TLDR: CS major learns to goes outside of their comfort zone by creating a social media account that is ironically about CS major content.

1. Pick your niche

I am a tech influencer. But generally speaking, there are two broad categories a page can falls under: Entertainment or education.

I initially started out as a purely educational computer science page. I liked it because I was able to synthesize the things I’ve learned and share them with others. (Is it obvious I have been a teaching assistant at 3 different times in my life?)

However, growth was stagnant (only ~400 followers after 2 months) so I decided to post some funny CS major-related memes I had come up with. These started to take off and had a higher chance of virality, so I started to lean into this niche and post more CS memes.

It worked. It got me to 10,000 followers. But the issue with memes is engagement can vary greatly. So, now that I have gained more career experience, I plan to slowly combine both educational day in the life content with a mixture of memes. I believe it is possible to do both, and reap the benefits of both approaches.

2. Use trial reels

This feature allows accounts to post a video to non-followers and not have it show on their page. Essentially, allowing accounts to test out reels to see which ones perform better before releasing it to their followers.

I like to use it trial reels for that reason but also to repost popular content that already worked, to be specifically shown to non-followers.

This advice also applies to any new feature instagram rolls out. When reels first were available, any reel I posted went viral since there wasn’t that many people posting reels yet. Joining Threads early meant people that joined later could auto-follow your account since you were already there. When the Edits app was released, there was about a 20% higher boost to videos posted using Edits compared to those that weren’t, in order to promote the usage of the Edits app.

3. Don’t give up

Often, you will see influencers on your feed somehow go from 0–10,000 followers in the blink of an eye. It’s often selection bias. Accounts that aren’t popular may not show up on your feed which leaves the accounts that are doing well to show up more.

Don’t compare yourself to others. If your goal is to get 10k followers, it does not matter when you hit 10k followers. What matters is that you keep on going until you hit that goal.

It took me more than a year to hit 10,000 followers on my computer science Instagram page.

4. Your past experiences will help your future ones

I used to run a food influencer page with 50,000 followers, and it took me exactly a year. But I stopped because I found something I was more passionate about: computer science.

I took a break from social media management to focus on CS coursework as well as gaining practical software development experience in projects & internships.

Then one day I was like, “what if I started a CS instagram page?” It was a full circle moment combining my past social media knowledge with my recently learnt CS knowledge.

5. You can try new things

I had a travel/vacation-related page that capped at 6,000 followers. I had a gaming news account that capped at 2,200 followers. I had a personal Fortnite account that capped at 1,800 followers. The 10k and 50k follower accounts that I talked about earlier are cherry picked numbers, and just like social media, you don’t necessarily see the other not-as-successful attempts. And one thing I learned was: Usually, no one knows about these attempts.

Which let this “keep on trying new things” philosophy extend outside of just social media for me.

I starting to do bouldering. I am 50k words into writing a middle-grade fantasy novel. I picked up multiple jobs in my freshman year. I taught myself how to write ambidextrously with a pencil. I am learning a second language for fun. And I started writing articles here on Medium.

I think college is a perfect time to explore doing different things (while focusing on your major classes). But you can also just do things before and after college as well.

Trying new things makes life interesting. And I invite you to pursue activities that you may not have done before. Such as connecting with me on Linkedin here: https://linkedin.com/in/chris-ho-

Here’s how I went about doing that.

1. Vice President of Hackathon Club @ OSU (August/December)

Going into college, I knew that I needed to get something on my resume ASAP. What’s the easiest thing to get on your resume? Club leadership positions.

Before school started, I browsed a couple EECS club websites and saw the position of webmaster was open on the Hackathon Club @ OSU page.

I sent out an email expressing my interest about 2 months before school started.

I did a quick interview with the Vice President at the time (shoutout to Chrissy) and she helped onboard me as a webmaster.

Recently graduated high school me was quite eager to finally be able to dive into the world of computer science. I learned React for the first time and my job was to update the website.

Mid-way through the school year around December, the president and vice president of the hackathon club announced their departure (they were graduating early) which left the roles up for grabs.

I opted to become the vice president and another first-year CS major, Havel, joined as the president.

Two freshman CS majors as president and vice president of a club with 800+ registered members at the time was pretty funny in hindsight.

Although I am no longer an officer, this position acted as a springboard to other opportunities as I could talk about it on my resume and in interviews.

(Check out BeaverHacks: https://beaverhacks.org/)

2. Research Assistant (February)

My first real job at OSU was a research assistant through the URSA Engage program — a program specifically for first and second year students interested in research.

