I am in third year CS and can't do sh*t
Posted by Excellent-Finish1069@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 67 comments
As the title says, I’m in my 3rd year (5th semester) of computer science and I can’t code. I didn’t choose this field out of passion, my parents convinced me that it would lead to a stable job...well now, with the rise of AI and after talking to fellow students, most of us are struggling to find a job, even some graduates...and it’s making me very anxious tbh.
My grades are poor and I low-key hate computer science. I don’t really have any strong passions except art. I like art, but I don’t consider myself exceptional at it and you don't get the best payment there either.
I’m confused about what to do next. Are there other fields I could realistically switch to at this stage? Should I try to push through the degree and improve my skills/grades, or would it make more sense to change majors or pursue a different career path? I’m also open to short-term actions I could take now — for example: internships, vocational courses, coding bootcamps, portfolio-building for art, career counseling, or other options I might not know about.
Any practical advice, personal experiences, or resources (websites, books, programs) would be greatly appreciated. I’m feeling stuck and would be super happy for perspectives on realistic next steps :')
guifontes800@reddit
"my parents convinced me that it would lead to a stable job"
I think a lot of answers here are valid
But I fin the part where you say `my parents convinced me that it would lead to a stable job` more worrying. This is not fair to you. How do you feel? How do you feel being there studying for a degree you don't like? You say you are feeling stuck. Look inside you. You have the answer inside of you. THere is anxiety and feeling stuck in things that are part of a bigger thing that you like (like me and my thesis in my Computer Science course) and there is feeling anxious and stuck because you have been trying to do for 2 years a course you don't feel at home in.
In my opinion a job you like to do should feel less like a job. and in the list of the jobs you like to do for sure there are ones that pay better than others and also ones where there exist more opportunities than others.
FOllow your heart, whatever you do. DO the jump to something else now or whenever you feel ready. But do it. Be it a jump, or a pivot, or a small curve. Just follow what your mind and body are telling you.
IAmVeryStupid@reddit
I went to art school to pursue my passions. What I discovered by the end was that although I am passionate about art, I didn't want it to be my job. A job doesn't need to be something you're passionate about, a job needs to be something you can tolerate doing every day, even on days you're feeling uninspired, even on days you kinda feel like shit. Having at least mild interest in the job helps with that, but it's not the focus. Interest and passion is something that better comes from your life.
My direction after art school was getting a phd in math and working in machine learning, and that's something I never would have thought I would find fun until I did it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone else, it was just something I resonated with when exploring, and my interest in it is unique to me. What I would recommend is not being afraid to change direction if you realize the path you're on is making you miserable. If you really can't stand compsci, don't power through the degree, all that does is set you up to do something every day that you hate. But if you pivot, don't look for passion, look for stability, for contentment with the day to day.
flamingspew@reddit
Art major here. Now principal eng at a F50. Learning how to learn, how to communicate and networking is what college is for. Well maybe that and banging and partying.
Napoleon10@reddit
Did you go back to college and do a bs in cs or did you self teach? Congratulations dude!
flamingspew@reddit
Self taught. My 3D modeling skill from art (also self taught) led to tech. My first career job came from a random coincidence with a friend.
Napoleon10@reddit
Amazing bro, that's inspiring!
Napoleon10@reddit
Did you go back to college and do a bs in cs or did you self teach? Congratulations dude
IAmVeryStupid@reddit
I went back to college (actually, transfered and restarted the semester before graduation). Was tough on the student loans, but ultimately worth it.
abrahamguo@reddit
Let's set everything else aside. If you "hate computer science", stop and get out of it now. Every day you stay in a field that you hate will only postpone the inevitable. Now is the best time to make a change!
curiousinquirer007@reddit
I agree with this at a high level. But I would recommend to stick with it unless/until OP has identified an alternate field they’d rather major in.
Graduating is still better than just quitting without an alternate plan.
Also, OP do you actually hate CS, or are you saying that because you think suck, and things haven’t clicked yet?
Mundane-Map6686@reddit
And also school is different.
I went for accounting for example and the classes were the worst ever. But then I went infinite to I dustey and I end up doing data science more than anything.
School and real world for degrading are going to be way difelferent.
gh0st-Account5858@reddit
Da fuq did you just say?
Mundane-Map6686@reddit
Sorry I had a stroke.
I also dont s0ell check my shit and dont use autocorrect cause fuck it
Jonno_FTW@reddit
You should start using spell check.
