What field you choose to major in college may indicate, oftentimes with astonishing precision, what hobbies and activities you’d probably have fun doing.
Knowing what activities would best complement your field of study can help reinforce what you learn in the classroom without the stress and pressure that often comes with studying.
For computer science majors, here are five activities you should consider doing on your downtime:
Participate in a Hackathon
A hackathon can last for as short as a couple of hours to as long as an entire weekend and are either hosted by a tech company or by fellow code enthusiasts. In this event, coders get together for a predetermined period of time to work on a project.
Participants are usually given a theme or minimum requirements as to what their finished project should do or look like.
For instance, the theme could be to build a program related to the environment, with the minimum requirement being that users of the program should be able to sign up/log in and save their account preferences. Hackathons are a competitively charged environment, something computer nerds and geeks alike appreciate.
Build a Mobile App
A full-blown mobile application is a prized possession for any computer science major. Not only is it a fun activity that allows you to apply different computer science concepts, including abstraction and algorithmic thinking, but it can also be the start of an entrepreneurial venture.
Depending on your app’s purpose, the side project can easily transition into a full-scale business. Nowadays, you can set up a mobile app’s file architecture and layout using the best mobile app building platforms in a matter of minutes. And even if it doesn’t evolve into a business, a mobile app is a heavyweight on your job resume.
Play Board Games
A game night with friends a couple of board games is a very popular activity amongst the young techie crowd. The variety of board games that exist today offer different themes, strategic goals, time, and level of difficulties.
Nonetheless, the activity offers many benefits that may help a computer science major stay sharp and competitive in the workplace. It teaches you how to lead or collaborate with other people towards a common goal, strengthens relationships and creates new connections, teaches goal-setting and strategic thinking, and can be a great way to lower stress.
Play Video Games
Video games, similar to board games, have several cognitive benefits. It improves social skills, particularly if you are playing multiplayer games, relieves stress, improves hand-eye coordination, and hones your problem-solving abilities.
Video games have even been proven to increase the brain’s gray matter, according to a joint research study by China’s University of Electronic Science and Technology and Sydney’s Macquarie University. Depending on what field of computer science you are enthralled with, video games may help you better understand various computer science concepts by providing a high-level visual.
For instance, the 1980s game, Zork, was a great hands-on example of conditional statements and conditional expressions. The program would display a different output based on what the user chooses from a given set of choices.
Go on a Field Trip
Travel enriches the soul and does one other thing that computer science majors find thrilling – it puts them in different scenarios that force them to adapt and think differently. Computer science majors crave new challenges and are always up to the task of learning new things.
other valuable tips:
4 Career Paths You Can Take with a Degree in Computer Science
Computer Science Jobs: Choosing the Right Sub-Career for You
If you box yourself in the same routine and scenarios on a daily basis, you won’t grow professionally or personally. Go on a field trip and attend events that are not up your alley, such as wine tasting or AI seminars.
This adds variation to your job resume and gives you the opportunity to network with other professionals. If nothing else, a field trip can clear your mind of any stress or mental blocks that are hindering you from pursuing your creative ideas.
The activities aforementioned in this article have similar qualities – they all challenge your brain. Computer science majors, like many in the STEM field, have an inherent desire to grow intellectually.
They want to be challenged by an activity rather than be given a senseless and/or repeating task. This growth mindset is what allows them to remain competitive in their respective industry.
Image Credit: by envato.com
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