| 25-07-2021 09:32 AM |
| Unregistered |
Quote:
Originally Posted by sadguy
Dear Members,
I'm in desperate need of a reality check and some life advice. Currently, I'm intending to pursue a Computer Science degree in UNSW, which will cost a fortune. My Father's monthly income is in the low ten-thousands and my mum has no income, but I'll be requiring a study loan of 100k+ to be studying overseas to cover my 140k school fees, and more for misc.
A little background of myself:
- 21
- Unable to enter local CS degrees with my average A level results due to co-curricular priorities back then, big mistake on my part
- Experience in C, Python for about a year+ (self-taught while in NS)
I'm someone whose extremely passionate about CS and is constantly learning and programming on a daily basis. I'm currently waiting to matriculate locally in InfoSys. Bottomline is, I'm not getting any support from my parents as they feel that any local degree is fine and it's unecessary to pursue my dream of Computer Science. They feel that its too big a bet and that 'CS Prospects are not guranteed', and that if I want to go overseas I'll have to bear the full cost of it.
As a young adult myself, I can't disagree with that as I have no actual experience in the working world, and probably don't understand the value of money as much as the working adults on this forum.
To the people working in CS-fields: Is the ROI on my CS degree worth taking this loan to pursue my studies? I see varying salaries from 3-7k starting. I would need years to pay off this debt and its interest.
Any other life advice/salary-related advice that may help overcome my situation would be appreciated.
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Hi sadguy
I'm in the local tech industry and I'm currently a staff SWE at a FAANG. I'm making 600k+ a year after after including bonus+ vested RSU. (RSU granted is 18-24 months of my basic annually and stock has risen almost 1000% since I joined).
My suggestion to you is:
1) Save the money, study locally. (I didn't study locally).
2) Focus on studying Computer Science & graduate. Having a degree in CS is important to get an interview.
3) Be passionate about the tech industry.
4) Have some projects on GitHub/GitLab.
5) Study leetcode.
6) If you don't get into a top-tier SWE company on graduation, get 2 years of SWE experience first at any normal company.
Work experience/uni only gets you into the 1st interview. After that, it is your leetcode ability.
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| 25-07-2021 04:08 AM |
| Unregistered |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
If you mean developers in trading firms, they make a lot more than Facebook, Google at the start. But maybe even harder to get in.
However they dont hire a lot, maybe 1-2 people a year only for fresh grads
You can easily make 10k+ a month (with bonueses) joining these firms as fresh grad
Some of these firms include: Grasshoper, Jane Street, DRW, Jump Trading
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Grasshopper doesn't pay well. The rest of them yes.
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| 20-07-2021 06:15 AM |
| Unregistered |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Hmmm L4 in SG is paid much lower than L4 in US.
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Yes of couse. Doesnt mean the same level in the same company pays across countries
have to take into account cost of living, taxes etc. US taxes are much higher than us
this year L3 Google SG batch is 125k (6.7k with bonus + stocks). L3 in US starting alr much higher than that
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| 19-07-2021 09:58 PM |
| Unregistered |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
First off, the education is just a means for you to get your foot through the resuming screening
Of course make sure your GPA or school doesn't suck too bad so it looks like a red flag. Obviously SIM ain't gonna cut it if you are looking to go into Apple, Google etc.
Probably u can be considered as QA but fat hope for SWE.
In fact some local tech firms like Shopee have accelerated interview processes for ppl that are local grads that are first class from CS. Just a 1 round process. These engineers after grad easily make more than 100k a year.
So if anyone tells u that education doesn't matter, they are lying
Then the 2nd step is to practice coding questions. I recommend "Cracking the coding interview" book
master your basic time complexity analysis, and Algo and data structures (trees graphs queues arrays linkedlists)
Make sure u know DFS, BFS, Kadanes algorithm, sliding window, various sorting algos like merge sort (just all these basics to name a few)
Also step up your DP (dynamic programming) skills, you can start with simple Fibonacci/grid travellers problem to understand DP concepts
If you master these well you can make big bucks.
source: 2 YOE engineer working as L4 in Google SG. I make around 8k a month (160k per year with stocks and bonus)
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Hmmm L4 in SG is paid much lower than L4 in US.
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| 19-07-2021 09:54 PM |
| Unregistered |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
If you're passionate about something you should go for it. Especially since your passionate pays well. Do it or you'll regret it.
If you excel you can pay back your debt in no time.
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this is the best advice
we need good local CS talent
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| 19-07-2021 09:31 AM |
| Unregistered |
Quote:
Originally Posted by sadguy
Why did you choose to live in Australia? Do you feel like engineering has better prospects there?
And on a side note,isn't UNSW GO8 as well? I've read about RMIT being very specialised in tech/engineering, basically the 'SUTD' of Aussie.
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there are more opportunities in Australia.. I jump from Genie to Jira and then to telcos and banks. In Aus, they don believe in FT because most will convert to PR :P
yes, UNSW is GO8 but generally, only the sandstone uni are considered the real GO8 at least to me..
maybe u can treat all the uni that have "T" as the equivalent of NTU?
University of Adelaide (1874) - No Tech.
