I'm a freshman in college pursuing a CS degree, what should I aim for?

1. Learn C. It is the mother tongue of everything. ESP32 projects are as good as anything else. No cheating with the VS code tool chain, understand how all that gets put together before taking the short cut.

2. Get a CCNA, or at least take all the prep for one. So many devs dont understand the network.

3. Learn about database design: DO you know your normal forms? There is more math and logic in a good DB than most can grasp.

4. Statistics: some of the most important math you're going to take will be here.

5. Daily drive linux, for at least a year. You want to know the OS up/down/sideways. Bind (see CCNA), LDAP (see open ldap)... don't just install them understand them.

6. Play with hardware. If you can spend 50 bucks and get a couple of Rpi' zero2's and build little clusters, and client server toys do it. Cameras can make this fun.

7. Pick an open source project and contribute. Or roll your own and maintain it. You're going to learn more dealing with your first bug than you will in your first year of classes.

8. Java is fine -- play with go, and zig or rust. Build a tiny app in each just for fun (cli).

9. Have fun and never stop playing. Dont take any of the things your doing based on this advice that you no longer enjoy them. If you have to walk away and take a break do it.