<p>So would it be a bad idea to take CSE 11 and CSE 20 during summer session 1? </p>
<p>During Summer:
Pros: -Doing so will allow me to take CSE 12, CSE 15L, and CSE 21 in the Fall which<br>
would allow me to get started on CSE 30 and my upper divs in the Winter quarter.<br>
Cons: -I don't know if it would be manageable to take these 2 courses in just 4 weeks. </p>
<p>During Fall:
Pros: -I will save a butt load of cash because my Blue & Gold will cover the fees.<br>
-I will most likely be in a more sane state of mind seeing as how I will have more time
to complete the courses.<br>
Cons: -I won't be able to get started on CSE 30 and my upper divs until Spring quarter.</p>
<p>// I am mostly worried about how not taking upper div courses until Spring 2012 would affect my chances of getting a software engineering internship in Summer 2012. What courses did you have under your belt before you applied for a software engineering internship?</p>
<p>After viewing the summer evaluations for each course it seems that they only take a combined 20 hours per week (roughly) of study time. Would you say this is an accurate estimate?</p>
<p>Taking both courses for the summer is definitely doable, and if your main goal is an internship, it would definitely help to take cse 100. It adds more programming experience and that’s where you learn about algorithms and time complexities, which is what most recruiters ask about. </p>
<p>Of course, recruiters are all quite fickle. Some will take you regardless of whether or not you know the upper-division material or not (because most of the time your internship will see none of that). They just want to know if you know what you’re supposed to know, if you can learn on your feet, etc. </p>
<p>Whether or not you decide to take the summer courses, you should read up on a book called Programming Interviews Exposed. Ord, the primary cse 30/131 prof, swears by it in every one of his classes. If you understand the concepts (and problems!), it’ll give you a head start on getting an internship sooner, as the technical problems in the book are essentially the questions that most interviewers ask.</p>
<p>Thanks! I will definitely pick this book up. Though I find it interesting that recruiters will be asking about algorithms when most, if not all of what I will be doing on the job will not have to do with algorithms. I assume that understanding algorithms must be a fairly good estimate to recruiters of whether I will be able to do well on the job?</p>
<p>That’s the logic, at least. They’ll give you a problem that needs to be solved algorithmically, then ask you questions critiquing your solution. Really, it seems to me that most software internship work could be done by any decent student. Of course, getting the internship is another matter altogether.</p>