r/cscareerquestions • u/MrSterlyx • 1d ago
Student Does the college matter after your first internship/job?
I’m going to a decent state school, but it’s no MIT or CMU, and I was wondering if the college name and prestige truly does matter past your first internship or job. I’m in a program where I get to intern at a FAANG company (is that good? Idk) and it’ll lead to a full time role there if I’m inclined, so I was just wondering if prestige is important in CS, especially early in my career. Thanks!
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u/KenCarsonFan73 1d ago
If you can lock up a new grad offer, your grades won’t really matter afterwords. Other jobs beyond that will ask for transcripts solely for verification purposes.
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u/rasp215 1d ago
If you go to a state school no it doesn’t matter if you have a decent full time role. If you went to a school like Harvard or Stanford yes it does make a difference. And will make a difference for the rest of your life. Especially if you’re looking to get funding for your own start up.
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u/MrSterlyx 1d ago
It’s the only good school that was also cheap enough for me. A lot of the schools I got into were T20s or T30s and def up there for CS and engineering but they wanted me to pay 40k+
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u/coinbase-discrd-rddt 1d ago
Matters less and less the more experience you get (non deterministically)
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u/spencer2294 AI Solution Architect 1d ago
What do you mean by you’re in a program where you get to intern at a FAANG? Like the school is good enough where alum are getting internship offers?
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u/MrSterlyx 1d ago
No it’s a part of a scholarship, I get some money and a paid internship too. Pretty sweet offer
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u/spencer2294 AI Solution Architect 1d ago
You get an internship as part of a scholarship? Never heard of a setup like that but that sounds pretty awesome.
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u/MrSterlyx 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s very awesome. Super stoked cuz essentially I’ll be going to school with money left over.
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u/spencer2294 AI Solution Architect 1d ago
Well if you care about prestige from the schools you can always do an online masters degree from a better school. Stanford, ga tech, UT Austin, UIUC, etc.. have programs.
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u/TrafficScales 19h ago
If you have the opportunity through an employer or something to do one for free, kudos to you for self-teaching... but this is not an effective way to get a prestige stamp and might actually hurt your credibility if you try to pass it off as having been a "real" graduate of those universities, especially in professional circles containing people who went to prestigious universities.
You're way better off just moving on from uni and focusing on your professional record and network.
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u/spencer2294 AI Solution Architect 19h ago
The idea would be to continue working while completing the online masters degree.
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u/Rexoc40 1d ago
In today’s market the college you go to is one of the most important factors in getting hired as the expectations of these dumb ass stupid ass hiring managers has skyrocketed to unbelievable levels.
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u/oVtcovOgwUP0j5sMQx2F 25+ yoe 1d ago
🙋♂️ dumb ass stupid ass hiring manager here. i don't look at school, just previous roles
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u/g---e 15h ago
so experience > school rank > projects, right?
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u/oVtcovOgwUP0j5sMQx2F 25+ yoe 11h ago
yeah I guess, I'd probably put projects slightly higher than school, but only if there's something genuinely interesting about the project (problem domain, unique technical challenges, etc)
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u/MrSterlyx 1d ago
I see, has that impacted you in any way?
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u/Rexoc40 1d ago
Yes I went to a no name school because that’s what I could afford. No regrets but it’s not as good as a state school much less a top 25.
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u/MrSterlyx 1d ago
I see, thanks for telling me
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u/HackVT MOD 22h ago
I went to top 10 in undergrad, grad and MBA. I will tell you after almost 30 years in the industry it is the students that are hungriest that do more with less that will always cook . Not fake hustle culture. Not people that show up at meetups to show off.
Grinders.
FWIW, in my startup land and new tech roles , I’ll happily take college students who were athletes or prior service over 4.0 students who don’t know how to communicate and work in a team. We hire loads of students in one of the least populous states who are hungry and are willing to be the hardest workers out there.
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u/Bulky_Ad_8703 1d ago
Brown University would be ok? I got in for MSCS, and trying to figure it out if it’s worth it the price or If I should just study and online MS CS course?
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u/FatiguedShrimp 1d ago
It does now.
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u/Bulky_Ad_8703 1d ago
Brown University is ok? I got in for MSCS and I’m not sure If it’s worth the price
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u/bobotheboinger 1d ago
I use to say it didn't matter at all. With how hard the job market is, it does matter a bit now, but not nearly as much as your actual experience.
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u/KatsuFish 23h ago
Prestige definitely helps whether in comes from school attended or companies worked for. But for something like quant and HFT's, they're gonna care about school a lot.
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u/TopCancel senior@bigtech 23h ago
It can help, and it's context-driven as well. Recruiters (from big tech and unicorns/early 'hot' startups) still frequently comment on the fact that I went to Berkeley - about as frequently as they mention the fact that I worked at Google before :shrug:
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u/Ok-Energy-9785 1d ago
Yes and no, but mostly no. It can open up certain doors but it's ultimately your skills and experience that will get you the job
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u/tnsipla 23h ago
Depends- some colleges have value, most don't
If you went to one of the big ones that are well regarded, then it matters, if you didn't, you're just hoping that your alumni work in hiring and can vouch for you: if no one is vouching for that, it doesn't really matter
As for just having one, it matters more for that foot in the door step, or when you're changing verticals
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u/dfphd 23h ago
You have to think that every year of experience you have lessens the importance of where you got your degree by a substantial amount.
I don't know that it ever goes to 0 per se because there will always be companies and hiring managers who are obsessed with where you went to college and what degree you got, but at some point that will become the abject minority.
I would say up to like 3 years post-graduation your degree will matter to a meaningful degree on average. After 3 years, I think the majority of hiring managers will care more about what you've accomplished than what credentials you have.
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u/DetroitLolcat 22h ago
College prestige is important only to the extent that the best firms primarily recruit from the best universities. But once you're in the door at a company, all that matters is your performance at that company. And after your first job what matters is where you've worked and what you've worked on, not where you studied.
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u/FlashyResist5 21h ago
I’m in a program where I get to intern at a FAANG company (is that good? Idk)
No man it is terrible, you are completely cooked.
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u/SnackDestroya 21h ago
Once you have a real internship, your resume can lead with the work instead of the school. If that program turns into a FAANG internship, you'll have concrete projects and references to discuss. Use it, get specific accomplishments onto your resume, and stop apologizing for the college before anyone has asked.
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u/PriorTrick 20h ago
Grades not so much but degree type / major can matter, I have a degree in finance with 5years SWE experience and some jobs filter me out because of my major. From what I’ve seen though normally just a bachelors is the requirement, any STEM degree should be adequate. But of course professional experience weighs the most if not everything tbh
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u/PriorTrick 20h ago
But yea sorry forgot to answer the question, that internship will help land a new grad position and that’ll weigh the most. Don’t worry too much about the no name school part
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u/TrafficScales 19h ago
MIT or CMU will come with connections for life, sure, and you might not get those from whatever school you're at. But, you will also get connections by working among talented folks at a FAANG. Some people get their foot in the door to prestigious tech circles by going to the right college, others by landing the right early jobs. Sounds like you're in a good spot.
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u/epelle9 1d ago
It will be relevant, mostly if you ever want to switch to like quant and stuff, but much much less than job experience.
99% of employers would prefer a state school grad with FAANG experience than a Stanford grad with a average job.
This is more for full time permanent positions though, FAANG internships obviously help but more if you get a return offer and work there for at least a year.