As I was talking to a former a student, he asked me what kind of advice I can give him to advance his software engineering career. I quickly told him, do not compete with anybody set your standards!
Many times, students tend to compare themselves with their friends in terms of what they are able to achieve including scores. Little do they factor in their own desires and what exactly they want to do with their skills.
The bottom line is to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and act upon them to full potential. This attitude of competing with others especially in terms of scores can lead to a case of “an eyed man in a sea of blind men”, you might appear better, but in relative terms against a very weak point of reference.
The next question, is what are the most appropriate standards. In the case of software engineering, i would advise to look at some of the current software projects and aspire to produce better projects. There are standards also available from computing associations that can be a good point of reference. Also look at the job or business you want to perfect, and aim for it.
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