Some Advice for CS Undergrads (Free & Beginner Version)

A preliminary, low-cost protocol for young CS people, myself included (Free & Beginner ver.):

1. Block CSDN at the level of information intake.
2. Develop the reflex of asking DeepSeek, Kimi, and Qwen first whenever a problem appears.
3. Avoid casual Zhihu browsing, especially under the flattering pretext of “broadening one’s horizons.”
4. For news apps, prefer NetEase News over Weibo.
5. Learn the mechanics of recurring investments through Alipay.
6. Obtain and maintain a sufficient set of debit cards and, where feasible, credit cards.
7. For professional knowledge, anchor yourself in established computer science book series and Bilibili re-uploads; do not chase dubious shortcuts.
8. Secure a passport, a Hong Kong/Macau travel permit, and as many visas as practical.
9. Learn Outlook and To Do, or equivalent systems for email, calendar, and task management.
10. Understand and become able to use what the Microsoft 365 suite contains; purchase is not mandatory.
11. Use GitHub aggressively for code, along with the bundled Copilot Free and *.github.io.
12. For entertainment, use Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin; do not let leisure become another source of psychic attrition.
13. Install a Linux virtual machine (direct host installation is not advised if gaming still matters), and grow accustomed to the dark terminal rather than delegating everything to an IDE.
14. In China, high-quality information appears on Douban, WeChat Official Accounts, and Zhihu, but with a very low signal-to-noise ratio; enter with discipline.
15. Keep some distance from Xianyu, while learning to use the unconventional mechanisms on Xianyu and Taobao in their proper places, so that a compliance-oriented sensibility can take shape.

This is the extent of the list for now. Its cognitive and financial costs are low; the difficulty lies mainly in operational execution. With enough flexibility, however, paths tend to remain available.