Why are you in college? Most people that pursue a higher education intend to get a full-time job at the end of their college career. If you’re interested in employment then you should take advantage of career fairs! A common misconception is that career fairs are only for upperclassmen. This is completely false. Anyone and everyone that is serious about getting an internship or a job should attend. I acquired my first internship with State Farm Insurance the spring semester of my freshman year. Believe it or not I was mocked (by other students) for going to a career fair as freshman. I was told that I would never get a job and despite what others said, I got a job and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I made in college.

I attended my first career fair in the fall of my freshman year. I was under dressed, wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt and I walked around to get a feel for the event. I realized that I wasn’t prepared to be in such a setting. However, the following spring I went to the career fair with a stack of resumes and I was dressed to impress. I spoke with every company that was recruiting CS students. About fifteen minutes into the fair I met a very nice recruiter that was interested in talking to me about who I was, why I chose CS and how I developed my skills outside of school. We had a very nice conversation for about twenty minutes, it was by far the longest conversation I carried during the event so I made sure to leave a resume before I walked off. Ten minutes after I left I received a text and I was asked out to dinner to speak even further with the recruiter.

That night I went out to dinner, talked to my recruiter for about 2 hours and we scheduled an interview for the next day. I went through a 45 minute interview and a week later I got a job offer. I was offered a paid internship which included a relocation stipend.

The best part is that my first internship turned into 8 consecutive internships and a full-time offer. My internships were consecutive because I was given a laptop and asked to telecommute by working over the Internet during the academic year. I got to work for a great company, meet a lot of people, and get paid to put my education to use.

Let your passion(s) guide what you do with the rest of your life. If you don’t, you’ll live with regrets or always wonder “what if…”. When I registered at the University of Iowa computer science was the only major that called out to me. Thankfully, CS was a perfect fit for me. I’ve always been curious how computers worked and my relationship with CS has been a positive feedback, I want to learn more and more.

Don’t take me the wrong way. Following your passion doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll become rich. Good fortune, market demand and a lot of hard work is required to be ‘financially successful’.

The GPA is overrated. Don’t get me wrong, it is important to have a decent GPA but a GPA is worthless if one doesn’t acquire knowledge that can be applied throughout a lifetime. A GPA is good for getting an interview but it doesn’t help one get through an interview. Competitive colleges have a lot of students with good GPAs. It’s important to understand how the material in a textbook applies to real life. Furthermore, extracurricular activities are a great way to augment one’s knowledge acquired in the classroom.

On another note, pursue jobs related to your major. These jobs will help you build your experience. For example, I could have applied to become a campus bus driver because of the decent wages but that wouldn’t help me prepare for a software development job. Throughout college I accumulated eight software development internships (3 summers and 5 semesters) with State Farm Insurance. My “above average” exposure to software development was invaluable and helped me with every interview I’ve ever been in. Not only did my internships reinforce the material I learned in school but they gave me a lot of stories to leverage during interviews.

ASAP! By the time college rolls around if you don’t have any life goals it is time to set them. When I entered college I didn’t have many life goals. I didn’t know what I wanted out of school until the end of the first week of freshman year. Thankfully, I made a few wise decisions early on in my college career that helped me land exactly where I wanted to end up. My advice regarding college may not be too unique but it comes from experience and I want to share my advice as a student. 🙂 I always found it easier to accept school advice from students rather than a person who has been out of college for 10+ years.

First and foremost, college gives everyone a clean slate and as lame as it may sound: everyone has a lot of control over their destiny. In college I became interested in developing myself to my full potential, although it took me a little bit to realize this is a life long pursuit. Anyways, I made short term goals to make sure I would pursue my ideal path. Now that I finished my undergraduate career I can proudly say that I’m well on my way to accomplishing the handful of goals I planned out my freshman year.

Goals & Date Accomplished

• Graduate with a BS degree in computer science, May 2011
• Graduate with honors, May 2011
• Land my dream job, August 2011
• Pay off all college debt, expected May 2012, Nov. 2011
• Graduate with a Master’s in CS, May 2012