I got a BS in Engineering Physics and a MS in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in robotics, both from Stanford. My first job was as a software engineer at Facebook. I now work at Google X (currently referred to as X).
Many of my MS courses had an element of writing code. Right out of school I interviewed with a number of companies in Silicon Valley. For Facebook, I spent ten days, 8 hours a day, prepping for the series of interviews. Once you get in the door it is all about how well you do in the interviews. At that point the name of the school becomes background noise to how well you perform in the interviews.
My main point is a Computer Science degree is not a necessity if you decide to work at a company like Facebook or Microsoft although you definitely need to be fluent in writing code in a number of languages.
As most suggested to get a job as software engineer you don’t need a masters in CS. Get a BS degree in CS or some engineering or math degree with CS electives. UIC, IIT, Northwestern are all fine. Make sure you get solid programming skills.
If your target companies are Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft etc then you are much better off going to UIUC for CS. Getting into UIUC CS major is tough tough.
If you haven’t nailed down what you want to do yet and you don’t mind heading south for some warmer winters, Auburn offers Wireless Engineering either Hardware or Software track - kind of interesting but I’m hearing quite challenging too. Just another option.
UIUC certainly has a great reputation in CS and if you graduate from there, you will be well considered. However, there are plenty of graduates from the other three schools at those companies too.
@xraymancs
That’s true, I am considering to go to UIUC for fall 2017
What are the chances to get accepted I have a 3.5 and I think by then I’ll get a 3.8
Are you an Illinois resident? If so, and you are attending an Illinois Community College, you will have a better chance. While UIUC is selective, it has a mandate to take Illinois Residents.
@xraymancs
Yea I am, I was born in Chicago and then later moved to the north side of Chicago, I have been living here my whole life. My counselor has a program with my community college called UIUC Engineering/Computer Science pathways were if you get a certain amount of credits or if your plan is to get an associates degree with the school, you take the classes that UIUC wants you will be automatically accepted same thing with UIC or NIU. But as I was researching I feel that UIUC fits better for me and like you said it has a better reputation with being 5th in the nation with the engineering program so that would look good if I go if I want to get into any of those companies
UIUC won’t hurt your chances, but getting a job at any of those companies is far more about having great grades, doing intriguing things as an undergrad, and interviewing well. They are EXTREMELY competitive getting FAR more fully qualified candidates than they can take. Good luck!
@eyemgh
I’m planning to get an internship a semester after getting into UIUC, and hopefully with the experience I’ll get a job Job in any of those, thanks for the information.
What is the difference between software engineer and computer science?
A CS major student studies CS and applies CS knowledge to develop real life applications. His/her job title is SW engineer.
I guess it’s similar to this: a medical student studies medicine and applies medical knowledge to treat patients. His/her job title is doctor.
Sounds like you have a plan. Good luck and remember there are lots of great software jobs that are not at those specific companies. My son is doing very well at a trading firm on Michigan Ave. in Chicago.
@xraymancs
Thank you, so there is jobs out there for software engineers then? I can still get a good job in downtown Chicago or any other are with that major right?
@coolweather
Now I understand, my friend told me two days ago to get a BS in Computer Engineer and a Masters in CS, would that actually work? I was just curious if you could actually do that?
Yes, that works. It also depends on the BS in Computer Engineering program. Many programs require some minimum CS classes, some elective classes that prepare you for Master in CS.
I am not sure about that. I googled those firms on LinkedIn and there are more matches using “Northwestern University” than “Urbana” as the keyword despite the fact that Northwestern is significantly smaller.
While I would question the validity of that data set in the first place, your data also appears to be very off. For Google, I found 785 for UIUC and 402 for Northwestern. I’d guess you were using direct search instead of explicit filtering.
When you narrow it down to Computer Software as the industry, UIUC is at 377 while Northwestern is at 84.
The bigger picture here is this: consider that even if one gets into UIUC, and graduates, and Google regularly takes 15 students per year from UIUC (very generous), that will give you an under 10% chance of being hired by Google based on UIUC CS graduating class sizes. As others have said, most jobs in the CS industry are just as good in quality and pay. Don’t focus on the big names.
Yes, I only used direct. But even with your numbers (377 vs 84), it’s still unclear to me which one would be better off because UIUC’s engineering has over 9,000 undergrads while NU’s engineering has less than 1,800. Many probably don’t realize UIUC engineering is bigger than the entire NU undergrad. Anyway, the difference would be even more skewed (probably more like 7 times bigger at UIUC) considering computer/electrical are the most popular engineering majors at UIUC but at NU, the most popular ones are industrial and biomedical.
I do agree with what you said about big picture. 15 out of 500 (my estimate) graduating EE/CS/CE seniors is a tiny percentage. That really shouldn’t be anyone’s focus.