University of Western Australia (1911) - or Curtin (used to called Curtin University of Technology) btw Murdoch (heard their cybersecurity not bad)
University of Melbourne (1853) - RMIT University
University of Queenslanda (1909) - Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
University of Sydney (1850) - University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)
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| 19-07-2021 01:32 AM |
| Unregistered |
Quote:
Originally Posted by sadguy
I've definitely heard the notion of "Skills > Degree", and that having one is jsut used as a stepping stone to snagging an interview, thank you guys for confirming that. I'm actually currently matriculating in SUTD and looking to get into ISTD, which I hear is a CS pillar but more of a "jack-of-all-trades" teaching style e.g. no possible mods to get a more in-depth education on algos.
Thank you for going into the specifics of what I should take note. Knowing what you said, will be doing my best to bump up my GPA while I'm in university in hopes of achieving that level of prowess. Do you have any clue what the market for Quant Traders are like in SG? Because it doesn't seem to really exist(following various searches on Google), and seems to be very big FI focused, particularly in the US.
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If you mean developers in trading firms, they make a lot more than Facebook, Google at the start. But maybe even harder to get in.
However they dont hire a lot, maybe 1-2 people a year only for fresh grads
You can easily make 10k+ a month (with bonueses) joining these firms as fresh grad
Some of these firms include: Grasshoper, Jane Street, DRW, Jump Trading
|
| 19-07-2021 12:48 AM |
| sadguy |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Hi
21 is a young age after ORD, you can always try out SIT, SUTD, SUSS or even SIM studying UOW, i heard there's a choice to study your final year in Australia and this will lower your expenses too.
TBH, tech company don care about your degree from where as long as you have the passion and passes the tech interview 
Lastly if you die die have to go to Australia, did u consider applying other Aus uni?
The tech uni in Aus are quite good and a little lower cost too. To name a few, QUT, UTS, RMIT..
UNSW is not known for it's IT degree... if ranking does play a part, you might just wanna consider the GO8 unis.....
My 2cts as I spent 10 years in Australia after ORD. Studied engineering in TP got 1.5 years advance standing |
Why did you choose to live in Australia? Do you feel like engineering has better prospects there?
And on a side note,isn't UNSW GO8 as well? I've read about RMIT being very specialised in tech/engineering, basically the 'SUTD' of Aussie.
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| 19-07-2021 12:46 AM |
| sadguy |
I've definitely heard the notion of "Skills > Degree", and that having one is jsut used as a stepping stone to snagging an interview, thank you guys for confirming that. I'm actually currently matriculating in SUTD and looking to get into ISTD, which I hear is a CS pillar but more of a "jack-of-all-trades" teaching style e.g. no possible mods to get a more in-depth education on algos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
First off, the education is just a means for you to get your foot through the resuming screening
Of course make sure your GPA or school doesn't suck too bad so it looks like a red flag. Obviously SIM ain't gonna cut it if you are looking to go into Apple, Google etc.
Probably u can be considered as QA but fat hope for SWE.
In fact some local tech firms like Shopee have accelerated interview processes for ppl that are local grads that are first class from CS. Just a 1 round process. These engineers after grad easily make more than 100k a year.
So if anyone tells u that education doesn't matter, they are lying
Then the 2nd step is to practice coding questions. I recommend "Cracking the coding interview" book
master your basic time complexity analysis, and Algo and data structures (trees graphs queues arrays linkedlists)
Make sure u know DFS, BFS, Kadanes algorithm, sliding window, various sorting algos like merge sort (just all these basics to name a few)
Also step up your DP (dynamic programming) skills, you can start with simple Fibonacci/grid travellers problem to understand DP concepts
If you master these well you can make big bucks.
source: 2 YOE engineer working as L4 in Google SG. I make around 8k a month (160k per year with stocks and bonus)
|
Thank you for going into the specifics of what I should take note. Knowing what you said, will be doing my best to bump up my GPA while I'm in university in hopes of achieving that level of prowess. Do you have any clue what the market for Quant Traders are like in SG? Because it doesn't seem to really exist(following various searches on Google), and seems to be very big FI focused, particularly in the US.
|
| 19-07-2021 12:21 AM |
| Unregistered |
First off, the education is just a means for you to get your foot through the resuming screening
Of course make sure your GPA or school doesn't suck too bad so it looks like a red flag. Obviously SIM ain't gonna cut it if you are looking to go into Apple, Google etc.
Probably u can be considered as QA but fat hope for SWE.
In fact some local tech firms like Shopee have accelerated interview processes for ppl that are local grads that are first class from CS. Just a 1 round process. These engineers after grad easily make more than 100k a year.
So if anyone tells u that education doesn't matter, they are lying
Then the 2nd step is to practice coding questions. I recommend "Cracking the coding interview" book
master your basic time complexity analysis, and Algo and data structures (trees graphs queues arrays linkedlists)
Make sure u know DFS, BFS, Kadanes algorithm, sliding window, various sorting algos like merge sort (just all these basics to name a few)
Also step up your DP (dynamic programming) skills, you can start with simple Fibonacci/grid travellers problem to understand DP concepts
If you master these well you can make big bucks.
source: 2 YOE engineer working as L4 in Google SG. I make around 8k a month (160k per year with stocks and bonus)
|
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