I am an IT manager working at Silcon Valley. We current hiring interns and paying them $35/hour. Most students we interviewing are from UC and CSU: Cal, UCD, UCSD, UCSB, SJSU and etc. We are also hiring fulltime positions. Who ever worked as intern previously with good performance will have big advantage for full time positions. And the fulltime positions are between $110K to $130K. According to HR, the current paying rate for San Jose is 20% higher than Texas. My point is whatever money you save now may not worth the long-term salary difference in the future. Good Luck.
Helping son decide on accepted CS programs--high Tier school [UCSD] or lower tier [ASU, UTD] honors?
Those are the same salary ranges my CS sons have been seeing in Texas (son started in Houston at $120K base pay plus about $25k in bonuses his first year). This may not be typical but it’s the job he landed straight out of UTD. You also have to keep in mind the cost of living is much lower in Texas. Maybe it’s the difference between IT and CS? I don’t think IT pays as well as CS here. My FDIL graduated from Stanford in CS and is currently working in the bay area, she makes about the same as my younger son but she has to pay state income taxes and crazy high rent.
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I also want to add that after the first few years of employment, which college you attended doesn’t matter much, what matters is your work experience.
That’s simply because those are the schools close to you.
A motivated student, willing to look at and apply to positions not represented at the Job Fair, will do just fine.
Our son went to Cal Poly. All of the jobs he applied for save one were in CA. The outlier was in PA and he was offered a position.
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I’d go as far as saying it doesn’t matter at all.
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thank you again. The IT salary info is an interesting data point. I believe each school can give he him a solid CS education, but I think there may be advantages for ease of internships, research, mentors in a smaller program. I think the fact he has classmates accepted to UCSD, the CS program prestige, and familiarity/proximity are making it his top choice. I have asked him to try to research each. When I was doing this in the 80’s, I had a Petersen guide and a defined post-grad goal, and financially it was going to a scholarship school, ROTC, or else using the GI Bill.
He has a wealth of information, but I’m encouraging him to call the schools or attend every virtual offering they have. If it was me, I’d 100% choose UT Dallas for the NMF scholarship with its honors college advantages and programmed internships/research/study abroad. But I was a kid who wanted to leave my home and home state.
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone. He chose UCSD.
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Congratulations!! Thank you for returning with the update. 
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