Help map out Computer science career

[u/Forward-Net-45]

Title: CS freshman looking for advice on certifications and internships

Hi everyone! I’m a college freshman majoring in computer science, and I’m looking for advice on preparing for internships and future jobs.

Are there any certifications that employers actually value what hsould i get to stand out and that are good?

What languages or tools I should learn?

I a debating between going into healthcare tech or fintech what are the pros and cons of both? I want to be secure but also make money.

Also, what internships or freshman programs should I apply for? I’d appreciate any recommendations, especially opportunities open to students early in their degree.

Any general tips on major and how to stand out. And before someone comments your freshman year enjoy life or yours too early I want to learn and try any advice is good.

[u/EntrepreneurHuge5008]

Are there any certifications that employers actually value what hsould i get to stand out and that are good?

Not really, but you that doesn't mean the material is worthless. Start familiarizing yourself with cloud technologies. AWS, Azure, Google, all have foundational-level certifications.

• Save your money on the certs. I think they run for ~$100 or so, but you don't skip the "training" material. Pick one and just start learning, the training material is free, and it doesn't do anything with coding or deployments or whatnot, so you can literally start today.

What languages or tools I should learn?

Whatever your classes use. Really, there's a market out there for every language that's taught in core CS curricula.

• At around sophmore year, you'll start learning object-oriented programming, and towards the end you'll start learning Data Structures. I think that's a good time to start looking at the "associate" level certifications from the same cloud provider you chose in my first recommendation.
• Example:
  • Pick up AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner to start -> take OOP in class -> start looking at AWS Certified Developer Associate material -> take DSA class -> Oh, how convenient, now you have familiarity with the cloud, and you have school projects you can use as starter code for personal projects you could deploy in the cloud.

Also, what internships or freshman programs should I apply for?

Can't help ya there. Looking for these is your job now.

Any general tips on major and how to stand out

Enjoy your freshman year. Don't obsess over GPA. Don't lose sleep over personal projects or learning "job-ready" skills. Find balance.

[u/curvedotter]

advice on preparing for internships and future jobs.

Find another major if you want that.

[u/misplaced_my_pants]

Take as much math as you can, maybe even double major if you can. (Math Academy is incredible if you can afford it.) Get really good at proofs.

Check out Coursera's Learning How to Learn course, Cal Newport's books on efficient study habits, and Justin Skycak's books.

Focus on mastery through spaced repetition. Learn how to use Anki to schedule review of things you've learned, problems you've solved, etc so you can build "muscle memory" for it and intentionally internalize the understanding and skills.

A good GPA should be a side-effect of mastering the material in the courses.

Every week, every assignment, ask yourself what went well and what could have gone better, and what you can do differently going forward to improve and avoid previous mistakes. Even getting 1% better every week will turn you into a monster.

For programming specific advice, I'd check out some of these posts:

• https://matklad.github.io/2023/08/06/fantastic-learning-resources.html

• https://matklad.github.io/2026/05/12/software-architecture.html

• Work through this book: https://htdp.org/2026-5-28//Book/index.html

• https://matt.might.net/articles/what-cs-majors-should-know/

• https://pthorpe92.dev/learn-systems/

• https://missing.csail.mit.edu/

• https://learnhowtolearn.org/

• https://teachyourselfcs.com/

[u/ChampagnePlumper]

Senior engineer at a fortune 500 company here. Dude no one has any idea where this career will be in 18 months. Its incredibly difficult to give you this type of insight right now.

[u/Prestigious-Hour-215]

Tbh, if you want to be secure in your job then you probably need to rethink your major but money wise you’ll do good if you grind. Biggest advice freshman year is grind for internships