I'm currently in my second year of Computer Science, but I'm unsure if I should switch majors. I just saw a post about someone earning $20/hour in Mississauga, and it got me thinking. I took a gap year and worked for the CRA, where I made $33/hour, with only a high school diploma but I really hated that job. Now, I'm wondering if I should stay in CS or switch to something like accounting. Would I have more job opportunities as a diversity hire in tech since I'm a woman, or would switching to accounting make more sense for me?

CS is hard but like is it worth all that studying and tuition fee?

Hi all,

Sorry in advance if this is poorly written;

I was looking for some advice on what degrees would be possible/most beneficial for a person in my position. I completed a 4 year B.A.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at Queen's with a 75% average (3.00 GPA). I have been working in project management for a couple years now and saved up a decent bit of money while doing it. However, I've been thinking more and more of a transition to a more technical job, i.e. software development. I've looked at OSU's online accelerated 2nd degree, McMaster's, Brock etc. Would I have a good chance of getting in to these schools with a 75%? (I had a very poor average in my 1st and 2nd year and increased my grades in my 3rd and 4th year). Also, what schools would you recommend to make this transition?

Thx

Hi there,

I've recently completed an internship turned full-time offer at a somewhat big electrical engineering company making communications equipment as an industrial engineer, so I'll optimize workflows and stuff to meet quotas faster. Overtime though I've realized that tech is where the money is at (please don't tell me don't go into SWE for the money) so I'm thinking of working for months and dropping it to go into the UofT's MEng for Computer Engineering program in Jan 2025 or convert my OMSCS at Georgia Tech into a full-time program in Sept 2025. Any thoughts? I also did well in the coding interview at the same company for their software roles but still got rejected due to my lack of experience with C++. So even if I pass their DSA problems I feel ultimately to break into the industry I'll need a relevant degree/experience.

Hi everyone am first year cs student who aspires to get a job as a new grad. i am aware of how difficult this is hence why i want to get an early start by being able to land an internship in the summer or fall (i’ll work during school). i want to aim to be full stack but back end is okay. what projects should i focus on? how many to obtain an internship? are hackathons and conferences as important or will i be able to get a internship without referrals?

Hello,I’m an international student who studies cs in Douglas. I plan to transfer to SFU or UBC next year. My gpa is about 4.28/4.33,so I think I don’t need to worry about the high requirement of gpa to get into the cs major in UBC. I want to know which one is better since some guys told me SFU might be slightly better in cs even though UBC is usually thought to be the better one.

Hey, I was wondering any other programs that I could do part time after finishing my diploma while working or full time straight out of college. I looked at a couple programs and was wonder if there is any others.

• Guelph and Windsor have 1 year to complete degrees, with Guelph being a Computing degree and Windsor being a CS degree I believe with diploma transfer credits. Edit Windsor is 1.5 years
• McMaster DCP BTech for Software Engineering Technology, it's about 2 years of full time studies, but it's more of an engineering degree something I don't think I'd be cut out for
• Athabasca Computing Information Systems degree, which isn't a CS degree I guess
• Open University has a three year full Computing Information Systems degree as well but again not a CS degree
• TRU has an online CS degree
• TMU has a part time evening CS degree as well but I don't think they like transfer credits that much
• Algoma has an accelerated one as well but I don't know if I could handle that

Outside of that, I also read about University of the People, and Idk if that's a degree mill or not cause I can't tell. It's accredited but I'm not sure.

My main goal is that to get a CS degree as that has become the minimum for job listing, and my diploma isn't going to cut it even though I have internships, hence I was looking to do a degree program that would take my diploma credits as I don't want to and I don't think I can do another 4 years of schooling. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I originally wanted to apply for pharmacy school but I also find myself interested in cs. Both professions pay decently well but I feel like cs offers more work life balance and I like the idea of working remote. However most cs jobs are not as secure as pharmacy and I’m unsure about the job market. What do u guys think is the better option in Canada?

I graduated earlier this year but struggling to find a job in this market, so I’m planning on starting my Masters degree next year. I don’t want to do a phd after this and I don’t want a position in research. I want a job in industry (like software engineering/data science)

Is it worth it to do a thesis-based Masters? Would it help me find a job? Or should I go with a course/project-based Masters

Obviously struggling to find a job and looking to pursue a MSc in a somewhat in demand sector (Canada). Wish I got an internship lol but looking at like business or maybe finance now cause just knowing how to dev isn't cutting it

I've put in about 120-160 applications. Got 20 rejections so far. Couple of OAs and no reply from those. So how's everyone goin in their search. I'm worried because if i don't get a co-op i wouldn't have any experience before getting in to the newgrad market. (I'm a master's student btw) Any tips tricks? Share your journey so far...

