Computing & IT (Comp Sci) vs Natural Sciences Degree at the Open University

mug2k

mug2k

mug2k

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I'm in a bit of a pickle, I really want to start a degree asap (I'm 32) but really have no idea which pathway to choose. I'm torn between interest and employability as my educational background (college and 1 year of uni) is in IT but was never able to gain a job in the industry so I've just been working from home for the past 10 years selling on ebay and just barely getting by.

I have an interest in a broad range of sciences but I'm guessing biology might be the most useful in terms of gaining employment (imo). As I'm already in my 30's I really need to get a decent quality degree so I can get a half decent job otherwise I'll be scraping by like I have been for the last 10 years.

I'm completely torn as to which degree I should go for. Does anyone have any insight or advice as to which of options below may offer the better job prospects ?

Help me :confused:

Computing & IT
Q62 - BSc (Honours) Computing and IT - Open University Degree

Natural Sciences
Q64 - BSc (Honours) Natural Sciences - Open University Degree
 
I think you need to decide why you want a degree first and what it would give you that you do not already have.... if you do not know what degree to do then you need to think what it is you want to do as a career first, then take the pathway that best enables you to accomplish that goal. Just taking a degree with no real direction could be a waste of time, time spent better just getting a job and working up the ladder from within.

A degree is no guarantee of a good job anyway, so perhaps you need to speak to a qualified careers advisor before deciding anything.
 
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As a generic stepping stone, any traditional degree may well stand you in good stead in terms of employability.

As for a career in biology, where were you thinking of taking it? The most obvious area is research, but you may struggle to gain a research based job if your degree has no laboratory / research based activity.

Biology is by far the most interesting subject there is and I will fight anyone who says otherwise to the death.
 
Nitefly said:
As a generic stepping stone, any traditional degree may well stand you in good stead in terms of employability.

As for a career in biology, where were you thinking of taking it? The most obvious area is research, but you may struggle to gain a research based job if your degree has no laboratory / research based activity.

Biology is by far the most interesting subject there is and I will fight anyone who says otherwise to the death.
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Cellular death or somatic death?
 
Castiel said:
I think you need to decide why you want a degree first and what it would give you that you do not already have.... if you do not know what degree to do then you need to think what it is you want to do as a career first, then take the pathway that best enables you to accomplish that goal. Just taking a degree with no real direction could be a waste of time, time spent better just getting a job and working up the ladder from within.

A degree is no guarantee of a good job anyway, so perhaps you need to speak to a qualified careers advisor before deciding anything.
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That's some great advice, with the computing side of things I can clearly see what types of jobs might available to me but I fear it is something that too many people study so there isn't that many jobs to go round for the amount of people that hold degrees.

With regards to a science degree I'm not too sure what jobs I could get but it's definitely a more interesting option also the first module (S104) touches on all of the sciences so I can try out the various disciplines and choose which path I want to take. I've read that science degree's in general are held in high regard by employers and you can go for jobs that aren't even related to your field, I think having options is always a good thing.

Nitefly said:
As a generic stepping stone, any traditional degree may well stand you in good stead in terms of employability.

As for a career in biology, where were you thinking of taking it? The most obvious area is research, but you may struggle to gain a research based job if your degree has no laboratory / research based activity.

Biology is by far the most interesting subject there is and I will fight anyone who says otherwise to the death.
Click to expand...

I'm not actually too sure, a research based job sounds good. The lack of labs does worry me and I can't see a way around that so that's defo a negative.
 
What kind of job do you actually want? Getting a degree won't necessarily just walk you into one. Are you interested in front line support, development, networking, management, what? Are you actually still interested in IT at all, or have you just decided for some reason that there are lots of jobs out there in that field?

As for a "pure" science degree - yes, these tend to be looked upon favourably, and you don't need to get a job in Biology if you have a Biology degree (though the same is true of any degree, not just sciences). That said, you probably won't walk into a job in software development or network security with a Biology degree either, unless you have experience in those fields.

The key question, as others have noted above, is what do you actually want to do as your job/career?

... a research based job sounds good. The lack of labs does worry me and I can't see a way around that so that's defo a negative.
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You can't just walk into a "research based job" from a Bachelor's degree either. If you want to get into academic research, that's a long and potentially expensive route...
 
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Nitefly makes a good point in that comp sci seems like a strange route into biology. I would say the natural sciences degree would give you a broad skillset which will aid your job prospects I just finished an environmental scince degree and have landed a grad job i the financial sector doing IT & Business Change for example.

Not saying a comp sci degree would be a waste of time but it will be more specialised than a natural sciences degree.

Nitefly said:
Biology is by far the most interesting subject there is and I will fight anyone who says otherwise to the death.
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You sir are wrong! Earth Science > all

/Salsa
 
I haven't looked at the modules that can be taken in the Nat Sciences but if there might options available to take some around Mathematics and Physics or even Computational modules.

Having a science degree will open more doors in my opinion and the Nat Sci will give you the freedom to shape it how you want to. After a year you might decide the Biology side isn't what you expected but still have room to move to Chem/Physics/Maths.
 
Nitefly said:
Biology is by far the most interesting subject there is and I will fight anyone who says otherwise to the death.
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Apart from everything being made of Chemistry. ;)

& It being more interesting, especially when you can mix* things into other areas, such as geochem/astrochem, etc.

*intentional
 
Thanks for replies lads.

From what I've read so far it seems like the comp sci degree is a good option but will most likely only gives you the potential to work in the IT sector which is not exactly small but it's still just one area of work. Thinking about it more I don't believe working with/on computers and then spending the majority of my waking hours again on a computer is a good idea and I really need to broaden my horizons so to speak.

I like the fact that a science degree gives you more options and more scope for employment in differing sectors and not just being constrained to one. I still have no idea what type of job I want (it's always been my problem) but I'm hoping I can work that out while I'm doing the degree. I've started going through the Biology stuff at the Khan Academy and quite enjoying it so that leads me to believe that it will be a good choice for me. With regard to Mathematics/Physics/Engineering, the last 2 interest me but I'm not good enough at maths to be doing any of them.
 
In my view, I'd say Chemistry and Physics have better employment opportunities than Biology. As a very general rule of thumb, the more the maths involved the more career opportunities outside the specific subject (usually).
 
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