Mundane-Map6686@reddit
Or I could not since its reddit and noone here matters.
caboosetp@reddit
I'm worried about godzilla
quickiler@reddit
Depend on how long he has left. If the degree finish next semester then definitely push for completion, even if he ended up doing something else afterwards.
caboosetp@reddit
This is the first semester of third year, which means three more semesters. Switching to another stem field will probably only add one semester and that might be worth it.
Kryptex_ilzy@reddit
If it is his first semester of third then it means he only has one more semester to complete (if he didn't fail anything).
Imo, I would finish the degree and move on to something else.
caboosetp@reddit
I guess this depends on where you are. Bachelor's are 4 year degrees here.
quickiler@reddit
At my place Bachelor is usually 3 years and Master + 2 years. So it is possible he only does Bachelor which is 3 years.
DisgustingxRat@reddit
Even if it led to a stable job why are you allowing your parents to decide something that is gonna affect you for the rest of your life
Phantumps@reddit
If you hate CS, you should not be in a program for it. Seriously, the field and market in the US rn is saturated enough as is, the last thing we need is more fish in the water on a whim
ReginaldDouchely@reddit
This field can be brutal even for people that love it. If you don't have an innate enjoyment of working on this stuff and solving problems that people outside of the industry won't care about, run fast and run far.
C_Sorcerer@reddit
Have you gotten deep into CS? I feel as though a lot of people dislike general computer science until you go on your own side adventure and get into a niche of it, such as graphics, operating systems, embedded systems, web dev, backend, networks, etc. I personally eat sleep and breathe CS and STEM in general (yea I’m one of those autistic folk) but I do remember a time where I could only see myself being a musician before I found that I also love STEM stuff.
Now I will say if you try to find a sub field you like and it just isn’t happening, either switch fields or find something tolerable enough that you can work it like any other normal job and get through till you can figure out something else. Also keep in mind a degree in CS doesn’t mean you are confined to CS; some get into actuarial sciences, business roles, IT roles (like help desk, general IT), networks, cybersecurity, data science, and other roles that really don’t even hab e a lot to do with CS.
Just take this as a lesson to break away from your parents. My parents wanted me to be a surgeon and I thought I wanted that but I quickly realized I had other passions for CS and engineering and math and went that route instead. I will say, maybe you should do some soul searching for things your passionate about; everyone says they don’t have any passions but you have to have some hidden somewhere if you are in fact a human, you just need to try new things and see what you like.
Don’t get too down about it and just try your best! Itll work out in the end!
eggZeppelin@reddit
You could pivot into Web design/UX(i.e Figma) or graphic design(Adobe suite/Canva)
onepunchpedro@reddit
Has someone who experienced exactly everything you said, I’m going to share a conversation I had with a psychologist that specializes in young adults you are in college or just finished it. I told him I was extremely demotivated and felt without any direction, specially after college since my passion was about political science and that had nothing to do with CS. He actually gave a great perspective, as I was finishing college, he told me I should make the final push to finish the degree, because it can truly be a lever to anything you want to do in life. Cs pays good, and you might not even be working in that field in 10 years, but you should use this asset to finance your true goals and ambitions. If you life art, why not try to find something related to software development that solves a recurring issue for digital artists? Why not, on your off days or vacations, use the money you earned to finance something you like and really never had the opportunity to try? Of course all this is easier said than done, I had to really push myself, I applied for a Summer Internship, got it and eventually got an investigation scholarship. That kinda forced me to apply myself, as I was sure I was able to give more than I was originally trying to (and believe me, I wasn’t a good academic example at all). Long story short, don’t be so hard on yourself, grades, at college level, mostly express our commitment rather than our capacities. Try to make this final push, and then start looking for ways to “feed” that little “bug” (art) that you have in you. Just because you went a certain direction, doesn’t mean you can’t u-turn :) best wishes!
BadSmash4@reddit
Forcing kids to choose their career at 18 or even 21 has always been insane to me. You haven't experienced anything, you don't know what working is like in any serious capacity, there's no way to know what you do and don't like. It's not very fair. So now you're trapped in a major that you hate and have no confidence in with pressure from your parents and it just sucks for you.
I think you need to switch majors. There's no way for me to know what major would be good for you. It doesn't need to be a passion, just something you could be okay with doing. Try talking to your counselor, assuming you have one. You're at a good point to switch majors, you probably have mostly done GE at this point, right? So you gotta figure out what you want to do. Sorry you're in this predicament, but I really don't think you should complete this degree. I'm rooting for you, man.
daguito81@reddit
A lot of advice jumping into the “GTFO solution “ I think we’re missing a lot of context. The “why” of your hate is extremely important. Why do you “ low key hate it “? Do you hate looking at code ? So you hate solving problems thinking as a machine ? Did you hate it because you’re frustrated that you “can’t code?” Or “can’t create anything” ?
