Graduating highschool and wanting to work as a programmer, advice? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by randomname@sh.itjust.works to c/programming@programming.dev

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I'm a junior in highschool and will be graduating next year, and the degree that makes the most sense to me is computer science. I've always loved using and tinkering with technology, and learning about it when I can.

I've taken the CS50p course as an introduction to coding, and have really enjoyed the problem solving nature of programming. I just don't know what the industry is like, and people keep saying the job market for CS majors is terrible. so I'm not 100% sure that a computer science degree would be right for me. any advice?

update: I've gotten a lot of good advice from comments and have decided to start a personal project of some sort, to test the waters and see if this is something I can do and enjoy as a hobby outside the CS50p course. thanks to everyone who responded!

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[-] folekaule@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

A degree will help you get in the door and it will teach you the theory behind the practice, which is helpful for the problem solving parts.

Other than that, read good code and write lots of code, even if it's crap, as long as you're learning from your mistakes. Experiment and venture outside your comfort zone. Don't focus too much on leet coding.

Contribute to open source if you can. I'm always happy to see a candidate with a solid GitHub profile, where I can see actual code that they wrote. It will also teach you to collaborate with others.

But mostly: stay curious, and don't stop learning.

this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025

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