How to Spend this Quaran-Summer Productively (as a computer science student)

With the enormous amount of time that we have in our hands right now during this quarantine, it is essential that we spend the time productively. It is really easy to get bored or run out of things to do. If you are planning to pursue computer science, we have compiled a list of things you can do as a computer science student during summer.

Start a side project: This is a great time to pick up a side project. It might be making a personal website or a portfolio website to showcase your skills/talents. Look for something you’re really passionate about and design a project about it. It is a good way to also learn the skills while you’re doing the project. Side projects are very important since recruiters/ interviewers look for what projects you did outside of class or how you spent coding outside of just your classes. If you need ideas, you can hit Kuhu up!

Virtual Internships: If you got an internship offer that is now virtual, congrats to you!! You must be grateful for the opportunity since many companies have canceled their internships altogether. If you’re one of them or you don’t have an offer, don’t you worry! InsideSherpa is offering an array of virtual internships from companies like J.P. Morgan, KPMG, etc. which are free for any student. These internships are self-paced and guided and you can get a certificate of completion. Apart from that, there are many other companies that have still open positions. You can check the companies that are still hiring here:

Work on certifications: Certifications are definitely good to have on your resume and give you that extra boost. They demonstrate your unique skill in any technologies such as cloud computing which is really sought after in the industry. It will make your resume stand out from other applicants during the job search. Some certifications Kuhu recommends are AWS Cloud Practitioner, Azure Cloud, AI/ML Udacity Nanodegree, etc. There are many resources available on the Internet to help you prepare for the certification exams and make sure you do well the first time since the exams can be a bit expensive!

Study for your next semester classes: You definitely want to get that head-start for next semester classes. If you already know what classes you will be taking, search up the syllabus or ask upperclassmen for lecture notes, programming assignments, etc. If you know you will be working in a different language than you haven’t worked with before, learn the basics of that language too if you can during this summer. If you get time, start the programming assignments and ask any upperclassmen for help!

Learn other technologies/ programming languages: Learn other technologies skills that you always wanted to learn. Expand your technical aptitude since recruiters definitely want to see that you love coding in your free time. It also reflects that you’re eager to learn and are truly passionate about the subject. Coursera offers a variety of courses and you can also choose to audit them. Some areas you might want to gain skills are web development (HTML/CSS), iOS/Android App Development (Swift/ Kotlin).

Brush up on Data Structures: Technical interviews are all about Data Structures. IT IS SO SO IMPORTANT TO REVIEW DATA STRUCTURES DURING THIS TIME. Take out your Cracking the Coding Interview book and read that line by line. Know that book like the back of your hand. It is a great resource to brush up Data Structures and review important concepts. Make sure you know all your data structures before you jump into the problems. Review Sesh’s lecture notes (*iykyk*) and go over all the problem sets and assignments!

Prepare for the next interview season (Leet-coding): This section goes hand in hand with the previous section. Leetcode and Hackerrank are two of the best sites to practice technical questions in addition to Cracking the Coding Interview book. Practice with a friend if you can. Some tips for preparing for interviews (this will be consolidated in a different post but just some general tips for now) :

• Ask yourself clarifying posts

• Talk through your idea of the solution and figure out its runtime.

• Write out very general pseudocode first before going to the solutions

• Then flesh it out for real on paper or whiteboard so you don’t have internet or code editors to help you out.

Organize the list of internships for next year: If you already have a list from last year, that’s good. But if you don’t, start making one. The recruiting season usually starts at the end of July/ start of August. The earlier you start applying, the better it is. Organize a list of companies that you want to apply to. LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed are some good places to start looking for internships in the field you’re interested in. If you need a template for a job applications/ internships list, you can definitely reach out to Kuhu!

Attend a virtual hackathon: Major League Hacking is organizing virtual hackathons every weekend. It is a good opportunity to meet new people and build a project in 48 hours. MLH is also hosting workshops where they teach different programming languages, technological skills. Sign up for their newsletter to receive more updates on what at-home activities they are organizing.

If you need any help with any of these above sections, feel free to reach out! Kuhu would be happy to provide additional resources as needed.