A small win post celebrating my CS journey
Hi,
I'm sharing my journey as an extremely lucky and grateful CS student graduating end of this year. It may feel like bragging, but I have had my share of struggles and I also don't have that many people to share my win story to.
2023: I worked hard for 4 years of high school, and get into a top 5 CS school. Also I make apps as a hobby.
2023 Fall: During my first college semester, my brother (different school) goes to a party, coincidently meets a founder of a new startup looking for an app dev intern. I get introduced, and get an offer. I get paid $20/hour working part-time (~10 hours a week) as a software engineer for their app.
2024 Spring: I start applying to jobs in my second semester of college, and after ~150 applications, I get two interviews, one from a medium sized startup where the interviewer is from the same school I attend. I get an offer for both, and choose the latter. $25/hour working remotely as a SWE intern in summer. I work hard every single day, maintaining my 4.0 GPA.
2024 Fall: I apply to jobs once again, but this time I apply earlier and to big tech companies as well. I also get into a Masters program, but I will likely not commit.
2024 Spring: I get an OA from Amazon in December along with other companies. The only interview I get is with Amazon in February, and I get an offer in March. Extremely lucky and the interviewer was very nice.
2025 Fall: I take a gap semester to take a break and explore my other interests of entrepreneurship. I get a return offer from Amazon for next summer.
2026 Spring: I sign my offer, take the breathing room this semester to learn cooking and play sports I couldn't play earlier in my college years.
2026 Fall: I will graduate with a 3.9+ GPA, likely start my career at Amazon, and start my online Masters program.
I want to say how lucky I was throughout my CS major journey, and how impossible some of my career paths got laid out. Hope it helps someone looking for motivation, thanks for reading my rant/brag.