FAILING COMPUTER SCIENCE TO WORKING @ FAANG | my cs journey
Summary
TLDRMaddie, a junior at UC Berkeley studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, shares her challenging journey in college. Despite struggling with rigorous CS courses and scoring as low as 30% on exams, she persevered, interned at Amazon, and found her passion in creative coding and product-focused roles. She emphasizes the importance of surrounding oneself with supportive peers and exploring interests beyond academics.
Takeaways
- 🎓 Maddie is a junior at UC Berkeley studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and has interned at Amazon for two years.
- 🔄 Maddie's initial interest was in business, but she was persuaded by her high school computer science teacher to take the subject, which eventually led to her love for front-end development.
- 📉 Maddie struggled with her computer science courses, often scoring below average and even as low as 30% on exams.
- 🤔 Maddie contemplated switching majors multiple times due to the difficulty of her computer science classes, but ultimately decided to stick with EECS.
- 📚 The rigorous nature of Berkeley's computer science courses, including grade deflation, made her academic journey challenging.
- 🧩 Maddie found that she enjoys problem-solving and puzzles, which helped her approach computer science problems more effectively.
- 💻 Her internships at Amazon were different experiences; the first was data analysis focused, while the second was project-heavy with API development.
- 🔧 Maddie realized her preference for product-focused roles and is considering a career as a technical product manager.
- 🤝 She emphasizes the importance of surrounding oneself with supportive people and not being cutthroat in the competitive academic environment.
- 🌐 Maddie's involvement in various clubs outside of her major helped her explore interests at the intersection of business and tech.
- 🎉 Despite the challenges, Maddie does not regret studying computer science and appreciates the skills she has gained in a tech-centric society.
Q & A
What major is Maddie studying at UC Berkeley?
-Maddie is studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley.
How did Maddie first get interested in computer science?
-Maddie was persuaded by her high school computer science teacher to take AP Computer Science, which eventually led her to apply as a computer science student in college.
What challenges did Maddie face during her first year in college?
-Maddie found her first computer science course, CS 61A, extremely difficult, which led to her dropping the class. She struggled with the rigorous coursework and felt overwhelmed by the exams and homework.
How did Maddie perform in her computer science exams during her freshman year?
-Maddie struggled with her computer science exams, often scoring below 50%. Despite her efforts, she found the exams very challenging.
What internship experience did Maddie have after her freshman year?
-After her freshman year, Maddie interned at Amazon in Seattle through the Amazon Future Engineer program, where she worked on data analysis projects using Python and received a return offer for the following year.
How did Maddie’s approach to studying change during her sophomore year?
-During her sophomore year, Maddie started to understand how exams worked at Berkeley and focused more on practice tests. She found some classes like CS 70, which was math and probability-heavy, more enjoyable and managed to perform better in those exams.
What type of roles is Maddie interested in pursuing in the future?
-Maddie is interested in software engineering but also open to exploring roles like a technical product manager, where she can be involved in both tech and product development.
What was Maddie’s experience with the course CS 188 (Intro to AI)?
-Maddie enjoyed the CS 188 course, finding it similar to CS 70, which she liked. Despite studying only a couple of days before the exams, she performed better than expected, which she attributed to her interest in the subject matter.
How did Maddie balance her academic life with extracurricular activities?
-Maddie joined various clubs, including a fashion club, a consulting club, and a sorority, which helped her maintain a balance between her academic and social life. These activities also allowed her to explore her interests beyond computer science.
What advice does Maddie offer to students struggling with computer science courses?
-Maddie advises students to persevere through the challenges, surround themselves with supportive peers, and explore other interests outside of academics to maintain a balanced college experience.
Outlines
🎓 Struggles in Computer Science at UC Berkeley
Maddie, a junior at UC Berkeley studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, shares her challenging experience in the computer science program. Despite never scoring above a C average in exams and struggling with foundational courses like AP Computer Science and Berkeley's CS 61A, she persevered. Initially interested in business, Maddie was persuaded by her high school teacher to pursue computer science, which led to a rocky start in college, marked by difficulty understanding recursion, a poor performance in early courses, and even dropping a class.