I think it’s important to dig deep and figure out why. The “I should be able to do X but can’t and I hate it “ is common in every field ? And extremely common in IT/IS. And it turns into a death spiral of self loathing .
Creating stuff is a matter of practicing and “getting shit done” don’t try to make some incredible super useful thing. Make something easy and simple, like a script that automates something you do. Get it done. Then do another. Doesn’t matter if it’s completely useless but at least you get they “I can do stuff”
My first “project” I wanted to do was an Android App which all these ideas. That went down in flames and almost made me quit. My first “completed thing “ was a script that was a simple loop that did an http request to an api to get some info and wrote that line by line int a database.
That let me do some sql queries a few weeks later and found out some pretty interesting data to show my bosses. The feeling of “I created this “ was amazing and got me hooked. And thus was barely a “hello world “ tutorial
Now if you can make stuff, and still hate it. Well yeah, you need to consider if it’s worth finishing or changing
bureaux@reddit
Focus on small, manageable projects to build confidence and skills, and remember that many students feel lost at times in their studies.
rightleftymind__@reddit
Just push for the finish line man
LurkingVirgo96@reddit
If you hate it and it's not making sense to you, switch. Do you at least like the STEM aspect of it? Are you willing to entertain other carriers in STEM?
Traditional-Egg-4254@reddit
Trying getting into game development, u get to bring your and concepts to life
ZeldasDoritos@reddit
My background: I graduated with a master's in CS about a year ago. I'm still looking for work, but part of this was my own doing for not doing a technical internship while I was in school and not doing more personal projects (I want to teach as a 2nd career, so I tutored/did teaching jobs for CS during my summers. At the time tech was still stable, so I did not think I had to do a technical internship. You live, make choices, and you learn).
I'd think about first why you hate CS and why you have negative feelings about it. For people I've tutored, usually their hatred for CS was resentment for not pursuing their passions, feelings of frustration for not understanding the material (often trying to do the work alone), math phobias, not connecting with the material, or a mixture of those reasons. All extremely valid reasons and reasons often reliant on your environment (bad profs, depression, lack of community, etc).
Before you decide to jump ship from CS, be extremely honest with yourself. Did you give CS your full effort? This means if you had the time, did you attend Office hours, talk to your professors, try to talk to peers, go to tutoring (if you could afford/uni offered it), join CS clubs, etc? If the answer is no, then something was holding you back from giving it a full shot, so you need to figure out what that is and if it's within your control to get past it. Some people, even with the best tutors, need more time to learn STEM subjects than the 4 years expected out of uni- this is completely normal, but may not be a financial option for all students (which is an unfortunate position to be during later years of uni and will require some tough decisions).
If you have managed to stay in your CS program this far without acidemic probation, then you likely understand some aspects of code, but too many knowledge gaps are there to make you see the big picture (which in CS is important, its when everything beguns to click). With enough hustle, I think you can salvage the rest of your degree and make it through- but this will require complete humility to get there. You making this reddit post in full honesty about your knowledge gaps makes me think you might be able to do it. Next steps would be scheduling meetings with your profs, get a tutor if possible, talk to your GTAs, joining study groups, etc. The key part of wanting anyone to support you in your success is to take the initiative (with humility) and be consistent (show up, do the work). I've had students reach out to me with failing grades halfway through the course with humility, and it was that act of bravery that lead to them passing the class (if they put the work in).
My best advice is to find a prof you like/trust in your CS department and have an honest convo with them. I'd also schedule an appointment with career services and talk to them too (you pay a ton of money to be in uni- use your resources!!!). Ask them if there is a realistic way for you to finish your degree with the knowledge gaps or if it's for the best you switch. I know plenty of people that made CS a minor and switched to business with a technical component- there could be options you aren't aware of, but you need to have those conversations with people who have that knowledge.
Even if you do switch- get that internship! It's extremely important in this job market, and the easiest way to get and prove you have experience.
Good Luck! Always happy to chat further. I have personally supported many CS students to find the acidemic path right for them (even if it meant a different major) and also helped many find the fun in CS to get through it (a lot actually went from hating to loving CS). I will say in learning anything, community is extremely important to help you get over hurdles and where you need to go, so don't take any resources you have for granted :)
GetPsyched67@reddit
Your comment should be in the hall of fame
Blando-Cartesian@reddit
Outlook for jobs in this field already sucks and most others probably soon follow. I’d say shift to something more interesting to you. But keep in mind that any other field comes with it’s own load of frustrating course work, tasks to get through, and need to constantly learn more to keep up to date.
