Start in Computer Science
By Tamara Mata (former ESI-UCLM student).
Getting started is not easy. Experience, that name we give to our mistakes, makes us wiser and stronger, makes us someone who is capable of looking at things with perspective. After thirteen years in the job market, these days the first days I spent at the Ciudad Real School of Computer Science have come to mind. My brother, eighteen years younger than me, is following in my footsteps and wants to be a computer engineer. I've been looking at it with some envy, why not say it, the mixture of illusion and insecurity that usually floods your body in those moments has been difficult to repeat in adulthood. In those moments, of course, there were things that I knew, but others I would learn later and I would have liked to know them.
The first one I already knew: Discipline.
You won't get anything if you don't chase it every day. There will be better days and worse days. Some of you will study and understand everything, others will make no progress or mess up the practice you started the day before, but each and every one of those little efforts will be a big effort in the end. Nothing valuable was ever built in a short time, remember it every day and you will be successful.
The second one cost me a bit to learn, the job market has changed a lot from the example we have from our parents: Never have a job, have a profession.
The labor market is changing, life is changing, you never know what will happen, even if you think it will. Your best job and investment is yourself, adding value to a company, and the best way to add value is to be a professional who learns, who looks for mistakes to improve. Prepare yourself during your studies to be able to reinvent yourself. One day you will be asked in a job interview about a pattern of software development that you saw in software engineering or you will say a phrase that you heard in database class. The degree will give you such a solid foundation that it will allow you to adapt to different environments, within the same company or in different ones. Always remember to take some time to invest in yourself.
What others say is their opinion, it will never define who you are.
When someone tells you that you are no good, smile at them and turn that energy into the fuel you need to go for your dreams. I know many computer scientists and I can assure you that we are all different. Maybe you don't physically respond to the stereotype that is expected of this profession, or maybe you do. That will not change anything in your day to day at work. According to science it takes a maximum of thirty seconds to make a first impression on someone and make a judgment. That judgment will never be what you really are and that person may or may not change his opinion later, but that will never change reality and sooner or later you will find your place.
Life is not fair, the sooner you learn that, the better for you. That's why never let failure prevent you from trying again and success prevent you from seeing that you have a lot to improve.
Help the others.
Few things are more rewarding than helping another person be better. Teaching, you learn and strengthen teams. Knowing that you can shine without trying to overshadow others will make you a good student that will not only improve your overall performance but your own as well. Good deeds will come back to you and multiplied. There will also be someone who will be ungrateful to you, for sure. Do not take it into account because what you did does not define what he is, it defines what you are. You will find good energy back if you always look for the common good. One day you will be a leader, a manager, and your project will succeed if you have assimilated this way of thinking and acting.
Be an example and look for an example in others.
Always try to have an attitude and way of acting that others want to imitate and do not forget to copy the people you admire. When you join the labor market you will copy meetings, architectures, tools, forms of organization that you have seen work, etc. There is a lot invented, take a look before you invent it, if you can improve it later, it will come later. Copying and pasting will be the keys that you will press the most in your career, but you have to know what to copy and paste and you have to understand it, and for that you need a person with criteria, who knows what they are doing.
Search what you love.
There is something in computer science that you like, for sure. It may be evaluating the requirements that a company needs, communicating improvement plans or defining an architecture by yourself quietly at home. That which you prefer to do, makes you better at it than those who do not prefer to do it. Seek it, find it, exploit it.
And finally, the most valuable advice that can be given to someone, not only in the workplace: Believe in yourself.
You are your leader and your main follower. Never let anything or anyone make you doubt yourself or your potential. Keep going learning every day and with a clear goal. Never forget that you control your future.
To finish, I want to tell you what the future holds for you when you manage to finish your training. Do you know what it feels like to be able to work in industry, banking, the media, public or private administrations, security, health and everything you can think of? One of the things that I liked the most about this career is that you can work in different sectors and learn from them. Computer science is undoubtedly one of the professions that has the greatest place in any sector, because everyone needs it to carry out their work. It's kind of crosswise. In a class they told us, it's like turning on the light, you need it so much that you don't even know you need it anymore. What they told you about the many job opportunities will not disappoint you. So, do you know what it feels like to be able to work in multiple sectors and have the opportunity to continue training every day? Do you want to know? Well don't give up.
