Notes

  • Ashley overcame bad grades but still persisted in physics to get a degree
  • John did not do the best in high school, but learned at CSU San Marcos to become a computer scientist
  • CSU is making renovations and increasing their faculty and space
  • Lots of mobility in coursework and opportunities
  • Lots of programs in Computer Science even for high school students
  • Lots of paid internships through CSUSM
  • Lots of research opportunities in STEM
  • To pay for college, grants are government funded and scholarships are privatized
  • Financial aid is very helpful at CSUSM –> subsidized loans are given to you
  • CSUSM Cougar Blue Day to gauge interest in CSUSM

Talking to John

From talking to John, I learned a lot about working as a computer scientist corporately. He talked to me about how the large corporations such as Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Apple… are hellish to work for, and while they do pay well, usually exhaust you even quicker. He also talked to me about hourly wages and how getting paid salary based is usually a good thing, but salary based jobs can usually push for overtime and not give adequate pay for the deserved amount of work. He also said something specific: “if they tell you its like a family, run” because the “family” companies usually overwork way more hardcore and theres always someone doing the brunt of the work. He talked about his experience at the safari park and doing work for them, and how that was way more enjoyable than working for a large scale tech firm and hating every second of it.

STEM Exploration

  • Made a toothbrush vibrate with a battery making a small circuit