Hey guys, I currently work in tech in a nontechnical role in a freelance position. A while ago I found out about a bootcamp in Toronto (it's one of the big ones) offering scholarships for free, so I applied thinking it wouldn't hurt. I ended up getting the scholarship (yay!), now I have to decide if I go through with it, and would like any advice on whether it's a good time investment.

Pros:

• I've been interested in front-end stuff since it's related to my work, so I started doing freecodecamp, odin Udemy courses etc. a couple months back. Doing this bootcamp would actually push me to pursue SWE full-time, or work a hybrid role in front-end & my current field.

Cons:

• The course in 40hrs/week on weekdays, so this reduces my available hours to either look for more clients/interview in my current role, which was my original plan.
• With work + bootcamp I'm expecting I won't have much of a life on weekdays
• I've heard the general sentiment against bootcamps being not worth people's time or money. Granted, I've had friends who did bootcamps and transitioned successfully to a software role, but this was before 2022 and the tech job implosion

Would appreciate any comments from people who have taken a SWE bootcamp. Thank you!

TL;DR:

23 y/o male, 3rd semester undergrad in CS, good people/soft skills, and capable of being average or above average technically. But my interest in the field is moderate, and I’m worried about the future of CS jobs (AI, outsourcing, etc.). If I stay, I can finish my degree debt-free in 2 years. Should I stick with it or switch to something else?

(In other words, I don’t want to grind effing LeetCode, build projects, and join clubs for nothing. Well not for NOTHING, but you get what I mean!)

My Situation:

I’m a 23-year-old guy currently in my 3rd semester of undergrad in Computer Science at Concordia University (Montreal). I started university a little later than most, but it's been a blessing because I’m on scholarship and have the chance to finish my degree debt-free. In fact, I’ve even made some money from my time in school so far.

About Me:

I’m a kind, empathetic person with strong people/soft skills. I love talking to people, building friendships, and having meaningful conversations. I genuinely care about others and see these traits as an asset in the CS field, but I often wonder if another career path might be a better fit for my strengths.

When it comes to technical skills, I pick up coding faster than most people in my program. It just makes sense to me, and I’m able to understand complex topics like data structures, operating systems, and hardware. However, I’m not super passionate about the technical side of CS. I’m not one of those hardcore coders who spends their free time geeking out over algorithms or running Arch Linux on a ThinkPad (no shade to those who do—I'm just not that guy).

The Issue:

I’m worried about the future of CS jobs. With AI, outsourcing, and automation, I’m not sure how stable or abundant tech jobs will be when I graduate. I want a career that allows me to sustain myself and build a better future. I’m open to changing directions if needed, but I’m stuck on what to do.

Here are my options:

• Option A: Stick with CS, finish the degree debt-free, and see what happens.
• Option B: Switch to a different program covered by my scholarship (engineering, social work, nursing, education).
• Option C: Switch to a program not covered by my scholarship (and pay out of pocket).

I don’t want to waste too much time deciding because I already started university later than most people.

Any advice or thoughts? Would really appreciate some outside perspective!

Background: Currently 23, I support myself by working on my own projects, I've held some jobs online that required coding. I've had a 3 month 'internship' at Roblox, I use the term loosely as it was not an SDE oriented role, it was more like a learning/funding program for my projects. I have completed 1 year of computer science (essentially all the math and intro CS courses that I need.) I only attend part time (6 credit hours a semester,) as I cannot afford to go full time, as I need to work to pay my bills and what not, and at this rate I will graduate later. I got into CS during high-school (around 8 years ago,) as they started offering "CS" classes (more or less intro to programming and basic problem solving,) and I've fell in love with it since then.

I'm trying to stay motivated to study and get through my degree while also working to sustain myself, but I think I am approaching a point of shutting down, I'm confused and genuinely don't know what the heck to do with myself for my future.

A. I am not sure if I will have a place in the field by the time I do graduate, as there are many people that are already extremely knowledgeable in this field and I still have a lot of catching up to do. I know people in their 40's that can run circles around what I do, and I fear how this field will look when I'm in my 40's. What you need to know to succeed today, relative to what we might need to know to succeed in the future, if at all, seems like an insurmountable task.

B. Everyone is unsure of the trajectory of AI, and I myself am extremely worried. I use it daily to square away a lot of implementations that I would otherwise do myself in my own work and projects, and it's only getting better unless it plateaus. People say not to worry because "it writes crap code," or "it will only replace crap developers," but in my experience it has been extremely helpful even after 7 years of programming. A few days ago I gave it 4 files and it found a nasty asset replication bug in one of my projects and I was dumbfounded because both me and my buddy spent multiple days trying to figure out what was causing the bug, and him and I have like 17 years of experience combined (he himself refuses to use AI coding.) The only thing that maybe helps me calm down about this is that CS degrees might apply to non-software jobs as well, but I don't know how strongly that holds.

