 So this is how the initial vlog setup was gonna be because it's Christmas time I figure hey, why don't I just shoot in front of a Christmas tree? But I can't because this light behind me just as you can see it makes everything in front of it so dark You can still see the Christmas tree from this angle So in this video I am gonna answer about 10 questions that I got on either YouTube or Instagram Actually, I'm gonna get a little bit closer And if you like videos like this, I can do a Q&A weekly So just comment below Q&A weekly if you would like me to do more videos like this on a more consistent basis With that being said, let's get started. I apologize. This shirt isn't camera ready at all It's got all this lint on it from a dog named Ziggy. I'll just leave it at that. So just give me a second I like this shirt a lot more. Oh You know what I almost forgot Comment down below if you want merch and I would love to make some merch So we can really be a community and we can all wear the same gear If you want me to make some merch comment down below merch bro So question number one is there anything I can do before I start college next year? So I get asked this question all the time about what I can it's either what can I do before I start college or Do I need to know how to program before I start computer science and college and my answer to the first Question is I would learn how to code and HTML CSS and JavaScript And if you just start out with HTML and CSS Those two languages combined are starting it are starting to become more complete anyways That's a programming language So I will start out with that and then I will start with some JavaScript Which is kind of like your back-end programming language and what I would start doing is I was I would try to manipulate the Dom elements Within the HTML so you can actually see what your code is doing I think it's really nice and helpful when you can write some code and then visually see What it's actually manipulating my answer to the second question So my answer to anyone who is afraid or a little bit intimidated by computer science because you haven't programmed before I would say don't be intimidated Or don't be scared one. That's not going to help you. You got to be confident Even if you haven't had any experience with programming. It's okay. That's what college is for It's it's there to teach you how to be a computer science or a software engineer people who are nursing students didn't get a chance to practice Nursing people were mechanical engineers didn't really get a chance to practice Mechanical engineering and the same applies to a lot of fields So I do not think you need to know how to program, but I think it will help you a lot Don't get me wrong There are some professors out there who say you don't need to know how to program for their intro class and You can tell that you really do when it comes to their intro class So to prepare yourself for a professor like that I would definitely at least dive into the concepts of what programming is and by concepts I mean typing when to use a semi-colon if the programming language even needs a semi-colon or loops if Statements functions classes if you can wrap your head around that I think you will be in a very good position to be able to implement those basic Programming techniques and if you're wondering where I'm getting these questions from I'm literally just going through my Instagram Currently how much math does it usually take to major in computer science? Sorry everyone, but It's a lot of math and I know math sucks But you need it math is very very important in computer science because you need to understand how Time complexity works, so you're gonna take a class that's gonna be kind of like your intro to time complexity Which is it's either gonna be discrete math or it's gonna be data structures So if you're not very good at calculus or you know algebra I wouldn't be too fearful I actually know people that didn't even finish like how to until junior year and They already had a lot of computer science courses done It really depends on your curriculum our curriculum Doesn't stunt your growth or career by not finishing your math quickly and that's because it's important I have calculus in your bag, but you don't really use that tool until you get to like Algorithms and even in algorithms the math that you're gonna be doing is gonna be more like either probably algebra or Linear algebra there is a lot of math when it comes to computer science mainly because there's a lot of theory behind computer science and asymptotic analysis determining the time complexity of an algorithm and whether or not it's Efficient or if you should use it with within the solution you're trying to create But I will say when it comes to software engineering, you're probably not gonna use any math I haven't used any math and any of my internships and I haven't used any math full-time, and I don't really expect to I like to drink oranges during a winter time because Oranges are good for you, and they prevent you from getting sick. How did I get into the tech world? Okay, so let's start off with high school going into my senior year. Um, I Applied during I want to say the winter time for a Cornell engineering program That was for a week at Cornell University, and I end up getting I end up getting accepted praise God because that Specific week had helped me get my internship a year and a half later We'll get into all that but I did that program and I met some really cool Kids from really all over the country and all over the world and we had an Assignment to create or project to create a smart home. Yes to this very day It's probably the coolest project I've ever worked on But it was a smart home, and I decided to do the programming aspect I have no clue why I decided to do the programming aspect, but I found it challenging and difficult But there was like there was some math involved in it So it remember I said, you know do a lot of math. It really depends on what you're working on if you're doing a more Academic Project you're probably gonna use a good amount of math and to make a long story short We had a team of four people so two people working on the programming side And then two people working on like the design of the building side And we needed math because the smart home needed to have a water it had a water coolant and LED lights And you had to somehow figure out a way based on like an equation To have the water coolant come on when it got really hot But also not to use it too much so you don't use too much energy You know that costs and the same with the LED lights when it gets dark turn the LED lights on But when do you want to turn the LED lights on because you don't want them on when it's just a little dark Outside right the sun setting a little bit and you're wasting all this energy So I found that project really cool our smart home worked it was really cool seeing the LED lights turn on when the Clouds would cover the sky and it would get a little bit darker And it was cool to see the water water pump work when it was really hot out as well So that was really the basis of me getting into the tech world That was really the start for me and then I end up majoring in computer science And then the rest was history and I've taken on a couple internships really enjoying it And when you go major in something like engineering more than likely you're gonna end up Interning probably 75 to 80 percent of your fellow classmates are gonna intern or co-op and at some schools at University Cincinnati You have to so you're gonna automatically be in the tech world And that's the benefit of going to college and majoring in something within the engineering world So yeah, that's my spiel on how I got into the tech world I hope my path can help you figure out your path. So someone asked me do I play for a night? I don't play for a night. I really don't have time to play video games The main thing is because I'm trying to put these quality videos out and I really enjoy