As a CS student, where should I invest my time between these options ?
- Get a higher GPA
- Invest in personal project
- Contribute to open source project
- Have a part-time internship during school
- Take time for myself

I would like to have opinions based on your personal experiences !

Gpa<literally anything else. Just pass the courses.

If you aren't going to grad school, GPA isn't all that important.

After 6 years of CS education ( under graduate + graduate). If you are passionate about writing awesome code all of the options(yes, all of them) can be achieved.

Invest in personal project I suggest

@pseudoaj with undergrad I sort of disagree. They're sort of trying to fail you so they have more tests to check if you studied rather than your actual ability.

@projektaquarius true in some cases(varies with universities, courses and professors). But I think putting effort in writing awesome code is always a good thing to do.

@pseudoaj oh of course, just it may not help your gpa.

Yes

Welcome to devRant! All of them! You can do it.

Op I am doing all of them right now but you have to start somewhere, id say get a full time internship at a large company I.e. Google or Facebook etc and you'll end up having to do the rest as a simple byproduct ;) seriously do it though I'm telling you that you 100% will have to do the rest to get to the aforementioned and it'll be worth it

Also I can understand if you think I'm bullshitting or that what I'm saying is impossible but it really does take 12+ hours per day and a lot of the time 36-48 hours straight and it really is worth it. I'm not exaggerating.

I went through a comp eng degree without any work experience, but always had a project going on the side. Was found by a start-up in my last year because of one of my projects and now get to do something I really enjoy every day.

Some companies care about GPA, however, showing off your own projects and showing off your contributions to open source will probably be a huge huge deal, especially if it's quality

Part-time internship. You can get real world experiense, a chance at a job, recommendations.

Personal projects. This will lead to freelance jobs or an awesome portfolio. Pick up easy-but-not-everyone-can-do things, like CSS. If you are interested in back end, having a good CSS knowledge really helps too, if you are into web dev of course. Experiment frameworks that don't require a large scale development. Buy more tools with freelance money, and expand your capabilities deck. I know people will tell you that you need focus on one, but that will naturally happen if you found the one you like. But, finish your course if you can, with a pass even. I didn't go to school so I have no idea about that. The above suggestion is based on my experience changing my own life.

Internship. Experience > literally everything

@TonySpark why cant you invest time in all the things you mentioned? I suggest give equal time to all.divide your time smartly.

I did 2 interns and both got me a job. There is more to being a programmer than coding. You need to learn how companies think and communicate and you don't get that when your in school or your basement. But only do it with a good company that takes you serious. If not leave. My experience is dat the ones that pay you (amount doesn't matter) take you more serious. But im sure it depend on your country and such

Time for your personal project and time for yourself are different things? How? Expect that project to fail.

No, but seriously - Not the GPA. I say contribute to open source. Flesh out that GitHub account.

Showing meaningful contributions in code that's actually in use will be the best way to advance in your career in my opinion.

@eshwarenm awesome feedback, thanks ! Did you ever feel at a disadvantage at interviews or development by not having a degree ? Or do you think it allowed you to develop your passion on your own and was more rewarding ?

@anekix I am trying but my school is really demanding. I have 5 assignmemts of ~15 hours per week each and I have limited time to do other things. I do know they are all important and I will end up doing all of them, but as for now I need to find my priorities

@developer82 Are recommendations that important as a developer ?

@TonySpark I'm a team leader and I get to interview a lot as part of my job. What's more important for me (other than the candidate to pass the technical interview) is to see that he or she has work experience and our HR department calls people to recommend him - that has more weight today than the college degree he or she has.

Invest in personal projects and contribute to open source.

Employers want to see what you can do, not how well you can pass a college test.

I got a great job with no degree by showing them great projects I created.

Personal projects + Open Source.

@rmahey I semi-disagree. Only semi though. I think any internship that you can demonstrate you contributed to will help you. Company size doesn't matter. The name of the company on your internship only gets you so far. My current company hires you at junior no matter how many internships you have. There are exceptions but not many. The most important thing in my opinion is being able to explain what you did and how, both in tech talk and plain language. Whether that is whiteboarding a solution or explaining what you did in a previous project.

I was semi-drunk that day ;) but I agree with you as well, although the larger the scale (I.e. Google or Facebook ) the larger the competition and thus the more effort and more learning hopefully. @projektaquarius

I am a 2nd year CS student and I personally don't give a damn about my grades. I spend most of the time with my personal project, some of them are open-source too.

Exams are hurdles for me, it doesn't let me do my stuff, because at the end I still need to pass a sem.

Some companies require a minimum GPA for you to apply if you're doing it on campus. As long as you don't fall below this minimum you should be fine. The courses only set a foundation for you to build on. You probably won't use most of the things you learnt in school once you're out.
Try to do as many projects as you can, both personal and open-source. No matter how small. I'm in my final year of an undergrad degree and I must say I did not do this enough. Maybe you can try doing one git commit a day or something like that to keep you motivated. Before you know it you'll be ahead of your competition with an awesome portfolio.
If you're able to find an internship for a few weeks then thats great! Nothing beats hands-on experience in the field. Maybe during vacation from school if you're not going anywhere.

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