💼 Internship Experience and Academic Growth
Maddie discusses her internships at Amazon and how they influenced her understanding of computer science. Despite fears due to limited experience, she successfully completed her projects, leveraging her knowledge of Python and data analysis. Her sophomore year saw an improvement in her academic performance, particularly in CS 70, where she discovered a love for problem-solving, especially in probability and proofs. This year also marked a turning point in her confidence as she began to enjoy her studies more and perform better, thanks to a more disciplined approach to exam preparation.
🧠 Junior Year Challenges and Self-Discovery
Maddie reflects on her junior year, where she faced difficulties with courses like CS 61C, which focused on hardware and computer architecture, and found solace in CS 188, an introductory AI course. Despite her struggles, she discovered a preference for algorithm-heavy courses over hardware-focused ones. She also began exploring career options, considering roles like a technical product manager, influenced by her involvement in a consulting club and her growing interest in the intersection of tech and business.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Computer Science (CS)
💡UC Berkeley
💡61A
💡Amazon Internship
💡Grade Deflation
💡Puzzles
💡Consulting Club
💡Product Manager
💡E16A and E16B
💡CS70
Highlights
Maddie, a junior at UC Berkeley, has consistently struggled with computer science exams, averaging around 40%.
Initially interested in business, Maddie was persuaded into computer science by her high school teacher.
Maddie disliked AP Computer Science A but found a passion for front-end development in an app development course.
Despite the difficulty, Maddie chose to major in EECS at Berkeley, known for its rigorous CS curriculum.
Berkeley's CS courses are so challenging they have grade deflation, which Maddie finds frustrating.
Maddie's first CS class, 61a, was extremely difficult, causing her to consider switching majors.
After retaking 61a, Maddie began to understand the course's difficulty and adjusted her expectations.
Maddie interned at Amazon for two years, gaining practical experience in software engineering.
During her sophomore year, Maddie enjoyed CS70, a probability and proof-heavy course, finding it puzzle-like.
Maddie's internships at Amazon helped her realize she prefers a product-focused role in software engineering.
Maddie is considering a career as a technical product manager, combining her tech and business interests.
In her junior year, Maddie disliked 61c, which focused on hardware and computer architecture.
Maddie excelled in an intro to AI course, enjoying the algorithmic and machine learning aspects.
Maddie's experience shows that perseverance is key in overcoming the challenges of a CS education.
She emphasizes the importance of surrounding oneself with supportive people in a difficult academic environment.
Maddie's journey reflects the diverse experiences and growth rates of students in computer science.
Despite initial struggles, Maddie is grateful for her CS education and its relevance in a tech-centric society.
Maddie's extracurricular activities, such as joining a fashion club and a consulting club, helped her explore interests beyond CS.
Transcripts
I've have never gotten above a CA on any
computer science exam for the past 3
years in college and honestly speaking I
think my average exam score comes out to
40% I literally thought I was going to
die I couldn't even do the homework
problems like 30% I don't even know what
that equates to hi I'm Maddie I'm a
junior studying electrical engineering
and computer science at UC Berkeley and
I've interned at Amazon as a software
engineer for the past 2 years in today's
video I'm going to be talking about my
experience as a computer science student
briefly talking about what got me into
computer science and then mainly
focusing on my experience in college so
to start off this video I did want to
say that I never intended in studying
computer science I mainly wanted to
focus on business but my high school
computer science teacher at the time
really persuaded me in taking his
computer science class and eventually I
folded and ended up taking AP Computer
Science p and AP Computer Science a let
me just say I completely hated AP
Computer Science a and ended up getting
a c in his class class for some reason I
just did not understand like recursion
and there was a huge learning curve for
me and then I started taking like an app
development course and I immediately
fell in love with like front-end
development I think that's when I
started to realize I like the creative
aspect of coding instead of you know
like backend and learning all these
different types of algorithms and so
when I was applying to colleges I did
apply as a computer science student and
I ended up deciding to go with Berkeley
as an eek student so like I said I'm a
junior right now at Berkeley and
Berkeley is known for their rigorous CS
courses but when I say rigorous they're
like really dang hard to the point where
they have gr deflation which is like so
stupid to me so starting off with
freshman year I came into college with
not that many expectations in my head I
lowkey thought like oh I've experienced
with coding especially Java you know I
took these AP courses and they were
pretty hard but I think I'm pretty set
for college let me tell you when I took
61a which is like the very first CS
class that you can take at Berkeley it's
a python course I literally thought I
was going to die the class was so hard I