You fill out an application and send them to faculty through the applicaiton portal.

Then you meet with the faculty to learn more and if both student and faculty agree to take the student on, you’ll receive a small cash stipend for about 5 hours of work a week.

Pretty cool program to get experience and I learned a lot. My job was to create database of materials using Python for a healthcare supply chain product ordering marketplace called RxPMO.

Something I would find out later is that this role would entail occasionally interacting with the CASS software team, which I think helped in getting an interview for an internship with them later on.

3. Teaching Assistant (April)

I sent an email to every single ENGR103/Intro level coding course instructor with a short description about my skill set and asking to be their teaching assistant.

Only one of them responded.

My job was to teach first-year engineering students about C++.

Technically, I was also a first-year engineering student but with sophomore standing because I had speed-ran the intro courses by figuring how to take some courses simultaneously: https://medium.com/@officialchrisho/oregon-state-university-engr-strategic-course-load-guide-c649341b282b

4. OSU Center for Software and Systems (CASS) (May)

I go to CS clubs on campus quite often and there I met current CASS students and got to learn what CASS was all about.

A funny story is that I actually DMed one of them on Linkedin asking about career advice & CASS a year in advance — way before even before meeting them in person on campus.

This plus the research assistant position where I occasionally interacted with CASS, got me to the interview stage.

The interview process was one interview with mix of both technical and behavioral questions.

CASS internships are specifically designed for students that may not have a lot of experience so don’t worry. As long as you pay attention in your classes and engage with activities outside of classes, you should be fine.

At CASS, I worked on a full-stack website for a proof of concept rapid response healthcare equipment ordering platform called RxPMO: https://rxpmo.eng.wayne.edu/

Article about CASS where I have a quote featured: https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/all-stories/computer-science-students-collaborate-odot-upgrade-software-dispatchers

Shout out to Mark, Carrie, and Pam!

Take Aways:

• Big things start small. Small consistent wins will help you acquire bigger ones.
• If there was one thing I would tell my past self, it would be to start earlier. You will never feel 100% ready. Look for external opportunities too — don’t limit yourself.
• Start dates are listed in titles, but I applied for the positions at least a month in advance.
• Consider applying to MECOP later for two guaranteed internships. Apply as soon as applications open for a higher chance of being selected.

Connect with me on Linkedin! https://linkedin.com/in/chris-ho-

At Oregon State University, all first years in the College of Engineering are required to go through the Engineering+ series, a set of 3 introductory engineering classes meant to be taken in Fall, Winter, and Spring term respectively.

The School of EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) is grouped under the College of Engineering, meaning that computer science majors are not exempt from taking it. A majority of the ENGR+ classes do not have computer science topics, meaning that some computer science majors may not even touch programming until Spring term.

This guide will help you understand how to

1. Strategically set up your class load so that you can start taking Computer Science courses ASAP

2. Take the more Computer Science focused ENGR+ courses.

The ENGR+ series consists of three classes:

ENGR 100 THE OREGON STATE ENGINEERING STUDENT (3 credits)

ENGR 102 DESIGN ENGINEERING AND PROBLEM SOLVING (3 credits)

ENGR 103 ENGINEERING COMPUTATION AND ALGORITHMIC THINKING (3 credits)

However, there are ways to quicken the workload.

Part 1. Ways to Speed Up the ENGR+ Series:

1. Take ENGR 100 & ENGR 102 Simultaneously in Fall Term.

Not many people know about this, but ENGR 100 is not a prerequisite to taking ENGR 102, meaning that you can take both of them together in the Fall Term. This allows you to take ENGR 103 a term earlier, moving up your courseload progression a term earlier too.

You can see how there’s no prerequisite arrow for ENGR 102 in this degree progression sheet.

2. AP Computer Science A Credit can be exchanged for ENGR 103

According to https://admissions.oregonstate.edu/credit-opportunities, AP Computer Science A Credit covers CS 160 and CS 161, not ENGR 103. However, if you ask your advisor they can help you exchange it for ENGR 103.

If you do have AP credit and are deciding whether to skip ENGR 103 or take it to review and see, I would highly recommend you do skip ENGR 103, as it assumes you have no prior programming knowledge. The next class (CS 162) starts off with conditional if statements and loops and gradually ramps up. If you feel like you can handle that and are willing to start learning the C++ programming language, skip ENGR 103.

