A very hypocritical short list by a new grad who is probably talking out of her ass.

1. People don't know shit. Everyone's situation is different, and if someone tells you to always follow some rule, or you have to do x y z, they're idiots.

2. Have a life outside of CS. Seriously. Have hobbies (gaming! hiking! underwater basket weaving!), have friends (even - gasp - your coworkers can be your friends! If they're competitive then yeah dump them but yeesh). Have things that bring you joy, and preferably spend some time away from screens.

3. Take care of yourself. Mental health is so important especially since burnout seems to be more and more common. I worked myself into the ground during grad school and it is 10x harder to get out of a hole you've dug for yourself than it was to get there, at least in my experience.

4. Listen to audiobooks when you want to! I've found it's great for forcing me to go outside if I only allow myself to listen to a good book if I'm going for a walk, run, etc. But like, you don't need to be constantly learning or improving yourself (unless you want to, and have the energy!), that's a recipe for burnout. No need to do a thousand leetcode problems a day.

5. Be good to one another. Tech can be really toxic and competitive. Build people up, don't tear them down. Isn't that why we're all here on this sub? To help one another with our careers?