Jobs while in school. What are my options?

I'm starting college in the fall and I'm going for a B.S in CS.

Sounds like you're a HS student going to become a college freshman (or Sophomore if you got enough credits to bring in :D) (If that is a wrong assumption I apologize, but I am assuming that's true.)

The only programing I know is C++ from a intro class.

Good, good. I would take a gander at your college's '101'/'102' course and make sure you have a handle on that language if your college doesn't use C++ for those courses. (all your class mates will most likely have only used that language. It is nice when everyone speaks the same 'language'.)

Is there any job I can get with this? Or are there skills I could learn on my own so I could get a job? I was planning on getting a job in the fall

So you are wanting to get a job, while, I am assuming, going to school full time. Boy howdy you are looking for a tail whooping.

So I would personally advise against going to work and school at the same time, unless you have to (due to finances) or you are taking a light load (12 credit hours).

Now could you actually get a job, depends on how good you are with C++ (and probably more like the .NET framework though). If you really want to pursue a gig somewhere I would recommend either exploring .NET or learning Java too. Both of them are heavily used throughout industry. Though to make sure ask a professor or look at local want ads on Monster.com, Jobs.com, Indeed.com for software engineeers, IT, etc. in your area. see what skills are needed.

Typically Jobs don't happen for Freshman, Maybe Sophmores, Hopefully juniors, and almost certainly for seniors as long as you schooling is going smoothly. Action items I would recommend:

  • Skip working your freshman year until the summer so that you can keep your grades stellar (begin to look for jobs towards december for the summer internship time frame. Higher your grades easier it is for most companies).

  • Learn either .NET or Java or anything else you see in actual job adds. If your local company codes everything in whitespace and you don't mind learning whitespace do it! :D Learning and being flexible with what you are willing to learn will open so many doors. (I went from a VB junky, to Web Develepor with PHP, to Embedded Systems Engineer using C, to Financial Enterprise using NodeJS, Java, JS, etc.)

  • 'Hard' Skills are good and all for us Computer Scientists (programming, diagrams, etc.) but don't neglect 'soft' skills either. Learn how to talk smoothly. Learn how to listen explain things in a very understanding ways to technical and non-technical people (like my grandma :D).

I apologize for some scatter brained dump of text I gave you. Hopefully you pull something useful out.

/r/cscareerquestions Thread