making YouTube videos I actually enjoy that a lot more than playing video games And I am 23 years old for those of you all who don't know my age I know some of you all asked me how old I am. I am 23. I turned 23 about let's see what's today today's The eighth Yeah, I turned 23 About two weeks ago. So I get asked questions a lot about salary I'm not gonna talk about my personal salary, but I will tell you all how much Computer scientists make coming out of college and I think it's important to understand how much of Not only an impact computer science has on the society today With being able to turn something into nothing helping people in the medical field for example and All these really nice consumer applications that make your life easier I think it's good to understand the positive impact computer science has on the world And I also think it's important to understand how lucrative of a field it is I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you some of the stats behind or yeah some of the stats behind some of the salary averages for computer scientists and software engineers and One thing to remember is that You're gonna make more in a city that has a higher cost of living, right? so for example if your friend got a software development or engineering job in New York City and They're making a hundred thousand dollars don't be upset if Your company is paying you Mid-to-high 50s if you're working in Columbus because you have to understand that the cost of living in New York City is literally so high that 50 grand and like Columbus or Cleveland is equivalent to 100 grand in like Brooklyn and like 120 grand in Manhattan if you want to have the same lifestyle So keep that in mind. Don't just look at the number look at the cost of living that is very very important Whereas in a smaller city, maybe the money that you're making now can get you a nice apartment But you know that the cost of living is so great that in five years you should be able to own a House and really whatever neighborhood you want Maybe not necessarily the biggest house in the world, but you by yourself Could own your own house in a nice neighborhood. I think that's a plus and I think that's something to keep in mind but dice.com says that The average starting salary for graduates with computer science degrees was 57,762 dollars with a lower range of $15,000. I don't know who's getting paid 15 grand full-time with the CS degree but the upper of $130,000 and I Think that's kind of accurate but I Think the upper end could be even higher because if you working for Google or like Facebook Or some of those companies out on the West Coast or maybe even on the East Coast like in New York City You may there may be people coming out of college making like a hundred and fifty thousand dollars But if you are worrying about how difficult computer science is I would just keep in mind that it is a life-changing field. You will make Good money coming out of college. There's no if ands or buts about it And that's including if your GPA is below a 3.0. People ask me where I get my music from I get my music from Epidemic sound so someone asked is it important eating healthy as is it important to eat healthy as a software engineer as it is a Complicated job. I would say yes, it is very very very important to eat healthy just in general But especially if you're someone behind the computer screen all the time like a computer science major or a software engineer Someone asked me did I get a degree in computer science or software engineering? And I know for those of you all who have been following me for a while You know that I majored in computer science and not software engineering. It's just that most computer scientists end up getting jobs as software developers or engineers and If you're trying to decide which one you want to do you have to ask yourself Well, do you enjoy programming more or do you enjoy more theory and math me for I I for one I really I didn't have a choice. We didn't have a software engineering degree at my university I don't think we do right now either So I majored in computer science and if we did have a software engineering degree I will still pick computer science and the reason being is because with the computer science degree You do for one we did a lot of electrical engineering courses So we applied our computer science to our electrical engineering and our electrical engineering to our computer science I took computer engineering classes. I took a lot of math yet sucked at the time But when looking back at it, it was a blessing to take computer science Because it's like a big breath of everything so you can go be a data analyst or a data scientist If you are a computer scientist not saying that you can if you're a software engineer But with computer science you have more math, right? So with a with more math more with more of a math background that opens up doors to other things You know, maybe systems engineering is something you enjoy or embedded systems engineering is something that you enjoy And of course with software engineering you could do those things too But for me I would rather have a curriculum that gave me more math because it just gave it just opens up more doors for Me and that's why I chose computer science. So if you are choosing software engineering, you're still gonna be doing a lot of math So don't worry about that But you won't do as much math and you're gonna be doing more projects that are focused on What the industry is working on and I think that's really really valuable because at the end of the day I mean, I don't know if I'm always gonna be a software developer, but I will say students who major in software engineering Definitely definitely benefit from having more practical projects compared to my computer science You know analyzing time complexity type projects because I you will use that in industry But you won't use it as nearly as much as you will do an API cause for example So I had someone from high school ask me what an intern is and that is a great question Because we hear that word a lot, but what does it actually mean? So you're gonna hear the word intern and co-op a lot in college and the difference is that an internship is during the summertime and A co-op is During the school year So you would do a co-op for like a semester and you would do an internship for like a summer They're both beneficial. I personally liked internships more because that's when most of the college students are gonna be working at the company because Co-op students are usually Students who are more technical at least that's what I've noticed So when you're working at a company during the internship like for example We had our internship program during the summer and there were students doing co-ops But the internship was so fun because that's when the sales Interns are there and the services interns in there and the marketing interns are there and The software developers and quality is sure insurance interns are all there So we have so many events and it's just a really really great time Don't get me wrong co-ops are great because they're typically longer and you get a chance to make more money And I would say with co-ops you're probably gonna end up working more on projects that are gonna end up being external because More people are gonna intern and be gone after the summer So you may work on a project by yourself internally, but more than likely you're probably end up doing something external So intern and a co-op is basically a College student or it doesn't have to be a college student But it is a person who is going to work full-time for a company for a given amount of time So you're considered a full-time employee. I don't want to make this video be too long I want you all to be able to enjoy your weekend and do some research to figure out what you all want to do next Or whatever the next steps are for you if you are interested in the career path that I'm currently in right now With that being said I will see you all soon. Peace You