couldn't even do the homework problems
and at Berkeley the homework problems
are significantly easier than the ones
you see on the exam and so when I took
my first midterm I was literally about
to cry I don't think I've ever gotten
like an F on exam prior to that exam so
I was like freaking out I knew that eeks
would be a hard major at Berkeley but it
didn't hit me how hard eeks would be and
so after taking that midterm I was
contemplating whether or not I should
switch Majors I was open to being a data
science major regular CS major or you
know a cog side major but I realized for
every single one of those Majors 61a was
a requirement that you had to take to
declare and I was like wow I really
cannot escape 61a and so because of that
I decided you know what I'm just going
to stick to be an eek major and if I
really can't do it by the end of
freshman year I'll switch my major then
also keep in mind during that time I was
pledging for a fraternity and so that
did take away a lot of my time but still
61a was was such a difficult course I
did not know what to do so the first
semester of my freshman year was really
hard for me and I ended up dropping that
class and had to apply for a petition to
drop the course later in the semester
that first semester of freshman year I
ended up going through with my e16a
class which is an electrical engineering
class for eeks Majors honestly that
class was fine for me I think because it
wasn't so algorithm heavy and it was
really just understanding like linear
algebra and how circuits work I think
that class was a lot easier for me and
so my second semester of freshman year I
ended up taking eek 16b in addition to
61a and math 53 and let me just say that
was a pretty hard semester too but also
the most fun I've had I know math isn't
really like a technical course but it's
still stem heavy I was taking three stem
classes but I was also partying like
every weekend I think I really started
to understand like how exams worked
outly and I also started to understand
like how difficult the classes are you
know even during my second semester of
freshman year I was like retaking 61a
and even though I was retaking it it was
still really hard but I think I knew
what to expect and so I was scared of
the class L still by the end of freshman
year I don't think I've ever gotten
above a 50% on inam I started to kind of
accept that you know what like getting a
50% in a CS course is actually not bad
because literally everyone else in the
class also gets a 50% but what really
threw me off freshman year was the fact
that everyone else seemed like they knew
what they were doing but I was over here
like P panicking over my grades didn't
know how to do any of these projects but
really at Berkeley everyone's going
through the same thing and later I was
able to join clubs and meet more people
and we were all able to relate on like
the exams and it was just a better
environment to be in and then post
freshman year I entered at Amazon in
Seattle and I was able to get this
internship through a program called
Amazon future engineer and so when I
went into my internship I only had
experience from my 61a course at
Berkeley 61b is I would say a better
course for internships because they
really teach you about like data
structures they teach you Java they show
how like different packages work with
each other but I didn't get that
experien in 61a so I was really scared
for my internship but it turned out all
right I think my team knew that I was
only a freshman so my project mostly
revolved around data analysis and Python
and pandas really came in handy and I
was able to receive a return offer for
my sophomore year which I did end up
accepting so during sophomore year I
started to really understand how classes
at Berkeley were during sophomore year I
took 61b and cs70 and I realized that I
actually really liked cs70 which is
really interesting because in high
school I didn't like coding that related
to like almost math but cs70 is very
probability heavy and also proof heavy
but for some reason solving those
problems on the exam was really fun for
me and it kind of felt like a puzzle I
think I really like Puzzles and if I
just associate every problem that I have
to a puzzle I'm able to approach it
better for each exam I had to take
multiple practice I test and kind of use
that pattern and apply it to the exam
that I was taking but I will say even in
sophomore year I was freaking out after
my midterm because I completely fluffed
I think for a lot of the exams I ended
up getting a 30% which is like less than
an F like 30% I don't even know what
that equates to but because I was so
worried by the time final season came
around I grinded so hard and I was able
to clutch my grade with the final
because the final exam was able to
clobber my midterm Scores And for those
finals I was able to PR form like one
standard deviation above the mean and so
sophomore year wasn't too bad I
definitely had a better experience than
my freshman year and what really helped
was that everyone's in the same boat was
hard for me is probably difficult for a
lot of other people as well after my
sophomore year I entered at Amazon but
this time I was working remotely in SF
and I think that internship really
showed to me what a software engineer
intern is really like because it was
nothing like my freshman year experience
and instead it was very project heavy
and I was creating a configuration ation
with API access I think it was just
really rewarding to not only see my
project come to fruition but also see it
be utilized by another team within
