Computer Science Engineering – what next?
Got your favourite branch? Or as the case may be, your parents favourite branch? Either way, Computer Science Engineering has a plethora of options for you to explore and master before you can take on the big bad giants of this field. Ashish Gupta, a CS undergrad studying at Symbiosis Institute of Technology tells you how you can build a strong foundation a bright future!
More than half the population that gives the competitive engineering exams in our country today has only one goal in their mind, Computer Science Engineering. Every school student who believes he can pursue engineering in college wants to get into CS. The reasons for them are quite obvious. The work Computer Engineers do seems to be easy. They get to sit in good labs and not work hard in workshop industries, mines and on roads. And the salary, oh! The salary they get, it’s good enough to buy a BMW
convertible and park it in your garage before you turn 25. But these false believes about this branch is not my current concern.
Without getting into details and reasoning behind this mad craze of Computer Science Engineering, let us proceed to what happens next. After burning the midnight oil for 2 years or more, a few lac students get into this fascinating branch. The situation now gets confusing, and rather interesting. The first year computer science and IT students experience that all ‘core’ branch engineering students are busy learning about motors and pumps and engineering structures and what not. So what should we study? We have achieved more marks than them. We are supposed to be more intelligent. We are supposed to be more ‘busy’. But that is never the case. In this article, I will make it easier for all those future computer engineers who are willing to learn and explore and work hard again.
Most of us start with programming. Figuring out the logic behind so many types of sorting and understanding the complex algorithms and what not. Whether it is Java, or C or python! Some of us get into Android/Windows App development or even web development. I understand that learning PHP, HTML and these programming languages is quite interesting and easy, this approach is slightly wrong. The approach that every computer science student must have should relate more to the CORE concepts of computer science. The approach should be more basic. Basic does not necessarily mean easy, it can be complex, very very complex. And hence, here is a list of interesting topics that you must study before diving into any specific.
- Theory of Computation: Studying the theory of computation is very important so as to understand how to solve problems. To understand how computers analyze problems. It might appear to be boring and lengthy, but this theory is like entering the Hogwarts of Binary World!
- Data Structures: Before studying any object oriented language in detail, we must be clear with the concept of objects and Data Structures. Whether it is Amazon or Google, every company will judge you on your understanding of this topic.
- Linear Algebra: Yes, Mathematics. No study of computers can ever be complete without studying Math. So if you want to take a lead and be the HERO of your class, Linear Algebra will help you a great deal.
Just three topics! So to master the basics of computer science, all you need to know are these three topics. After being done with these, any programming language, software development will be a piece of cake. Not because you will be knowledgeable enough to do it, but you will be smart enough to grasp it quickly and easily! Many of your relatives might have told you that how there is a scarcity of jobs for computer science engineers in the nation, but it is not jobs that we lack, it is the skills required to do them properly. All the Best!
