400,000 graduate jobs

I did Computer Science a few years ago and now I'm on well above the average salary so I'd say Computer Science can be good. Mind you I am a geek and absolutely love learning. Employers like that. These days I find most Computer Science / IT graduates haven't got a clue.
 
Computer science in its purest form is a specialised form of maths. Rarely these days do universities teach a pure computer science course though. It is often a mix between computer science and software engineering.
 
There's no hard and fast rule as to what degree is good and what's not. I reckon it's more to do with extra-curric's and the institution you go to. The course you do will factor into that, but anywhere below somewhere like Manchester means you've REALLY got to stand out (or have a daddy with mad contactz).

At least that's what i'm hoping haha.
 
Gilly said:
More than being a product of the downturn, this is, IMO, a product of **** and ****-easy degrees in stuff that won't allow anyone to move into any kind of career. In addition, too many people going for the same thing and avoiding 'proper' degrees.

There may also be a kind of snobbery too. People no better than manual work deciding they don't want to do it, and want to do something 'better' when they're not good enough to make it.
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what do you mean by "proper degrees"? how's one degree less proper than the other?
 
Nexus said:
And coupled with the fact that there are now so many people applying for places and it's not like the past where there were less graduates and they really needed them. It's easier for them to get away with paying people less because if you don't except it, someone else will be waiting in the wings for it.

My brother is case in point in that he has been to a good school, has a top Uni computer science degree and now a masters, yet he hasn't been able to find a job in nearly a year and a half. Part of the problem though I feel is that he refuses to drop down and just get some experience not getting paid much. Instead he feels its not worth his time unless he is getting paid a ridicolous wage.
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Your brother is a bit silly :p He needs to get his foot in the door and THEN he can think about salary... but only after 6-12 months.

I dont understand the obsession graduates have with salaries. It is just a number. You should still be very much in academic mode in your first couple years of employment. There is still lots and lots of learning to be done. You need to catch up with your co-workers that have possibly been doing the job for a couple decades! But this time you are getting paid for it... that's what it is all about.
 
Doran said:
I did history, many of my colleagues did history. It is probably the BEST subject for preparation to be a lawyer because:

1. It is highly respected by city employers
2. It is an inherently interesting subject that you are more likely to do well in than, say law.
3. 50 percent of those with traininc contracts come from a non-legal background - and given that nearly every law grad wants to do law, its actually easier to differentiate yourself as a non-law bod.
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Are you a solicitor?

I don't agree with what your saying by the way, I think if your comming from a non-law background the firms prefer you with a science/maths degree rather than another BA; as these degrees can often be very helpful in specialist areas such as IP.

Furthemore, and I am not sure this is always true, but law is the hardest BA in my opinion (biased, yes) and it can perhaps look like undergraduates who may not have the grades required to do law, choose to do another BA in the attempt to become a lawyer.

Finally I think in terms of BA's the skills you get from a law degree and a history degree are pretty similar, as both are theoritical subjects at that stage.
 
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NathanE said:
Your brother is a bit silly :p He needs to get his foot in the door and THEN he can think about salary... but only after 6-12 months.

I dont understand the obsession graduates have with salaries. It is just a number. You should still be very much in academic mode in your first couple years of employment. There is still lots and lots of learning to be done. You need to catch up with your co-workers that have possibly been doing the job for a couple decades! But this time you are getting paid for it... that's what it is all about.
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I know, it does annoy me. I was never as smart as my brother, but I got myself a good degree, am working in in the industry I want, but as I had to start at the bottom, I'm not on a particuarly good wage. So it's quite spiteful when I have my own brother not wanting a job because he isn't going to accept it unless its a 'high graduate salary'. I'm imagine there are many others who have that mentality.
 
It really does depend on you as a person nowadays, the psychometric testing etc, they figure out the kind of person you are.

I got a BEng in Mech. Engineering from Warwick, but I got a 2.2, what DID help and I was told this in some of my interviews (got to final stages of BP, IBM, and RBS but then was up against MSc oxbridge chaps) that it was good that I had a job throughout uni, and did extra activities like marketing exec for a society and graphics editor for a magazine etc. Not forgetting examples through teamwork etc and a bit of blagging (social skills!)

10 months ago I got a job at the company I wanted to work for since I was 14 and why I got into engineering, luckily however, my taste heavily changed to finance, and that's where I sit, finance, >£30k, uni was worth it for me.

For all you science and engineering guys, as long as you show you're not a couped up boffin you can get a grad job pretty much anywhere in most sectors and the better the uni you went to the less your grades count (unless its fail then GET OUT!)
 
Nexus said:
I know, it does annoy me. I was never as smart as my brother, but I got myself a good degree, am working in in the industry I want, but as I had to start at the bottom, I'm not on a particuarly good wage. So it's quite spiteful when I have my own brother not wanting a job because he isn't going to accept it unless its a 'high graduate salary'. I'm imagine there are many others who have that mentality.
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He is damaging himself too. Employers don't like to see a huge gap immediately after graduating. Especially on a subject like computer science which literally evolves every year... skills quickly become out of date.
 
NathanE said:
I dont understand the obsession graduates have with salaries.
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I think it may have more to do with the people you have around you, certainly didnt make me feel any better knowing that 3 out of my 4 housemates got actuary grad roles ready for them once they graduate! Some people tend to think that just because people around them can get 30k+ jobs then they should be entitled to it also. Which is wrong on so many levels!
 
Doran said:
I agree with TW. Most of my friends I know doing ACA do strong academic subjects. Those who do do something maths like, either literally do maths, or MORSE(maths, statisitcs, economics).

They definately prefer traditional subjects.
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Possibly, but I think taking your friends as a sample is biased as there as fewer graduates with Accounting/Finance degrees from good universities than grads with traditional subjects from good unis. I think the "old boy" attitude of taking on traditional subjects such as Economics, Maths etc still exists, but there's nothing wrong with Accounting and Finance and it won't hinder your chances at all, only increase them for a related job IMO.

One of my old school friends did MORSE at Warwick (I think that's one of the best in the UK for it) and ended up getting an ACCA contract at a medium sized firm of accountants. I'm doing Accounting and Finance and have (hopefully) landed an ACA contract at a bank.
 
Mulder said:
One of my old school friends did MORSE at Warwick (I think that's one of the best in the UK for it) and ended up getting an ACCA contract at a medium sized firm of accountants.
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5 friends of mine did MORSE, 4 are now actuaries and the other works in transaction services for E&Y, (2 of them my housemates).

I've heard nothing but success for these guys but they were really outgoing people and think that really helped.
 
Liefrich said:
Law, economics?!?!

I did a law degree and I'm hoping to become a solicitor, I'd say you definitely fudged at the moment with a 2:2 no matter what degree and what University.
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Medicine and history?
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Economics and finance are generally doss subjects, it depends on the uni though. Some will be brilliant and will be really sought after, others will be glorified business studies courses and worthess. The same with History, most people who take it won't be going into a job that needs a degree like that and may as well have just done business or sociology. It's a real shame but that's what you get when there are to many people wanting in to too few jobs, and universities just putting on courses to make more money.
 
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