Careers in Computer Science

CS Principles
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I would like to include an assignment for students to research careers in Computer Science to see that they do not only include writing code. Does anyone have a suggestion about where to start this project? I would like it to involve a research component as well as a final project (not necessarily a written research paper). I was possibly thinking of a presentation to the class about the career they have researched.

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I love this idea! I don’t have anywhere to necessarily start, BUT I am thinking that it could be expanded to talk about careers more generally. For example, if a student wants to be a doctor, I wonder if you could have them research how technology is influencing their field that they are already interested in (video-call doctors, electronic medical records, robotic surgery, etc.). I wonder if connecting to fields students might already be interested in might spark their interest more - each of those conversations could also lead into a “OR you could be the computer scientists that helps design those computing innovations for doctors…” type of conversation.

Anyone else have a career-focused project out there?

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@cdeltufo
You may have students check out https://careerswithcode.com/. I have had students use online job search websites like Indeed or the paper to research current jobs that match where they imagine themselves in 5 - 10 years. They need to research what would make them an ideal candidate for the position. I have them create a resume and cover letter for the ideal candidate.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
https://www.onetonline.org/

Andrea

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I did a similar project in my CS A class last year that went very well. I had students decide on a CS job that they think sounds interesting (eg. game developer, data scientist, AI engineer, etc.) Then they searched on the various job listing websites for postings on that job. They were required to list 3 job descriptions and then 2 technologies that were named in the listings that they had never heard of before (eg. tensor flow, SQL, PHP, C++, Apache Hadoop, etc. ). They would then learn enough about each of the technologies so that they had a rough idea of what it is. Each student presented one job description and one of their technologies to the class. We had enough technologies so that everyone presented something unique. I’m sure that this will be even better in my CSP class this year since we’ll be able to tie the technologies to many of the concepts learned in the class.

Here is a link to the assignment in case you’re interested. Since this was geared toward a programming class I focused more on software development careers so I’d recommend adjusting it to general CS categories.

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Interesting that people have similar ideas. I think career talk was something I did not have while I was at this age and I believe it’s important. Therefore, instead of a project, I gave them a talk with some guidances about what they can think and plan.

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I know I am late on this but wanted to share an idea :slight_smile: I put together a computer science careers webquest, which you can see at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Computer-Science-Careers-Webquest-3474266. You might also like this ‘make your own’ STEM Career poster as a simple but really fun career exploration activity: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Make-Your-Own-STEM-Career-Poster-4880660. I hope this helps!

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Hi,

Is this still available? It says its been deleted.

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Updating the link to the shared document

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