UIUC vs CMU for undergraduate Computer Science

coolguy40
Tue, 30 Mar 2021 19:21:47 +0000

Programmer here. That’s a big myth. A 90k salary in CA doesn’t mean the same thing as a 90k salary in TX. Here’s the reality. Tech is a job market based almost exclusively on hands on experience. So much so, that after about 3 years of experience, employers don’t even ask where you went to school. I know this because I’ve already interviewed at 2 of the “Big 4,” (overrated), among several other fortune 500 companies, and I went to a regional state university. It’s very probable that UIUC graduates are getting jobs on the east/west coast, because Chicago doesn’t have a strong tech market. 90k in CA is right about entry level. In Texas, no company in their right mind would pay that much for an entry level college graduate. It would be about 60k…but that’s a reasonably comfortable starter salary for a young professional, and that could pay for a house as well.

If you graduate from college with zero experience, you’re going to get to get an entry level job and salary, no more, no less. Any increase in salary means the company can hire an experienced professional to do the job. That’ll be determined by the local job market. Whichever school you choose, make darn sure sure you can afford it. By the time you’re driving a BMW, your loans are going to be paid off anyway.

Also, money is far from everything. I learned that the hard way. Corporate jobs pay well, but most of them are like working in a human pressure cooker. That’s the trade-off with money. Personally, I work for my state government. I’ll probably never drive a BMW or own a fancy house, but there’s a good work-life balance.