Part 2: Which ENGR+ Courses Are CS Focused:

ENGR+ courses are not all the same. They all cover various engineering topics. The professor that you choose determines the content of the course, so make sure to choose a professor whose course content that sounds interesting to you.

ENGR 100

There are no ENGR 100 courses completely focused on programming.

ENGR 100: Automating the Future: Using Sensors for Control
Learn how to solve real-world problems by designing sensors that enable signal processing devices to interact with the world autonomously. As the creator of future innovations; you start early by exploring how to solve real-world problems by thinking critically, creatively, collaborating with others, and using methods from the field of engineering. Campus: Corvallis | Instructor: Jason Clark

Jason Clark’s Automating the Future does very briefly touch upon MATLAB a little bit, but it mostly focuses on COMSOL, a physics simulation software. Other than that there’s no programming in ENGR 100.

ENGR 102

There are some ENGR 102 courses completely focused on programming.

ENGR 102: Solving Computational Sustainability Problems
Apply problem-solving strategies for developing algorithms to solve computational sustainability problems related to climate, water, energy, agriculture, forestry, and social/human factors.
Campus: Corvallis Instructor: Jennifer Parham-Mocello

Although it is not mentioned, this course does use C++, which is good and I will expand on this reason in the next section. But be on the lookout, as this course may not be offered every term.

ENGR 102: Computational Foundations in Engineering
Explore foundational engineering concepts such as design principles, usability, problem solving, computational thinking, and logic. Gain knowledge of Boolean algebra, truth tables, circuit diagrams, and Python. Start building skills to find a job, and boost teamwork, communication, and technical writing skills through group projects focusing on design and use of software in diverse ways.
Campus: Ecampus Instructor: Eric Vogel

Another option is ENGR 102 with Eric Vogel as this class covers Python programming and software development. As an E-campus course, this should be available every term. I took this class and recommend it.

ENGR 103

ENGR 103 is meant to be an introductory programming course, being the first programming class that some students have ever taken. Different professors will teach differently. Different courses can cover different programming languages such as Python, C++, and I even saw one class that was taught in Java.

Ideally, you should aim to choose a course taught by 1. A Computer Science focused Professor. 2. With the C++ programming language.

If you don’t choose wisely, you may not be fully prepared to handle CS 162 Introduction to Computer Science II, the first CS course you take after ENGR 103. It’s taught in C++ and assumes you already have some programming knowledge as it starts off with conditional if statements and loops.

Here are some examples of ENGR 103 Courses that cover C++ (course offerings may be subject to change):

Computational Engineering for One Planet
Familiarize yourself with core programming concepts, such as variables, expressions, conditions, control structures, functions, and simple 1-d and 2-d structures. Then put your new knowledge to the test, solving sustainability problems using computation. Programming language: C++.
Campus: Corvallis Instructor: Jennifer Parham-Mocello

ENGR 103: Computational Thinking by Tinkering with Python and C++
Learn programming in Python by taking apart code examples to dissect, reverse engineer, modify, and adapt them. Then, solidify your understanding of the patterns you’ve discovered by designing new programs from scratch. Programming language: Python, with a transition to C++
Campus: Corvallis Instructor: Tim Alcon

Smarter World: Internet of Things
Explore programming by seeing how the Internet of Things is built. IOT improves health, environmental monitoring, and safety. This course uses hands-on experiments using electronics and programming. Focus on creating, not just learning.
Programming languages: C
Campus: Corvallis Instructor: Donald Heer

Interactive Physical Computing
Build interactive systems that can sense and respond to the world around you. You’ll learn fundamental programming in the Arduino IDE to program CircuitPlayground boards to make light shows, songs, a smart plant, and handheld video game. Programming language: C/C++
Campus: Corvallis Instructor: Chet Udell

If you choose not to take an ENGR 103 class with C++, that’s totally okay. Personally, one of my first programming languages I learned was Python. I think it’s a great programming language if you’ve never programmed before. Python is also used for a lot of modern applications (Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Automation) and it’s also one of the most popular programming languages for Leetcode, a platform used for coding question interview preparation. It’s also not impossible to make the switch from Python to C++, but keep in mind you will have to eventually learn C++ for CS 162 and other classes.

Keep in mind that there’s a lot of different content covered depending on the professor in ENGR+ and you should choose courses that sound interesting to you and courses that will prepare you for future programming classes.

As third-year computer science major, I hope this guide will help incoming first-year computer science students at OSU.

Connect with me on Linkedin! https://linkedin.com/in/chris-ho-