

My GPA Sucks - throwawayregret

I am a bad student. I have been a bad student for a long time, and I am about to graduate this December from a liberal art school with an economics degree and a 2.5 G.P.A.<p>Although I am a bad student, once I "decide" I am going to put 100% into something, I achieve significant results.<p>I've always dismissed the possibility of graduate school, and just am doing really bad in school with a current G.P.A. of 2.5<p>I am not lazy though, I am busy all the time with books I'm writing, practicing and performing with my band, and various artsy project that I am very proud of.<p>I have just "decided" today that I want to go to grad school for computer science.<p>I don't feel that my major will really hurt my chances of getting into a computer science program, but I do feel that my G.P.A. will really hurt me.
I really truly want to become a software engineer. Do you guys think getting into a graduate program for computer science will be an impossible thing?<p>Will there be a significant road blocks in my software engineering career without a masters in computer science?<p>Please help me Hacker News!
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gexla
If you are a bad student then going for more school seems like a bad idea.
Aside from that, you are missing out on two more years of income while adding
more debt. Academics won't make you into a software engineer, just start
building.

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throwawayregret
Thanks for your tip. Is there a significant difference in career opportunities
between programmers with just a BS in Comp Sci as opposed to a Masters?

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gexla
You could probably find a bunch of graphs which would show you something like
this, but there are many different approaches.

Go to Github and look at people who have started some of the top projects (or
participate in them) and you will be looking at people who largely have no
problem landing great gigs. Just do what these guys are doing.

Take some time to learn your craft well. Start some projects. Throw some stuff
up on Github. Participate in open source projects. Do lots of networking.
Profit.

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throwawayregret
How do you know which ones are top projects? I clicked explore on Github, but
I can only see the top twenty or so projects, but nothing else.

