Introduction

What is this guide for?

The amount of career resources specifically tailored for CSS students is very limited. This document attempts to fill that gap by providing a comprehensive guide covering the entire career hunting process contextualized to CSS students, with special considerations to the constraints and resources present within the CSSE program. In addition, this document provides an extensive list of career resources and tips to assist you in your career search.

This guide was partly inspired by a post on r/uwb which described the many career-oriented misconceptions and shortcomings within the CSSE program. Through this guide, we hope to address these issues for all future CSS students.

For those who are still undecided on a desired career and want to learn more about different fields of study within CSS, this guide also provides coverage over many career paths available for CSS students. We will also connect these career paths to a variety of useful courses present in the CSS program if you want to learn more about them in a formal classroom setting.

Why should I read this?

As a CSS student, one of the most important considerations throughout your degree is how to best set yourself up for a successful career post-graduation. By reading this guide, you will gain a better understanding of each step of the career hunting process that will in turn boost your chances of landing an internship or a full-time career offer.

Also, if you are still undecided about your post-graduation plans, after reading this guide you will have a better understanding of different CSS career paths and possibly find one you may want to learn more about on your own or in a useful CSS course. Overall, this guide can strongly support you as a CSS student with starting or continuing your career hunting journey.

What will I learn from it?

To start, we will clear up common misconceptions regarding the CSSE degree and the career hunting process in general to address major pain points faced by CSS students. Then, we will preview each stage of the career hunting process from start to end to give a high-level overview of what you will face when you begin applying for internships/jobs.

After the overview, we will dedicate each following guide section to a specific stage in the career hunting process. Each of these sections will go into detail on how to prepare for the respective stage and what you will do with the company you are applying to. The specific stages of the career hunting process we will cover are: writing your resume, completing applications, researching/evaluating companies, networking, behavioral interviews, online assessments / technical interviews, and offers.