As a international student majoring in CS, what is my future?

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>I will probably go to US for study in computer science (I have applied/will apply to some okey schools including CMU, Rice, Cornell, UCLA, Berkeley, UIUC, UMIch…)</p>

<p>Since I’ve already taken intensive and systematic ACM programming training in high school, I’m good at coding, designing algorithm, and, of course, math. (Some of my friends, who were taking the training with me together, are now in the ACM team in ShanghaiJiaotong University (The winner in World Final of ACM/ICPC 2008) and Fudan University)Thus, I’m convinced that majoring in CS, I should be outstanding and competitive at college, and I can be a good computer programmer or software engineer after graduation. </p>

<p>However, althought I’m really interested in programming and algorithm design, I won’t be satified by just getting a job as a programmer. I want to have more opportunities to communicate and do business with other people, or to have my own career. </p>

<p>So I wonder what kind of job I can get after graduation besides programmer, what kind of company I can go besides IT company, and what is my future???</p>

<p>btw, the programmer’s starting salary is considerable, but how about that after a few years? Many people say that only young people can be programmers…</p>

2

<p>Joey,
If you are good at coding, programming, math, and algorithms, you should have good career opportunities in the US or in China. Furthermore, once you learn the ropes, there are a number of different career opportunities open to you, such as: management… or software architecture… or law (such as intellectual property law)… or business… or research in an academic setting… You can work for a company, be a consultant or even start your own business. There’s lots of ways to go but developing your skills and expertise will take time. </p>

<p>You’ll want to develop your problem solving and programming skills of course. You can also work on your communication skills-- Are you good with people? Can you work on a team? Do you collaborate well? Are you a leader? Written communication is also important. Can you communicate effectively in various presentation formats? (memo, written paper, powerpoint)
Naturally, if you are interested in coming to the US, you should work on your English.</p>