Tobacco_Caramel@reddit
Move the other way. I'm surprised you even lasted and get there. Most profs would notice, most deans would evaluate and think,
pdcp-py@reddit
Maybe take a look at creative coding with Processing:
https://processing.org/
If Daniel Shiffman can't ignite a spark of passion within you for coding, then no-one will be able to:
https://thecodingtrain.com/
chhuang@reddit
Switch, unless you are a prodigy. I've seen people without passion fail in this field. Not impossible, but you'll find any job to be daunting, while it kinda already is.
It's not a stable job ever since imo, upside is average pay at minimum. Tech is rapidly changing, what you learn today may be obsolete tomorrow
SciGuy241@reddit
I'm a 44/m who knows a thing or two about your conundrum. I was right where you are about 20 years ago. Many things have changed in that time but college is still college. It can be a great and confusing time. I'd like to share what I've learned with you. When you graduate, regardless of the degree, you'll need to make at least $80k per year to support yourself. If you don't see yourself majoring in computer science then stop right now and don't make another move until you figure it out.
In my day they kept telling me I had to know what I wanted to do "for the rest of my life". Let me tell you here and now THAT IS BULLSHIT. There's no way you can know who you'll be in 10 years or what you'll want. All you can realistically do is plan for the next 5 years. But you're old enough now where the income has to be a factor in these decisions.
In summary, just figure out how you're going to make $80k per year and all the other answers will come to you and when the answers arrive you won't have any doubts. Then you'll be able to live your life confident in yourself and career path.
masterV56@reddit
I’m a lead software engineer at a large bank. When I was in college, I could barely write code at all. When I graduated and started working, I was completely embarrassed because I didn’t know how to do anything at all. But I just stuck with it and kept trying and always tried to be a good teammate. Now I make very good money and I kinda enjoy it. Honestly college is a waste of time. I’d say just try to understand the big picture but you really start to learn when you get hired. Also, id strongly suggest you move in the direction of AI somehow. All of us software engineers are worried we will lose our jobs soon. Best of luck.
turning-38@reddit
if you like arts, UX/UI design could be an option. do you mean you haven't had any internship? just one will change everything. or opensource participations. from setting up environments to submitting PR, writing docs, you learn so much in just a few weeks.
bdexteh@reddit
I got my AAS in App Dev and I also feel like I struggle to write code but I ended up shifting into cybersecurity for my Bachelor’s.
Maybe check out networking or cybersecurity if you still want to be tech-related; I found them both more interesting than plain CS. If you don’t care about IT at all in general, just switch to art dude. Follow YOUR interests and passions, not suggestions given to you by others.
pepitolover@reddit
Used to hate maths & suck at it, now I want to self-learn it (would'nt have even thought of that even in school. I despised it too much.) I went into fine arts in college because I liked art ,turns out I started hating it. Now years later, my love for art has been reigniting. My point is what you hate right now could be something you love in the near future, same goes for what you love right now could be something you end up hating. there's no such thing as a fixed future or a fixed self.
jaktonik@reddit
The trades need people badly, and you get paid to learn, so it's worth looking into your local electrician and hvac scenes to see what education and apprentice programs are available - if you can job shadow someone for a day that's gold, that'll tell you quickly whether you're excited to jump in and get engaged or if it doesn't suit ya. Plus that kind of work is not going anywhere anytime soon, if you want stable work it's great and pragmatic, and it pays the bills with no on call shifts (that I'm aware of)
jaktonik@reddit
Also you already said it - career counseling! There are usually awesome free resources for students, all you (probably) have to do is figure out where their office is on campus and schedule a chat
Driky@reddit
35m dev with 10+ years of experience: Learn something that makes money and do art in your free time. And do not continue to become a developer. It’s okay to not be in love with your job but lowkey hating it will be miserable. Even as a passionate developer I’m considering changing job. The only thing really preventing me from doing it is that I’m in a comfortable situation and it would take me probably too long to get to that same point doing another job.
Find something you can become good at and that you don’t hate. If you are good at something you can learn to like it and it will be good for you self esteem. And preferably something that will make you good money. It doesn’t have to be some fancy uni of engineering degree. In some place welding or roofing will get you much cash or more than a uni degree.
AshamedDuck4329@reddit
finish cs degree, treat it as insurance, practice small projects
AmettOmega@reddit
Dude isn't going to be able to use the degree if he can't code and has poor grades. If he can't pass a coding test, he probably won't get hired.
