Ask HN: I'm an incoming freshman to college for a CS major, what should I know?
Skill up in the humanities. Pick topics outside of technology that interest you, and learn how to communicate about them. Take as many seminar discussion and writing-heavy classes as you can.<p>From a career perspective, programming skill is relatively easy to come by. Programming AND speaking AND good writing will put you on a better career path. You won't get stuck after a job or two when you know the tools of the trade but not how to handle things outside the compiler.<p>But also, just as a person who has to make it in this world, you need more than one frame of reference to make sense of things. Humanities students are enriched by taking science and math classes, and getting a new way of seeing things. STEM undergrads who learn to tolerate ambiguity and learn some history are rounder humans.