Ralkage
If you're going through a real CS program then you should go ahead and apply for a top tech job straight after as their hiring process is geared for people coming out of Uni's with high GPA. People game the system and study the common whiteboard problems asked and you'll often see a variation come up. It's pretty much the same as studying for the SATs. I think it's absurd and they're missing a lot of real talent, or even worse... causing real talent to waste hundreds of hours on puzzles that won't better their selves... but if you're already going through the CS then it's definitely worth giving it a shot.
The program we went through was actually decent. We learned a lot of practical skills for Android. I now know how to do unit & UI testing directly inside android studio, how to create android and Java libraries. How to work with firebase (which was heavily pushed on us) or generic remote services, how to profile apps, step through the debugger, interpret a stack trace, understand activity and fragment lifecycles, integrate a google app engine backend. Probably a lot more that I'm forgetting or taking for granted.
Some of the things we didn't touch were interacting with sensors directly, or using the NDK (c++) side of Android development. We also didn't learn Kotlin (everything was in Java/XML), and only halfway through the course did they update it to include Android Architectural Components which were introduced at google I/O 2017.
Something that didn't sit right with me was how Udacity expected people coming right out of the program to be job ready and on the hunt. They actually gear the program towards seeking a job a couple months before the program has ended. There's so much to being job ready I don't think any program can get you there from zero within a 12 month time period. The only way I survived jumping into my track was due to having experience with IT surrounding software development. So a lot of the technology that we interact with, or concepts I already had direct experience with or a general understanding of. I think it's probably not a wise move to try and push out all students into the job market when many of them are obviously not ready.
The problem that I see is a lack of talent being funneled into software development. I don't see an absolute lack of developers, but rather a lot of individuals who just go through a CS and expect to be job ready (many aren't) or people going through a boot camp type program expecting the same. I don't think the solution is in getting more kids to go through any given track, but with inspiring people to ignite their inner flame and propel their selves to take flight with but perhaps a mentor or two. The pay is good, the work is great if solving problems keeps you entertained. Even the stigma surrounding "geeks" and "nerds" is mostly removed in recent years. I don't know what else can be done. The only people left in my track are people who really want it. It has to come within. I don't know you can train that. It is at best a product of inspiration.
