robinson or Tim Apple, we’re just two random reddit users.
Table of Contents:
This guide is divided into the following sections:
- Is CS Right For Me?
- Classes
- Projects
- Hackathons
- Resume
- Friends and Networking
- Freshman Year
- Sophomore Year
- Junior Year
- Senior Year
- Searching for Internships
- Searching for Full Time Jobs
- Final Thoughts
Is CS Right For Me?
The way we see it, there’s 3 types of people pursuing CS.
- Those who know CS isn’t for them – They’re in it for the money, to appease their parents, for a minorequirement, some external factor. They hated programming while taking the introductory CS course and just try to get done with their class/degree ASAP.
Advice: The majority of people who fall under this usually burn out quickly, as they aren’t motivated enough to learn the material and to apply themselves. This usually leads to them cheating and getting kicked out of their major, minor, or university altogether. Even if you manage to earn a degree, we've seen a large number of these folks endure a 'pre-mature' mid-life crisis or simply get fired from their jobs. Before you even start this major, you should definitely understand that this isn’t going to be easy, and you do have to put in a lot of effort to succeed. If this isn’t your cup of tea, definitely look into switching into another major you like.
Some folks are really passionate about technology, but don't want to pursue an entire Computer Science major or see themselves as Software Engineers. That's completely ok! Try looking into related majors or minors. We know many students who switched from CS to majors like Informatics, Business Information Management, and Economics and are thriving in tech-related roles like Data Analytics, Product Management, UI/UX Design, and Technical Recruiting. CS is not (and should not be) for everyone, and there is no shame in having the wisdom quit and move on.
- Those who don’t know if CS is for them – Where most of the CS community is IMO. These folks (like me, rishiss) are riddled with something called Imposter Syndrome: “the constant feeling of not being good enough or knowing enough to do your job well.”
Advice: For students, really take the time to learn and be open to anything you go through. Try sticking it out until you've taken a Data Structures course, one of the harder, more important courses out there. If you're not understanding the material or just aren't having fun with it, it’s definitely ok to switch majors/careers. Otherwise, CS just might be the career for you! Give it your best shot!
Admittedly, it's hard to provide stronger insight to overcoming Imposter Syndrome, as I am afflicted by it as well. For me, my IS derives from constantly comparing myself to others and confusing inexperience with incompetency. As such, I continue to work and focus on myself and take baby steps towards smaller goals I set out for myself. Knowing that I've put the effort to improve myself by just 1% everyday has made me a lot more confident.
- Those who know for a fact CS is for them – The diamonds in the rough. Learning and practicing CS material gives them a euphoric high.
Advice: Broaden your scope and learn new areas of CS! Who knows, you might find another new field that you really want to work in. Other than that, definitely make new friends regardless of whether they’re a CS major or not. Even try pursuing other hobbies like weightlifting, reading, dancing, or even public speaking. Don't limit yourself!
Freshman Year
We recommend not taking more than 3-4 classes in your first quartesemester, as you shouold keep an ample amount of time to go to professional/social events, make new friends and hang out with them, and pursue your interests.
We've seen a lot of freshmen (and upperclassmen) CS folks get cooped up in their dorm rooms playing video games and watching TV. We understand that these two are a passion for many, but please be cautious to not get consumed by them.
You have the privilege of pursuing higher education, making valuable connections/memories, and setting up your CS career in the trajectory you want. This year is the best year to take advantage of all that university has to offer; make the most of it.
One of the best ways to get involved in your school’s/region’s CS community is by joining clubs like ACM and WICS and participating in hackathons (see ‘Hackathon’ section below). Try pursuing internships and positions in these organizations and events as well!
One, major issue we see with freshmen (even upperclassmen) is their ignorance on all the avenues available in the CS Industry. So we’ve tried to narrow it down (not exhaustive).