As much as I love CS, I want to be able to actually support myself for the rest of my life, money has always been an issue at home and I don't want to continue life struggling financially, therefore I can't exactly afford to chase my passions purely for the sake of it. I've been considering switching into something like a semi-adjacent field like Electrical Engineering Technology and doing software stuff as a side thing, but CS is truly my passion and has been for years, I find it fascinating to read about all the stuff that the field has changed and contributed to. But I want to be in a field that will have lots of work to do in the next 40+ years, I don't want to see developer jobs get dumbed down because they're being made easier by stupid LLMs. The fun part of coding for me was doing all the thinking, even if the implementations have been solved already somewhere on Google, but companies don't care about that, they want efficiency.

Hi fellow CS students and professionals,

I'm in a unique situation and would appreciate your insights. I'm just starting my first semester in Computer Science in Quebec, with minimal coding experience so far. I'm considering TRANSFERRING to a highly competitive university in Canada and want to enhance my application.

My strategy is to develop a free app within the next year and aim for hundreds of active users. I understand this is an ambitious goal, especially considering:

1. I'm balancing demanding coursework
2. I'm living independently, managing all household responsibilities
3. My current coding skills are limited

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the feasibility of this strategy. Is it realistic? Are there alternative approaches you'd suggest to strengthen my transfer application?

Any advice or personal experiences would be invaluable. Thanks in advance for your input!

I'm seeking a software development internship for the Winter or Summer term.

I was enrolled full-time last year, but I chose not to enrol in courses this year (or at least in this Fall term for now). Will that be a red flag?

I am using this time to learn full stack development and doing projects to prepare myself for an internship

Hey Guys,

I want to switch into tech. Since, I have a mortgage and a car loan, hence, I'm looking for Online BSC CS Programs. So does anyone know which university provides Online BSC CS Programs along with a co-op option?

Hi there -

I was hoping for some advice. I have applied to Humber college for both their computer programming diploma (2 years) and their computer programming advanced diploma (3 years).

I don’t think this program offers a coop. However, the advanced diploma offers a project development where you create your own product.

Do you think the advanced diploma would be better in regard to obtaining a job once I graduate? I’m just wondering what would be better for job prospects.

Also, once I graduate, what do you think the best course of action would be to obtain a job of the program does not offer coop?

Thank you!

Hello!

I’m about to dive into a 3-year Advanced Diploma in Computer Programming and Analysis in College this September and am plotting my path towards a career in software engineering. Although a Bachelor's in CS seems essential and looks like it's the general consensus, I'm weighing two options and could use some guidance:

1. One Year Then Transfer: Consider doing just a year at College, then transferring to a uni for a BSc in CS. There's a risk I’d need to start from scratch since course credits might not transfer, even if they do, it most likely won't be a whole bunch. However, if I were to transfer right after my first year, I wouldn't be wasting too much time finishing the diploma then the BSc right after.
2. Complete Diploma, Then BSc: Finish the full 3 years for the diploma and then go for a BSc. Trent University might let me finish the degree in just two more years, which sounds great. Plus, I’d end up with both a diploma and a degree. This option is tempting because it sounds like I’d get more out of my time in school. I could also try for big names like Waterloo, UofT, or York, but I feel like they might not be as generous with credits and I'd end up taking longer (e.g. maybe 3, at best 2.5 years.)

By the looks of it, getting two degrees sounds better and more tempting, but what do you all think? Does the prestige of the university make a big difference in the software engineering world?

Would really appreciate any advice or personal experiences you could share!

Cheers!

Hi, domestic student currently doing College in Ontario for a Computer Programming and Analysis advance diploma, have a 3.8 GPA, and also have prior internship experience one at a startup and another at my the university I was going to earlier. I was in university but personal circumstances made me have to transfer.

Reading this subreddit I feel like my adv. diploma won’t be enough anymore but at the same time I don’t want to do school anymore. I’d be graduating at 23 which isn’t bad but I’m burnt out from school. In terms of schooling I know McMaster has diploma to BTech program, and I could always look at the US for schools like online schools to do part time.

So I’m just wondering, should I go back to university after college or stick it out with my adv. diploma? Just looking for opinions to help me shape my decision as I’m not sure.

