If I were to get a CS degree, which courses would my employer care the most about?
Most employers will not look at the courses but what you are able to do for them in terms of work experience. Getting a degree means nothing if you cannot to do the job required.
@Gumbymom
Yeah but there has to be some slacker electives and actual hard electives right?
Also, I am talking about first job / internship opportunity… Like, the very first experience.
The concepts in the following courses will be commonly seen in industry:
operating systems
networks
databases
algorithms and complexity
security and cryptography
software engineering (or project course)
Course work which includes work in different programming languages and paradigms is desirable (i.e. someone whose course work is all in Java, C++ or similar languages may be less flexible when work problems come up that are best solved in other programming languages).
I’ve read a few self reported stories online and it seems that many job interviews will drill you on data structures and algorithms - know common algorithms and be able to analyze algorithmic complexity . There’s a book called “Cracking the Coding Interview” that will tell you what you need to know. You should also be able to code without a text editor/IDE (on a whiteboard instead). I’ve never actually tried myself to get a programming job - this is just from what I’ve seen online.
@ucbalumnus
Thank you very much!
@aldfig0
Yeah I’ve heard about being required to code in .txt file too. Thank you very much, very helpful!
@aldfig0 yes, the technical interview is important, but you have to get the interview first and having the core CS coursework on transcripts will be helpful. Of course it will also be helpful if you can demonstrate skill, via internships, research, coding projects etc.