Right now, it’s a tough time to be a computer science student. I get DMs every week from people who are worried about the job market and what to do next, so in this video I lay out exactly what I’d do if I was starting over. I’m confident because I’ve been on both sides: I became a software engineer in my 30s from scratch, and before that I worked as a recruiter helping candidates get interviews, land offers, and negotiate. The big wake-up call is that the CS curriculum is flawed for getting hired. You have to do your own “degree” outside uni: learn the landscape of tech at a high level (frontend, backend, mobile, ML, cyber, UX, DevOps), then pick one area that genuinely vibes with you and go deep. Start as a specialist, become a generalist later. From there, I push project-based learning (avoid tutorial hell—one tutorial max, then docs + ChatGPT/Claude), build projects in the “stretch zone,” learn to lock in with deep work, and adopt the mindset I’ve seen in the best engineers: “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” Finally, I break down soft skills into practical buckets—voice, body language, and small talk—because getting the interview is one thing, but getting hired is about how you communicate and how you make people feel.