Sweet_Witch@reddit
What for if he hates it? It is better for him to find something else as quickly as possible and not waste time on cs more than necessary.
caboosetp@reddit
Yeah the first 2 years are mostly GEs anyways. Now is the time to switch to another STEM field because most of the prereqs overlap.
bjr816@reddit
My suggestion is way left. I would learn a trade. Plus you'll learn/master a skill while supporting your passion for arts. This country is gonna need more and looking for more plumbers, electricians etc. Hopefully you can get a union or city job cause you'll want great benefits. I graduated with a CS degree in 2018. Never worked a job in tech. Worked retail for 2 years got a city job here in New York. Honestly I been making more money than I ever did. I'm in the electrical department now and gaining a new skill.
Character-Company-47@reddit
Get a job in defense and then climb the ranks to switch to any industry you want
OtherwiseAd245@reddit
Try working on projects that interested you like sth related to art in cs
lukewarmdaisies@reddit
I think it depends on why you don't like it. I think computer science can be very artistic, but in practice software jobs are more procedural. I suppose you'd run into a similar problem in, let's say, graphic design, so the issue might just be that being told what to do (which is kind of what a 9-5 job is) isn't particularly fun. I think it's not too late to switch majors, but to some extent a degree is a degree and you have 40 years to pivot careers after you graduate.
I'm finishing up my degree soon and there were times I wasn't sure if I would regret it, but looking back I'm pretty happy I got it done. Lots of computer science majors pivot to other stuff too, it's a good degree to have in the sense that your options are pretty open if you're transferring internally within a larger company.
Barajmar-@reddit
A cs degree for money in this job market is INSANE. your parents are clearly outdated because it's one of the most unemployed fields right now, I would find something you like and do that have the cs as a back up loll
Clean-Complaint-5267@reddit
As you're close to the finish line I would definitely commit.
I also discovered I was largely dispassionate about my biomedical sciences degree, but it was one piece of coursework that I did in the realm of sociology and statistics that proved to me that I'm not an inherently dispassionate person. Do everything in your power to steer your work towards areas of novelty or existing and potential interests. It is a shame that there is such an enormous price tag attached, but if nothing else, your degree should give you some indication towards areas of strength and interest and only becomes a true waste if you don't graduate at all, or graduate without some degree of personal insight.
Tldr: use remainder of degree for personal exploration.
Unlikely_Cow7879@reddit
You’re too far into your degree to change majors. It’d be a waste of money. Instead, finish and then go for a masters in something entirely unrelated and something you both semi enjoy and will guarantee you a job once finished.
RobinPage1987@reddit
If you hate cs, like REALLY hate it, get out. Switch your major now, before you invest too much more in classes you won't earn your living with. Don't be a victim of sunk cost fallacy.
That said, a cs degree is still useful fur getting into certain industries like game dev, in jobs that don't require you to write a single line of code. Writing game design docs is one example.
AnonTruthTeller@reddit
Just quit and do something else that’s easier. It’s a very obvious decision.
Total-Box-5169@reddit
You got really bad advice. You will be competing against people who actually love CS, who can reduce their stress levels by learning and toying with code. Meanwhile you will not be able to invest as much time learning CS because it will increase your stress levels so you will have to do something else to avoid burning out.
IntelligenzMachine@reddit
Just finish the degree and apply for jobs at tech companies that aren’t tech jobs lol. Interview: “yeah engineering wasn’t for me but I think it sets me up for b2b sales”
Dangerous_Bat_557@reddit
You might hate computer science but like software engineering, dev ops, testing, embedded, game development, web development, etc.
I would look into front end web development, since you have an art passion you could apply it there
ssstr1pe@reddit
Try and find a field you're passionate about that can make use of your CS skills
pubertyman1@reddit
Gonna give some surface level advice. Maybe get a minor in something you think would be fun/realistically useful. Also try small passion projects in your field if your really gonna commit to CS. A lot of people seem to have problems in college like this, even I did, so don't stress too hard. I wish you the best on the path you take, just make sure its with confidence.
budtard@reddit
Join a game jam, take some time to build something because you can, a lot of times I find myself with that same mentality, when in reality I just haven’t had a avenue to exercise my skills in front of others, I get you dude it’s rough out here, been applying to jobs the past 2 years, and still have probably gotten only 4 interviews and been declined from every one because the entry level job needed experience I didn’t have and can’t get unless I get a entry level job.
That being said, if you do want to change majors, I think it’s something to approach smartly, and rn it seems you’re not in a place to make decisions.
Take a break, do something for yourself and think for a bit go on a walk. Then weigh your options.
budtard@reddit
That’s such a ramble but 🤷♂️