<p>Can anyone attest to this? I understand that you wouldn't exactly be competitive for the software engineering jobs that CS majors will snag, and that you would have less opportunities than CS minors as well, but specific examples of employment prospects for students whose sole CS coursework is the 61 series would be great.</p>
<p>I did not leave that part out to take the part I quoted out of context; I took that part out because I believed that doing so would not alter the context of the original content. I’m sorry if you disagree.</p>
<p>Hey, different engineering major here. Graduated from Cal not too long ago and doing an engineering job.</p>
<p>Looking strictly from viewpoint of what I learned, my first 2 years of learning is enough to do the job I’m doing.</p>
<p>But there’s more than that.
Even though what I learned in the latter 2 years seemingly has nothing to do with what I do, the projects, design of experiment, the teamwork, etc. I have to go through is crucial to what I do now. It’s not necessarily the content of the courses, but the type of thinking and the process I went through are the valuable experience.</p>
<p>Similarly, the CS61ABC are classroom learning with some projects, while the upper-div courses are really big projects with lots of creativity and effective teamwork. Even though CS61ABC are enough to perform the job regarding the content, the upper-div courses will give you the experience to be even better engineer.</p>
<p>There is a way. The employers probably won’t know which courses are which, but they should ask you what do you know, and provide the relevant experience. You can use your CS61ABC for the technical knowledge and use the upper-div courses as the relevant experience.</p>
<p>@UpMagic: Oh, wow, I know you basically already said this in your first post, but the fact that CS61ABC really is all the preparation you need to be as technically prepared for any job interview as a CS or engineering major really amazes me! On another note, can I ask how happy you are with your job (in general as well as the non-technical aspects of it)?</p>
<p>Yeah, ‘technically prepared’ is a good way to describe it.</p>
<p>I’m quite content about my work. There are multiple aspects of the job that I learn on the fly probably like many other jobs, but not completely from ground zero since it requires basic engineering knowledge to begin with.
What I went through during the later years in college is more important for my job since that is when I learned how to think and what to do when I am faced with an engineering problem and I can’t flip to the back of the textbook for answers.</p>
<p>It also helps (a lot) to find a job that sounds interesting to you. It’s easy to feel desperate because everybody wants to get an offer, but you gotta keep it level-headed. Chances are, if the job sounds interesting, then you’ll separate yourself from others during the interview. And by the end of the day, you do one job, so it’s a good idea to choose wisely.</p>
<p>I know that there is the chicken-or-the-egg argument that one must have an experience to figure out if you’re interested in the job or not, but ironically you can’t get the job if you don’t have the experience, and I get it. But I can assure you that your past actions and thoughts will give a very decent indication of what you like and want to do.
And that is one more reason that lower-div classes aren’t quite enough because taking more courses beyond that will tell what you’re really interested in or not.</p>