[jrozner]

I have a similar experience (effectively failed out of CS and ended up with an BA in philosophy + minor in CS). For me it was the math courses more than anything else, I wasn’t interested, and preferred to spend my time snowboarding and partying. Did a bunch of hackathons and landed a handful of software engineering jobs and startups in quick succession trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

I didn’t have your visa situation and don’t know your financial situation. If you have the flexibility I’d recommend figuring out the things you would like to learn, find a startup (or company) that’s willing to hire you and spend time getting good at it on the clock. It worked well for me. I had pretty bad work life balance at the time, didn’t make anywhere as much money as I could have had I grinded out FAANG interviews but I don’t regret my path.

I’d caution against going and getting an advanced degree unless you really have no idea what you want and feel like that’s the only way you’ll get enough expose to different stuff to figure that out. I truthfully don’t think getting the degree will make a difference if you are a decent engineer and willing to put the work in. It just takes up more time getting you real world experience and takes more money.

FWIW I have little to no regrets about my path. It would have been nice to have made more money and I definitely have some gaps in my CS education but honestly, I loved my Philosophy program and had a blast in college. I have great relationships and friends I made there and am now in my mid 30s with a successful career that I’m really happy with on track to retire in my 40s-50s if I want.