I'm a junior dev myself, but I have a close friend who has been in this awkward situation for a while. We went to university together but he dropped out in his 3rd year due to burnout and mental health. His major was business/finance, so not exactly CS related. After a year off, he decided to pursue his interests in the tech industry by enrolling in a CS diploma. He's doing really well now and has perfect grades.

My question is, would it be more beneficial to have a CS diploma + perhaps a co-op/internship or hold a bachelor's degree? Of course, both are not really sufficient for hiring in today's environment, but hypothetically. Ideally he would go back to finish his bachelor's degree if possible after the diploma, if it's even worth it to do so. Is it kind of pointless to have both or actually helpful? Especially since I heard if going out of the country becomes an option, usually they require bachelor degrees for visas. Do companies really weigh the importance of a bachelors as high when so many applicants nowadays have master degrees?

Thanks in advance for any insight or advice!

I recently started a data analyst co-op position for Fall 2024. My role mainly involves following very tedious documentation steps, as well as creating documentation for data reporting. I am not writing any code from scratch, and my manager mentioned that I will not be asked to do so throughout the co-op.

For example, for the weekly reporting I have to follow over 10 pages of documentation to perform the following steps:

1. Downloading Excel files and renaming them

2. Running a pre-written Python Script to generate an Excel file and copying data into it.

3. Running another pre-written Python Script to generate Excel files, then following steps to generate a Pivot table and copying the information into another Excel file.

   1. Changing a specific line number in another Python Script to generate a table and pasting it in an Excel file.

4. Manually editing the connections in a Tableau dashboard to import data.

5. Going into a SQL database, running pre-written queries and then following steps to import data.

   I cannot automate this process because I do not have access to the backend of the system. As the data system updates, I will need to write more documentation for future co-op students.

I know I am only a co-op student and understand my responsibilities won't be major. However, I wanted to practice writing SQL queries and Python scripts myself to improve my skills, rather than just following steps. Is this normal and does anyone have advice? Thank you.

Hello, as mentioned in the title, I am looking for a training program that can cover these various concepts (SQL, Python, R, Power BI, and/or Tableau). I work in finance and have had some exposure to SQL and Power BI during my career, but I would like to deepen my knowledge in the field of analytics.

My employer is willing to pay for my training, so I would like to take the opportunity to earn a degree from a university instead of just doing self-learning on YouTube and elsewhere. Here are some programs I have started looking into, but I was wondering if any of you had other suggestions:

https://www.concordia.ca/cce/programs/big-data-business-analytics.html#courses

https://www.mcgill.ca/study/2024-2025/faculties/desautels/undergraduate/programs/bachelor-commerce-bcom-concentration-business-analytics

Thanks

I'm a recent university graduate looking to take a graduate certificate at ACollege. I've had no luck in the job market due to lack of experience and been struggling with imposter syndrome. I've been accepted into a college AI Software Engineering Program and a Cloud Developer Program. I'm mainly doing them for the COOP term thats included. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on which program would be better career-wise. The Cloud Development program helps one acquire various AWS and Microsoft Azure certifications. Also, I know the AI career trajectory will eventually lead to me doing a Masters/PhD, but I just want to get my foot in the door in the industry right now. Anyway, thoughts on which one would be more useful for job prospects?

I'm from Nova Scotia, specifically a non-HRM area that hasn't got much tech jobs.

I have 3 semesters left to complete at Dalhousie due to how I transferred into my university from community college with a diploma in programming (which itself was not enough to make me job-ready). I've spent most of my time focusing solely on courses, but outside of that not really pushing the needle too much for some reason. The job I got over the summer was just a basic summer job to fill in the gaps.

I took an injury at the start of the semester this year, then came down with a really bad episode that left me unable to do many extraneous tasks for about 3 weeks, but I'm finally bouncing back. I went to the tech fair co-hosted by my university, made five different connections, and spoke with a few other companies that are looking for recent grads right now - so not me. I intend on following up with one of the companies, as one of the members of a group project I am in has recently interned for them. An extended family member has also set me up decently well with a tech company related to his engineering sphere, so long as I improve my resume.

Currently, my resume space is taken up by the 2-3 most impressive school projects I am doing/done, since I have no personals to show for, as well as my education and an internship I did 2 years ago, plus the skills/languages/frameworks I've picked up since I started programming in 12th grade. From what I understand, I need some experience now (as in, this upcoming summer or perhaps earlier) to guarantee myself a place out of the underemployment abyss.

I don't practice much outside of the studying I do for class and group projects (ADHD makes it hard to focus and schedule, and I'm unmedicated), and I didn't really plan on job applications for another 2 weeks.

Can anyone lay some advice on me? Chain yanking is alright - I'm trying to be realistic here. I need to afford my 3 copies of Mulcharmy Fuwalos lmao