- Cyber Security Engineer
- Front-End Web Developer
- Backend Web Developer
- UI/UX Designer
- DevOps/Cloud/Site-Reliability Engineers
- Mobile Engineer
- QA Engineer
- Product Manager
- Data Scientist (Machine Learning/AI)
- Embedded Software Engineer
- Systems Administrator
- Database Administrator (The Wizards)
- Networking Engineer
- Hardware Engineer
- OS Developer
- Video Game Developer
- Solutions Architect/Sales EngineeTechnical Account Manager
As a freshman, definitely take the time and see if you can picture yourself doing any of the listed fields. You should open yourself to all facets of CS and not just the “hot field” like Data Science and Machine Learning. Choosing a field because it’s “exciting” will usually lead to bad results as usually, other people are thinking just like you and will lead to over-saturation.
Our recommendation is to select the top 5 fields that have piqued your interest and experiment with the field. For example, if you are interested in Mobile App Development, try learning how to build an Android app from the ground up. A simple weather app or alarm clock is completely suitable for a first project/prototype. This lets you understand what skills you would need for this field and can serve as a forecast as to what your career would look like.
You should definitely look for an internship. Ignore the people that tell you to wait until you’re a junior, as it’s going to be very hard to get an internship if you don’t have any experience. Common places that most students don’t realize are available are usually IT departments at your school and even research with professors. Researching is highly recommended as you can definitely learn more about a field you can be interested in and if you’re interested in graduate school, that’s going to be a letter of recommendation that you can ask for.
If you’re considered a minority in Computer Science, look into first and second year internship programs as they’re meant to help you succeed. Here’s some programs that come to mind:
Google STEP Microsoft Explore Amazon Future Engineer Uber STARInternhip Facebook University Another way to get internships is to research into smaller companies in your area. If the company is very small (<100 employees), consider reaching out to the CEO on LinkedIn. They might be able to help you! Also, take advantage of university recruiting websites like Handshake to see companies that directly hire from your school. More info on how to get an internship in the ‘Searching for an Internship’ section.
Sophomore Year
Now that you have basic programming knowledge, create your own website or GitHub account and start contributing to them with small personal projects. Nobody expects you to make a full-stack MERN project hosted and scaled on AWS at this stage. Focus instead on clean code, learning a framework or two on a language you like, and creating a small, robust feature. Grow from there!
If you weren’t able to find an internship/research opportunity as a freshman, community involvement, projects, and hackathons become especially important, as they are a great way to make you stand out on your resume and to recruiters when you reapply. As you brush up on your skills, apply again, and try your luck out.
Data Structures and Algorithms
In addition, you are most likely to take a Data Structures and Algorithms course this year. Make sure you are focusing on this class and writing good notes; you will need this knowledge when interviewing for internships and full-time jobs in the near future. Here is a link to our DS and A course (in C++) for
reference Junior Year
As a junior, companies are more willing to hire you for an internship, as they are likely to convert you into a full-time employee after graduating. This transition process is much easier than interviewing, and they'll usually offer you a higher compensation package if they want to convert you to a full-time employee. As you now should have knowledge of Data Structures and Algorithms, we highly recommend looking into coding interview prep sites like LeetCode and HackerRank or purchasing a prep book like CTCI or EPI (advanced).
Continue to attend hackathons, remain active in clubs/organizations, and grow your portfolio.
Classes will be much harder; expect the time for completing projects to double and the content covered to be much more difficult. We recommend taking no more than 2-3 upper-division CS courses and balancing your load with 1-2 GE classes. You should not be taking more than 16 units (assuming 4 units per course).
Start to get an idea of what field in CS you would like to pursue. Research what it takes to be successful in that field. You can do so by looking up job postings with that title on LinkedIn and looking at the requested skill set or take a look at
Roadmap.sh. If you want to learn more about a related skill set and your school doesn't offer a course, consider picking up a class on udemy.com.
