The first introductory session was scheduled for 29–03–2021. The main goal of the session was to introduce my co-mentees and me to the existing opportunities and what could be the future road ahead, considering our interests.
The session started off with a brief about the fields Computer Science is closely related to such as Neurobiology, Finance Design, Math, Social Science, and so on. The next was about the different roles that exist in a typical company such as App/Web Development, UI/UX Design, Testing, and Automation, etc.
Higher education, industry, research, entrepreneurship, or a mix of both industry and research are the options that were identified by our mentor. Pursuing higher education is very beneficial both in terms of entering the job market of a country and developing a good network. For a path following research, the options are to become a Professor or work at an AI lab in top-notch companies. Entrepreneurship involves working on our potential ideas and launching a startup. Another important piece of advice is to ensure that we have a job at hand at the end of our Bachelor's Degree.
A decent GPA is needed, based on on-campus requirements. Some companies ask about projects, but developing DSA and CP skills is of utmost importance. Our mentor advised us to try research and different technologies as well to understand where our interest lies.
The next was explaining how internship drives work and how best we can prepare for them. LeetCode and GeeksForGeeks were identified as reputed platforms to prepare for the coding tests and interviews. Tips for the HR round and how we should present ourselves were described as well.
For the week, the next event planned was a 1:1 session with my mentor where my interests were discussed and a few doubts were cleared. It was very helpful in terms of understanding opportunities that are available for higher studies. The tradeoff between pursuing a Masters immediately after Undergraduate and working for a few years and then pursuing a Masters was discussed in detail as well.
All in all, Week1 has been very informative. Looking forward to the upcoming sessions :)