FAILING COMPUTER SCIENCE TO WORKING @ FAANG | my cs journey

Summary

Maddie, 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

00:00

🎓 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.

05:00

💼 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.

10:01

🧠 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.

Keywords

💡Computer Science (CS)

Computer Science refers to the study of computers and computational systems, including their theory, design, development, and application. In the video, the speaker discusses their challenging experience as a Computer Science student at UC Berkeley, highlighting the rigorous coursework and exams, as well as the skills required to succeed in the field.

💡UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley, or the University of California, Berkeley, is a prestigious public research university known for its rigorous academic programs, particularly in the fields of engineering and computer science. The speaker is a student at UC Berkeley, where they describe the intense challenges faced in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) major.

💡61A

61A is an introductory computer science course at UC Berkeley that focuses on Python programming and fundamental concepts like recursion. The speaker describes it as an extremely difficult course that they struggled with, requiring a significant amount of perseverance to pass.

💡Amazon Internship

The speaker mentions their internships at Amazon, where they worked as a software engineer intern. These experiences were crucial for applying the theoretical knowledge gained in their coursework, particularly in areas like data analysis and working with AWS (Amazon Web Services). The internships also helped them to gain practical experience in the tech industry.

💡Grade Deflation

Grade deflation refers to the practice of maintaining a lower average grade in a course, making it harder for students to achieve high grades. The speaker expresses frustration with grade deflation in their CS courses at UC Berkeley, which contributed to the difficulty of the program and their struggle to achieve higher grades.

💡Puzzles

The speaker uses the metaphor of 'puzzles' to describe their approach to solving complex problems in computer science courses. By treating problems as puzzles, the speaker finds a way to make difficult material more approachable and engaging, especially in courses like CS70, which involves probability and proofs.

💡Consulting Club

The Consulting Club is one of the extracurricular activities the speaker participated in at UC Berkeley. It allowed them to explore their interest in business and technology, and consider a potential career as a product manager, which combines technical knowledge with business skills.

💡Product Manager

A Product Manager is responsible for overseeing the development and success of a product from conception to launch. The speaker expresses an interest in becoming a technical product manager, as they enjoy the intersection of technology and business, which they explored through their involvement in the Consulting Club.

💡E16A and E16B

E16A and E16B are courses in electrical engineering at UC Berkeley that the speaker took as part of their EECS major. These courses focus on linear algebra, circuits, and other electrical engineering principles. The speaker found these courses easier than their CS courses but ultimately decided to focus more on computer science.

💡CS70

CS70 is a computer science course at UC Berkeley that covers topics like probability, combinatorics, and discrete math. The speaker found this course particularly enjoyable, as they liked the puzzle-like nature of the problems, which contrasted with their experience in more algorithm-heavy courses.

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