Senior Year
Focus heavily on your senior capstone, project classes, etc. as they're the last thing you can put on your resume before applying for full time. By now, you should have at least 3 polished, working projects on your GitHub that you can easily talk about with your recruiter. Preferably, they're aligned with the CS field you wish to enter.
If you were able to get a return offer from an internship, congrats! However, don’t immediately sign the offer. Once you have an offer, you should still try to interview at companies that you’re interested in by the deadline of the time to accept the offer. A good way of doing this is to reach out to a University recruiter for that company and explain the deadline you have. Usually, they’re really helpful and can potentially help skip interviews that you were supposed to do!
In addition, if your friends were able to intern at places you’re interested in, definitely ask for a referral or to send your resume to their recruiter. This usually reduces the risk of being ghosted by that company and increases your chances of getting hired!
Once you finally sign, definitely take the time to relax and enjoy. Just make sure you pass your classes and stay out of trouble
Classes:
What Classes should I take?
Should Already be Required:
- Programming in Java/C++/Python (OOP): This is how you’re gonna start coding.
- Boolean Algebra/Discrete Math: Teaches you some background knowledge to CS.
- Data Structures and Algorithms: Teaches you some ways data is stored and retrieved. Very important as you’re going to be using them a lot.
- Low Level Programming /C: Teaches you what coding used to be like in the old days.
- Computer Architecture: You learn what makes a computer a computer including things like logic gates, registers, memory, and more.
Must Take:
- Computer Networks: Highly recommended as it helps you understand Web protocols like HTTP, TCP, UDP, etc.
- Operating Systems/UNIX: Most important class. Teaches you important things such as the kernel, Threads vs Processes and Process Schedulers.
- Databases/SQL: It’s very likely that your job as a software engineer will be to interact with databases. It’s really good to understand what they are before you enter the industry.
- Programming Languages: Teaches you trade offs between languages like C and Python. It definitely helps when you need to pick up brand new languages!
Good to Have
- Full-stack web dev (pref MERN stack, our school offered both LAMP and MERN)
- Very deep understanding of at least one language. (You’ll be surprised to learn how many students who graduate fail to do this)/
- SemesteYear-Long Capstone course (pref working with a company) if your school supports it: an internship where you get school credits instead of money.
- Compilers: Teaches you how programming languages are implemented 'under the hood.'
- Human Computer Interaction: If you weren’t able to learn Full-stack web dev.
How do I succeed in these classes?
rishiss: You’re more than likely coughing up hundreds, if not thousands, to attend university. It makes no sense to not take full advantage of the course and course staff.
- Do the readings beforehand – Dr. K explains how studying before class is an OP mechanic, also highly recommend this video on how to study by him as well
- Attend EVERY lecture, sit at the front of the class – I’ve seen a metric fuck ton of students in the back of the class with their laptops shopping, trading stocks, scrolling through Reddit, even watching lesbian hentai. By sitting in the front of the class, you’re forced to stay engaged (and close your porn tabs).
- Take notes– People have many, different ways of taking notes; stick with what works for you.
The way I take notes: I learn from examples; I want to enter my code into the IDE to see what happens. I do a three way split; Google Docs on the left, IDE on top right and terminal (to compile, see output, make new file, etc) on bottom left. I note down the date and topic of the lecture and write questions I have in the comments on Docs. I make sure to highlight important information and possible test questions. I even share the link with friends!
- Make a study guide, even though the professor does not give you one – Using my Google Docs notes, I compile the highlighted information into a summarized study guide. It’s a fantastic review tool. I’ve even shared the study guide with professors/classmates and gotten their feedback and extra information.
- Go to office hours and become close with 1-2 professors – Some jobs and most masters/PHD programs require letters of recommendation. While you could get reccs from your work, its great to get a letter from someone in academia, especially if they’re established in the field you are pursuing. Get your ass to office hours and show professors that you are curious and motivated by asking questions about assignments, career, or even personal interests. They provide a cornucopia of opportunities, including research, letters of recc, or even the opportunity to pursue a PHD under them.
