I'm in my final year of my CS degree and I've started applying for internships, graduate programs, and junior roles. However, I have this lingering apprehension about going into corporate. I feel like I wouldn't know what to do. I'd appreciate some insights from anyone who works in corporate. How do you know what to do on a daily basis. How did you know what to do on your first day lol? Are you expected to hit the ground running or are you given time to acclimatize?

I know this sounds silly but I feel like it might be something that most people experience, and it's not talked about enough.
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  • If you did an internship, you would have your answers. You will have a role and expectations of performance that will be clearly articulated. Before... any interviews you go on, I'd suggest you go to the company the week or so before and just sit in the lobby and observe. You will learn a lot about the workers, dress, culture and environment. Just tell the receptionist you have an interview next week and wanted to get a feel for the company. You'd be amazed how nice they are and will probably offer you coffee, tea or water while you sit there! more

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  • Relax, things unfold with time.You will get used to the office sooner

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  • Relax, things unfold with time.You will get used to the office sooner

  • Relax, things unfold with time.You will get used to the office sooner

  • Relax, things unfold with time.You will get used to the office sooner

  • there's generally a soft HR onboarding where its all happy shiny people, you go over all the company, non-job related stuff like company values and... policies, you might have a mentor or like an office buddy who shows you the ropes, im not sure how a junior role fits into say a project, but you will be given piecemeal work suitable for what is expected, a lot of times with internships you aren't really paid a whole lot so you aren't really expected to do anything, or have any responsibilities more

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  • I did a lot of little jobs before I worked in sales. Later I started a few business and sold them! Like Kelvin Sammy says: I grew into all of them!... Finally I was tapped to go into teaching 33 years later I retired only to go back in sales! I’m 74years young! Good luck! See you at top! more

  • Relax. You’ll be fine! Be a professional who shows ethics, integrity, dedication and hard work. Stay away from the petty work politics. Believe it or... not your first professional job sets the tone for your career.  more

  • My experience is that life in corporate is nothing like life in academia. For one thing, the problems you are given as a student are problems that... have already been solved, and are usually simple enough that you can get them done relatively quickly. Or else they are research problems that nobody has ever solved and you might or might not solve them.
    By way of contrast, in the corporate world, frequently, they do not know what they want. I was on one assignment, and I was told that my user interface was hard to read. I asked if it would be easier to read if I color coded it. They didn't know that was possible, and once they did, they wanted color on EVERYTHING.
    You might want to spend a moment and read Frederick Brook's, "The Mythical Man-month". Your apprehension is well founded. The fastest way to make a late project even later is to add more people to it.. No matter what you know and what you do, you are going to be the new person on the project and you will make it later.
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  • No one expects you hit the ground running, you grow into the job- things start working out for you. They give you the grace that you are new for you... to get accustomed  more

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  • focus on data science

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