Amazon I was basically applying
everything that I learned in 61b into my
internship and I did code in Java during
that summer I also learned a lot of AWS
during both internships and it helped me
solidify that I do like software
engineering but I need a more product
focused role I'm also really open to the
thought of being a product manager
specifically a technical product manager
I think what helped was being in a
Consulting Club and the thought of being
able to be in Tech but also being able
to see a product come to life from
beginning stage to end is also really
interesting to me so right now I'm still
exploring my career options more
specifically regarding my junior year I
took 61c and an intro to AI course and
let me just say I really hated 61c as
well and it was almost like I was
repeating my experience with 61a again
61c was nothing like what I had
experienced in my previous CS courses it
was very like Hardware heavy and it was
like seeing how how a software can
interact with the computer architecture
and at the start of the course I kind of
did like it I thought I really liked the
language C and also risk five but once
it started getting deeper and deeper it
was just not it for me but alongside
that course I was also taking an intro
to AI course which we coded in Python
and I like loved that course which is
really interesting because again all of
that class which is also called cs188 is
just algorithms like learning different
types of algorithms learning basic
machine learning but I realized that
class was really similar to cs70 and I
also really like cs70 so I'm starting to
notice a pattern with like the type of
classes that I like I just had such a
fun time with cs 188 what's also really
interesting to me though is that I
barely studied for that class I studied
like 2 days prior to the exam for both
the midterm and the final and I ended up
performing so much better than my 61a
courses granted I do think 188 is
slightly easier than 61c but just
learning about the classes in general
was just a lot more interesting for me
but I'm saying that as if I got like a B
in the exams I still ended up getting a
c in the exams but I think it's just a
difference between like how many
standard deviations you are above the
mean or below the mean and so that's
currently my CS experience right now
I've experienced five total semesters
and you have two semesters left for
whatever reason they make those intro
classes so difficult for no reason I
think it's just because there's so many
more people trying to declare CS um and
they don't have the funds to to support
it but to wrap up my experience in
studying CS in college I think it's just
really important to surround yourself
with the right people I've heard so many
stories about Berkeley's super cutthroat
people lie about when the exams will be
and stuff like that but luckily I never
experienced that at Berkeley I think
because the classes are so hard
especially at Berkeley I think everyone
is kind of going through that traumatic
bond together and personally in my
experience I think everyone's just
willing to help each other and so I know
I went back and forth a lot during my
journey in being a computer science
student but I'm overall very grateful to
be in this field I genuinely do think
that CS is an important skill to have
especially in this Tech Centric society
and I don't regret studying eeks at all
although I dropped taking a CS course in
the beginning of my college Years it
didn't affect my graduation date and if
anything I'm planning on graduating a
semester early that just really helped
me realize that everyone learns and
grows at a different rate you know some
people found 61a to be super fun and it
just clicked for them really fast but
for others it does take time and that
was definitely the case for me I think
especially for CS although it can be
intimidating I think it's something that
you kind of have to persevere through
you know some people just absolutely do
hate it and they do end up switching to
a different major like econ but if
you're really unsure I'd suggest just
sticking through with it and if anything
what really helped was that I wasn't
just focused on CS outside of my classes
I really wanted to explore my hobbies so
I joined like a fashion Club I joined a
Consulting Club I joined a sorority but
even within those clubs I was able to
surround myself with other CS students I
think that also kind of helped me open
to other fields and what I really like
about my Consulting Club is that a lot
of the students are double majoring in
like data science and econ or you know
their met students and it's really
refreshing to see other people who do
also enjoy that intersection between
like business and Tech and so while I'm
not double majoring myself I was really
able to exercise my business interest
through that club but yeah that's my
overall experience being a computer
science student I know my degree is
electrical engineering computer science
science but after taking e 16a and 16b
while I did find it slightly easier than
my CS courses I was just not passionate
about it at all and I can't see myself
doing that as a career so after taking
those courses I decided to focus most of
my studies on CS these are the type of
videos that I used to do in the
beginning of my channel but I started to
diverge into like Vlogs but if you guys
enjoyed this video make sure to like And
subscribe maybe I'll do more in the
future I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll
see you guys in my next video bye
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