Computer Science
Reasons for this wiki:
This section should be called how to become a Software Engineer, but really it should be called how to elevate your socio-economic status, and fight against racial bias in our society. We all know that some groups of people are stereotypically placed in certain job sectors of our economy. So why not break those stereotypes? Why not fight against the socio-economic/racial oppression with the major tool that we have access to in our society: Information. So the real question anybody should ask themselves is why not pursue career in Computer Science? Here are a few steps everyone needs to consider when deciding about their CS career.
Job Prospects
First of all, why pursue Career in Software Engineering/Computer Science?
Let's consider job outlook for 2022 for the job title of a Software Engineer. Here is the link to the article:
I think the major takeaway from this screen shot isn't the yearly salary, but rather the number of job opening. There is a tremendous amount of opportunities for Software Engineers, here in the SF Bay Area. Only for the Adobe, it's 1,258 job openings. And it is only one company. It is quite remarkable the amount of opportunities there are in the job sector.
So that is one point to consider when pursuing a career, is the number of employment opportunities available at the moment. And for Software Engineering in 2022 the number is quite astonishing.
BS Degree vs BootCamp
So now, that you have decided to become Software Engineer, how do you actually do it? There are two main option other than learning on your own, and becoming a self-taught developer. These two options are going to the University or going to BootCamp. At SFSU, as we all know the tuition is around $7500 per year, and it takes about 4 years on average to graduate. So $7500 x 4 = $30000 not counting the Financial Aid. The average cost for a 12-16 week course is around $9000 to $20000. Here are the links for the most popular bootcamps:
In my personal opinion, not everyone has that kind of money to spend on a bootcamp. I would personally choose the option of going to Community College like San Mateo Community College and getting my Web Certificate there absolutely for free if you are receiving a BOGW fee waiver.
BS Degree in Computer Science at SFSU
Now let's say that you chose the option of going to a University to get your BS in Computer Science. I would really recommend State Universities. First of all, they are much cheaper than UC's. Second of all the quality of education, in my opinion, is just as good as in other schools. Here is a full list of classes one should take to graduate from SFSU in Computer Science. The full list and other roadmapds can be found here.
Here is a Pre-requirement Chart that is also very helpful in planning your classes.
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Advising Centers
There are a lot of advising resources that one can find on campus at SFSU. There are two main types of advising that a CS major needs. Those are major advising and general education (GE) advising.
For GE advising you can definitely go to CoSE Student Success Center and check them out.
For major advising I would definitely go to CS Department Advising Center
Job Search Websites:
Now that you have your academics in order, I would not hesitate to look for and apply for different job opportunities either Internships or Full time positions. There are many different websites, but these are the fundamental ones that everyone should know of:
Indeed.com
Monster.com
Ziprecruiter.com
Best of luck in our ultimate Pursuit of Happiness comrades!