- Make friends! - Classes are a great way to meet new people with similar interests and expand your professional network. They can especially be a saving graves if you miss a class, don't understand a topic, and need motivation to prepare for an exam. Don't be afraid to say hello!
- START EARLY ON ASSIGNMENTS – I can’t count the number of times starting an assignment early saved my ass. Starting early gives you time to deal with the unexpected: the family emergencies, the late night hangout with friends, the memory leak on line 74. Procrastination is like playing Russian Roulette with your CS career, don’t take the chance. A helpful video on procrastination
In the quarters where I followed the steps above, I never got a grade lower than an A-.
Dealing with Bad Professors
During your time in college, you’re likely going to have at least one bad professor that might make it worse if you have to go to class. If that’s the case, it’s definitely fine to not go to class (as long as it’s not mandatory). However, if you do decide not to go, you must make sure you learn the material, so you won’t be behind on the coursework and studying for tests. In addition, you should be doing something productive on the side. If you don’t go to class and spend the time watching Netflix or playing video games, you’re losing time that you can spend on something that might be fun and can help you in the long run.
You can take Graduate Courses!?
chaitu65c: A highly underutilized set of courses you can take would be graduate courses. Graduate courses are usually very specialized in certain fields. If you were able to take all the undergraduate courses you wanted and still have spare classes to fill out, I'd recommend researching into taking Graduate courses! They’re a good way to build out your specialization and learn new, cool stuff! In addition, if you’re looking for classes to reach the required number of CS courses needed, your CS department might allow you to make the course count towards your degree!
Projects
They're super important. How do I succeed in class projects?
- Reading the Project Requirements: Before starting to code, read the requirements and understand what you need to do in order to finish. Too many students ask for help that can easily be found in the requirements which wastes the student’s time.
- Learn to Debug: Learning how to debug saves you countless hours trying to read through code you might not understand.
- Learn to write Clean Code: With this and being able to debug, you’re going to be able to write very efficient code and to debug issues easily, thus not making you only successful in lab assignments, but also making you a better programmer.
- Plan your work out: This allows you to simplify the logic you are writing and this usually leads to clean code.
- Ask for help: If you ever get stuck on something and no matter how much you Google and you can’t figure it out, ask for help. It’s definitely fine to ask for help and is HIGHLY recommended you do so. Take advantage of the lab tutors and TA’s either through in person or Piazza/Canvas; they’re there to help you.
- Draw Pictures: If your project involves multiple things (AWS, Databases, Servers, etc), it’s definitely a good idea to draw a picture that shows you each thing interacts with and how it comes together. This is important especially when you enter the industry and build software for companies.
Personal Projects and your CS Career
rishiss: Projects are your saving grace, especially if you are lacking work experience. They show technical aptitude, willingness to take initiative, and leadership. I’ve seen people with only projects on their resume get positions at the Big N. Projects are good ways to expand your knowledge of CS as the possibilities are endless! It is best to have a variety of projects dealing with a variety of technologies. As such, you can open yourself up to more positions and have more talking points during the interview.
I tend to edit the ‘Project’ Section of my resume with relevant projects and technologies. For instance, if I made a full stack web application and applied to a DevOps organization, I would highlight my AWS, CI/CD, and Terraform experiences more than my React/Node js work.
It is recommend the project is about something that motivates you and are passionate about e.g. video games, movies, books, sports, etc., as it is very easy to give up half way due to stress or lack of motivation/interest.
Like anything else in Computer Science, projects require you to break it down into smaller pieces. Start with the end in mind and draw out the intended architecture/functionalities. Start with what you know and research on the parts you don't know after that. You will be using these skills often in industry for any project/feature planning.
Spending 15-30 minutes a day is all you need to make a successful personal project. Don't make excuses and get coding!
