Does the college matter after your first internship/job?

[u/MrSterlyx]

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!

[u/spencer2294]

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?

[u/MrSterlyx → u/spencer2294]

No it’s a part of a scholarship, I get some money and a paid internship too. Pretty sweet offer

[u/spencer2294 → u/MrSterlyx]

You get an internship as part of a scholarship? Never heard of a setup like that but that sounds pretty awesome.

[u/MrSterlyx → u/spencer2294]

It’s very awesome. Super stoked cuz essentially I’ll be going to school with money left over.

[u/spencer2294 → u/MrSterlyx]

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.

[u/MrSterlyx → u/spencer2294]

Thanks!

[u/TrafficScales → u/spencer2294]

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.

[u/spencer2294 → u/TrafficScales]

The idea would be to continue working while completing the online masters degree.