Nick Orlowsky: Deciding to Major in Computer Science - Episode 197

Nick is a rising Sophomore college student at The University of Texas in Austin, TX. He’s majoring in computer science and knew from a much earlier age that programming would be his career calling. He was a leader in his high school computer science classes and even competed in the Microsoft ImagineCup competitions, UIL competitions, Hackathons, and much much more. He works for various companies on programming projects during schooling and is currently spending this summer programming for Home Depot corporate. Topics of Discussion: [4:35] Nick talks about how he got into computer programming and how he knew that programming would be his career calling. [5:53] Nick talks about stacking his high school curriculum with computer science classes. [8:50] What type of technology classes are offered at Nick’s college in computer science, and what type of classes are required vs. optional? [12:28] Did Nick have to ramp up on new tech stacks, or did he already know the ones he uses now? [15:02] Nick talks about the skills he thinks computer science majors need to be successful. [19:55] It’s easy to get distracted in general, but coding is so much more fun than just watching YouTube or scrolling on social media. [22:52] Nick learned typing from Typing.com. [25:57] What is Nick’s 10-year plan and what languages or tools is he dabbling in now? [27:12] The larger the project becomes, the more impossible it is to do it without a team. [27:49] Nick gives his advice to young and aspiring computer science majors and programmers. Find something you want to build, and take a couple of months to work on that. Mentioned in this Episode: Architect Tips — New video podcast! Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s YouTube Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Typing.Com Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.