Open Source Contributions
If you’ve ever noticed popular github repositories such as torvalds/linux, these are repositories where people from all over the world can report issues with it and someone can fix it. If you are able to make a contribution to a huge open source repository, it looks really good on your resume.
Hackathons
What are Hackathons?
Hackathons are large scale coding events, where students from around the area come together and collaborate - usually in teams of 4 (but you can go solo or with a partner!) - to build some software. Companies like Amazon, Northrop Grumman, Google, and Twilio sponsor awards related to best use of their technology. After 24 - 48 hours of intensive coding, participants submit their projects, whether it be an Android video game, Chrome Extension, productivity web app, etc. Submissions are shared with the companies and other hackathon organizers, where they select the best projects and award teams with swag like keyboards, gift cards, and even summer internships at their company.
Participating in hackathons are one of the best ways to hone your coding skills, network with companies and other students, and get free comfy T-shirts. It is also one of the best ways to gain industry knowledge, as representatives from these companies and hackathon organizers create numerous workshops and answer any questions you may have. Winning awards at these hackathons are also great resume boosters and talking points during interviews.
The biggest hackathon organizer is
Major League Hacking. Visit their website, and you can see all the hackathons (remote or local) they are partnered with. Make to be on the lookout for application release dates from the hackathons and apply early.
With Covid, you may miss out on the free goodies and the in-person networking with students and professionals. However, most hackathons are accepting many more applicants due to it being virtual/remote this year.
What Should I Do At Hacakathons?
Take advantage of the resources available at hackathons. You’re attending a mini CS conference and should be, besides coding, networking with professionals, learning about the different companies, attending workshops, asking technical/non-technical questions to mentors, and getting as much free shit as you can get. Besides T-Shirts, companies give out vouchers to their services, applications to their internship and full-time positions, pillows, notebooks, water bottles, sweaters, and even backpacks.
If you’re looking to get an award, judges at hackathons care a lot about the pitch and the idea rather than the actual execution of the idea. Having an idea beforehand is also helpful, so you can spend your time focusing on the MVP.
Friends and Networking
chaitu65c: I think it’s definitely useful if you have two different friend groups: One dedicated to career and Non-Career Group.
Career Group - When making a friend group dedicated to career, try to be the dumbest person in the group, you’re definitely going to learn a lot from them as you soak up knowledge! Best ways of meeting friends who are career-driven can be through major specific orientation (actually how I met
rishiss), courses, major related clubs, etc.
Non-Career Group - While having a group that motivates you for your career is important, it’s also important to have another friend group that can help you relax and to enjoy your time! A really good way to find these friend groups can be anywhere from your hall to General Education courses, social clubs like Circle K, fraternities/ sororities(if that’s your cup of tea) and others!
This is what has worked for us; no need to follow this exact format.
Resume
rishiss: Here are the few take-aways on writing a resume that gets through the ATS.
- Make your resume accomplishment driven, not just a list of your responsibilities – This guy puts it best TL;DR: Your bullets should be in the format -> Accomplished X by doing Y as measured by Z.
- Don’t put school projects that every other CS student in your school has completed. Recruiters are able to figure it out and will look down upon this a lot, as it shows you’re not doing anything outside the classroom to forward your career. Capstone projects are perfectly okay.
- Make it a simple, one-column that recruiters can easily read through. There’s no need for pictures, graphics, colors, fonts, etc; the ATS can't parse this! Overall, keep it simple; the content should be carrying you.Exceptions: The company you are applying for is small, you’re going to a career fair and you know your resume will be hand-read, you’re a UI/UX person or a Graphic Designer.
- Have at least 3 minimum (I aim for 4-5) per work experience/project; it makes no sense when you have such amazing experience and only put two bullets.
- If you have a GPA lower than a 3.0, do not bother keeping it on the resume. If you have a 3.5 +, make sure to keep it.
- Make formatting consistent. This should be a no brainer, but I still see folks’ resume with different fonts, spacing, etc. It’s annoying; don’t do it.
