joiemoie

Hello everyone. I'll be attending CMU at their Silicon Valley grad campus starting this August. Although I'm very excited to start preparing for the valley job search, I would like some advice on what gaps I should fill during my Master's degree, either through coursework or in my own time. Some background: I completed a Computer Engineering degree at BU. It was heavily focused on C programming with architecture topics and microprocessor design, and all the other fundamentals such as Discrete Math and algorithms. Since I was able to complete my degree in 2 years, I have many gaps that I would like to fill through my graduate career. I will likely lean towards software since I lack the more technical knowledge of things like circuit design and pcb diagrams.

My knowledge from most familiar to least: C programming - Architecture Simulation such as cache design, branch prediction, INTEL PIN, assembly decompilation, recreated malloc

C++ algorithm design, search algorithms, some palindrome finding and optimization

Some work in C#, Java, and Python designing Unity games, other user oriented projects. However, I'm still lacking in this large scale system type projects and still not experienced with good hierarchy of parent and child classes, etc. Pretty much not as well touched up on the "object" side of object oriented programming.

Pretty much no real work experience, no cybersecurity knowledge, no machine learning knowledge, no database programming, no network type programming.

My current course plans for next sem are: Computer Systems (C programming, Assembly, architecture type programming); Project Based course (mixture of hardware and software); Internet Security course; Energy Aware computing (gives more depth of CPU components and how to optimize them for energy);

And my possibly course load for next semester: Fundamentals of software engineering (project based, industry type projects); Machine learning; Wireless networks; TBD