14/09/2026
What I thought a CS degree would guarantee, and what it didn’t…. 👇🏻
I genuinely thought my CS degree would bring me success, let me learn more about the way computers work, and be part of the big scene in tech in general. I imagined working in Google, Microsoft, any conglomerate you can name, and leave an impact in the world.
What I did not foresee is that, there's actually more code than I can fathom out there in the world, and a lot of times, these codes are outdated, rigid, no longer applies, or just outright giving errors. Big companies usually do not hire you to fix their production code, what you have written today might not even make it into production by the time you leave the company.
Another thing is that I thought having a degree would mean that I can properly integrate into the working world, even if not in Google or Microsoft, I can still work well in a factory right from the get-go.
Little did I know, I could not be more wrong. There is so much to learn at work that my degree should have covered. How applications "talk" to each other, what is JSON, what is a server and client - explained simply. How to start a new project for development, requirements gathering, how to speak to clients that do not understand our jargons, turning requirements into technical specifications, setting up front-end and back-end separately, even something as simple as Git and GitHub. All of these are skills that I have picked up on-the-job, and they have proven invaluable to my experience as a developer.
While it did give me an introduction to programming while I was studying, it was always surface level, and we never got the chance to interact with any real data, or set up any proper systems for our applications.
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A degree taught Paul the theory. The job taught him everything else: Git, client conversations, how systems actually talk to each other.
Skill still has to be built somewhere else.