- Focus on individual contributions and leadership, not the team. Recruiters are looking for self-starters and leaders that can see a project throughout the life-cycle, not just another code monkey.
- Expect to be tested on anything you put on your resume. If you don’t think you can answer questions about a skill, tech, or experience on your resume, don’t bother putting it in.
- Make sure to add these items in your resume: Name, School, GPA (unless its less than 3.0), Work Experience, Projects, Skills (one line for languages, one line for tools/platforms are what I’ve seen the most), relevant links (GitHub, Website, Portfolio).
- Take out any old or irrelevant experience. Nobody cares about that Tic Tac Toe game you made in high school.
- Get your resume reviewed multiple times by experienced people in tech. /csMajors and /cscareerquestions also has a weekly resume roast thread that you can take advantage of.
Searching for Internships
Searching for internships in CS is really different and harder from searching for internships in other professions. CS internship interview processes are often longer and much more technical on what you have learned as a CS major. We've prepped 2-3 months beforehand on CS concepts, whiteboarding, etc.
Timeline
This timeline primarily focuses on large, non-government/defense companies or competitive startups. This also assume you are applying for a summer internship.
August - September: Applications are opened to the public. Make sure to look out for positions and apply early, as most companies admit students on a rolling basis. A site that we used often is
Apply.fyi. After applying, you may receive an automated (< 48 hours) invitation to complete an Online Assessment, consisting of multiple choice and/or coding questions about Data Structures, Algorithms, and Run Time Complexity. You will have usually 1-2 weeks to complete the assessment. Please that you may be rejected if you are not able to pass 90% of the questions on the assessment: Please also note that you may be instantly rejected due to things out of your control like years of experience, cancellation of internship, internal corporate issues, and more. Don't take rejections too seriously; just keep applying!
October - November: After passing the resume screen and the OA, you will be contacted by the company's recruiter for a phone screen. During the screen, you will probably be asked a few confirmation questions about your resume, sponsorship, years of experience with X, etc. and minor behavioral questions like what made you apply for this position, what are you pursuing outside of class, etc. You may also receive questions about your CS fundamentals e.g. what is a hashtable, whats the difference between a process and a thread, what is the runtime complexity of sorting a string, etc. As long as you're cool and confident (and not cringe/edgy), this part should be a breeze.
November - Mid January: If you made it through the two Thanos snaps, you will be invited to an onsite “Power-Day,” where interviewees attend 2-4 whiteboard interviews while being grilled on their technical skills and projects. Some companies make applicants go through a panel interview, where a team of 2-5 Software Engineers grill you on technical questions and your resume. You are often pampered with free travel, food, stipends, etc.
December - February: If you were deemed a good fit by the hiring committee, you will be extended an offer to intern at the company during the upcoming summer for 10-12 weeks. Remember, nothing is final until you receive an offer letter in your inbox. Some companies may also place you on a wait-list and offer you a spot if someone were to reject their offer letter.
For government orgs, defense companies, and smaller organizations, the recruiting season starts in February/March and usually ends in April and May. After applying online and passing the resume screen, you will usually be immediately pushed to an on-site interview. Most likely, you will be interviewing with your future boss/co-worker.
Please note that internships are not only offered in the summer, they are provided in the Fall, Winter, and Spring (rare) as well. The competition for these internships is usually lower, and the process usually starts 3-4 months beforehand.
How to get the Interview
Besides following resume tips, make sure to apply to as many places as you can. To get our first internships, we recall applying to approximately 250-300 places before we secured our internship plans for that summer. Also, if you do get ghosted, don’t take it personally, usually, university recruiters often spend so much time reviewing a lot of applications.
Other precautions to take to get noticed are to try attending career fairs if you can, you might be able to get an interview(worst case, free swag!). Other than that, try reaching out to upperclassmen or friends you know that interned and ask for referrals. It’s one of the best ways to get noticed!
What to expect
As part of the interview process, there’s 4 types of interviews that you should make sure you know.
Behavioral Interview: These interviews ask you questions about culture fit such as “Why are you a good candidate” and “Tell me about a time when you ...”
Coding/Technical Interview: These interviews ask you questions similar to what you see on Leetcode and Hackerrank. These interviews are designed to test your Data Structures and Algorithms knowledge.
System Design: System Design involves the interviewer testing your building to design a service/software and test your knowledge of understanding what things to use for the task and how you will integrate them together. You’re definitely not expected to know this and it’s not likely you’re gonna get asked this. Places that could ask you this are Unicorns, Trading Companies and Hedge Funds, and Big Established Companies.
Concurrency/Low Level Interviews: If the company’s biggest product involves low level principles such as networking principles and kernel stuff, there’s a possibility you can get asked this. Places that come to mind are hardware companies and trading firms.
Some companies may adopt only one of these interviews and some may adopt all.
How to Ace the Interview
It’s highly recommended that you look up the interview experiences that other students have faced so that you can potentially filter out companies with red flags and know what questions to expect. Common sources to search up on this would be Reddit (
csMajors and
cscareerquestions), Jumpstart (Relatively new portal for students), Glassdoor and maybe Blind (Aside from the toxic TC or GTFO culture, they do give good advice on interviews). With that said, here’s some advice we have when you approach each kind of interview we’ve seen.
Advice on Behavioral Interviews
Use the
STAR method when describing your experiences. Being quantifiable with the impact of your actions will impress the interviewer.
Advice on Technical Interviews
Begin by reviewing your notes from the Data Structures and Algorithms class. Do not proceed further until you know how to implement these DS and As from scratch with the language of your choice(If you do know python, it’s recommended as there’s a lot of builtin features!). After doing so, we highly recommend a book like CTCI and EPI to gain a review on programming language details and your DS and As. Then, visit sites like LeetCode to practice real questions from major companies. A Facebook Engineer completed 600 LC problems and compiled the most important ones into a
list here. During the interview, make sure to talk out loud about possible approaches and tradeoffs before whiteboarding. It is perfectly acceptable (often recommended) to ask the interviewer to ask questions about the problem and get clarification. Once you have an idea in mind and have talked about it with your interviewer, begin whiteboarding. While you talk about the final idea you want to use, write out pseudo code and comments about all the steps you need to implement in order to finish coding your solution. After that, start coding. Make sure to have proper function headers, syntax, spacing, classes/structs, imports, etc. After coding your solution, give a brief explanation and attempt to make it run with less space and in less time (if your solution is not as efficient as you think it can be).
Advice on System Design
These are somewhat hard to approach if you don’t have experience ever doing it. If you do have experience designing and building services in your spare time and as part of your work experience, definitely rely on your experience. An important thing is to definitely ask clarifying questions. There might be hidden requirements you didn’t think about that could drastically change the way you approach the solution.
Advice on Concurrency/Low level
Understand basic principles such as Processes vs Threads (A lot of people don’t know the difference!)TCP vs UDP and how to make an application thread safe. Other than that, it’s recommended that you familiarize yourself with basic OS concepts such as Deadlocks, locks that you can utilize to make an application thread safe, etc.
Searching for Full Time Jobs:
The big bucks. The process for finding a Full-Time Job is usually very similar to finding an Internship. There’s three main differences are:
- Harder Questions. Ex: Google usually asks Leetcode Mediums to Hards + the special Leetcode Hard question that Google asks it’s applicants (they create a new one every year).
- More Rounds of Interviewing: For example, Microsoft makes interns do 2 rounds while New Grads do 4 rounds during the onsite part of the process.
- Compensation: Interns usually get an hourly rate and, possibly, a housing stipend. New grads, however, are given a yearly salary and, possibly, a sign-on bonus, stocks, and benefits e.g. health insurance, vacation days, etc.
The process for finding a Full-time Job won’t really change as much as finding an internship, but keep in mind that the bar is higher. This is probably the biggest reason why you should look into interning early; by getting an offer at the place you like, you don’t need to go through the daunting process of finding a full-time role.
Get as many offers as you can this time around, so you can negotiate and select the position, company, compensation, and location that works best for you.
Negotiation
Negotiation is a really powerful tool that you can use in the interview process, even as an intern. There’s a lot of guides to negotiation and we recommend Nick Singh’s guide (Look at his LinkedIn and newsletters) for more.
Final Thoughts
University is a probably the most important time of your life and a foundational block of your CS Career. Like any foundation, it must be sturdy and takes a tremendous amount and energy of time to develop. Take advantage of all the resources (like this one) you can get your hands on. Definitely learn from the mistakes people have made and make sure you don’t repeat the same mistakes.
‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish’ - Steve Jobs
submitted by I'm looking to put together a group of individuals to run the "Princes of Apocalypse" adventure path. This is going to be a pretty casual easy-going game just designed to have fun and accomplish a grand adventure. Please don't join expecting some Hollywood level experience. However also don't join to waste everyone's times and goof off the whole time. This will probably be very long winded so please forgive me ahead of time.
A little about me. I've been playing Table Top RPG's for a very long time. It has been a long adventure of growth, mistakes and stupidity. I have dedicated a lot of time learning how to be a proper player and table manners. I eventually took up the mantle of DM and braved the expectations of that. I found myself enjoying it but I am a very laid back DM that just wants people to enjoy themselves. I'm a 28 year old Car Salesman from the West Coast of the USA. I'm happily married to my beautiful wife and we have several pet cats. I'm a video gamer whenever I get the chance.
Now for the nitty gritty of the group details. For this adventure I am going to be running it on Thursdays in the Afternoon if not Evenings. The time is fairly flexible but the day is not. I work in Sales however so if I have to work on a Game Day on Game Time you will know ahead of time but there is a chance I will have to cancel a game night. Life just does that sometimes. I expect it to happen anyone. I reside on the Cozy West Coast of the USA so use that for figuring out if the scheduling would work for you. We will use Discord for talking. This will require you having access to a microphone so we can hear you especially for role-playing. The other big thing is I will be running this adventure on Fantasy Grounds. I know that can scare some people but al the hard work is on me so you really don't have to worry. Plus you won't have to buy anything. I'll gladly do a quick players workshop for people during session zero.
Now if you haven't been turned off from things thus far and are still interested allow me to make some particulars in what I'm looking for in a player. Playing as long as I have you really get to see every kind of player imaginable and with online play being so available now it almost feels like russian roulette with who you meet. Let me make some thing extremely clear. While I may be very laid back and easy to work with or get along with I have have little patience for certain things. If you are a problem player in a variety of ways I will not be afraid to kick you out. If you are hateful, spiteful, insufferable or causing others to not enjoy themselves due to negative behavior you will be removed. I will happily mediate or talk out issues but there are some things that will be nipped in the bud. This is a team game. You are supposed to work together to accomplish goals. Don't ever make this all about yourself. I recommend if you haven't already you should check out online on how to be a "Good" Player and proper table etiquette.
I would prefer people over the age of 18 due to the level maturity that I want in the group but I won't be opposed to allowing someone younger. I also do not have any problems if you are new to DND or Table Tops in general. You are welcome. If you are a Veteran you are welcome as well but please be a good sport and patient with any newbies there might be.
I'm done rambling at this point so I just want to hear from you. Please private message me if you are interested in joining in the fun and games. Just tell me some things about you. I will be patient and wait for the right people to apply. Help me get to know who you are and what you might want to accomplish in this game. I'll include a template just incase you have a hard time figuring out what to say to me. Otherwise thank you so much for getting this far and hopefully I will be hearing from you real soon.
Name:
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Age:
Timezone:
Tell me something about yourself:
Experience in DND 5e:
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