Your lucky to expect any advice at all if thats your working attitude.
As above, make sure you do well in your A levels too.
A Levels vs. Computing Qualifications
- Thread starter Nebzor
- Start date
As above, make sure you do well in your A levels too.
A brilliant point.
Im doing a course at college and im so bored of it and theres only 1 way to go with this qualification, im taking up Alevels next year...
I advice you to do Alevels and look into the ICT course, if its something you really want to do then do it. Dont do it unless you really want to though as you will get bored fast.
With Alevels you can go onto doing various things whereas if you get one specific qualification then you are stuck with that.
Neither would make it to my CV pile; no degree, no experience, no chance. I'd sooner stab myself in the testicles with a spoon.
These days, in IT, you have to stand out from the crowd to even get an interview - and you don't do that easily, you have to work at it. Or you have to be lucky.
How's your luck?
On a more academic/enjoying life note; do A-levels, go to University. If it sucks and you hate it, leave - but don't think that you can shortcut "the system" by doing some Minnie Mouse Basket Weaving IT courses and think that it'll fling doors open wide for you.
I'm lucky to expect any advice at all if I'm lazy at school?
I'm sorry, but a school you don't enjoy attending and a job you enjoy doing are two completely different things.
My point being not enjoying you school environment is no excuse for you being 'lazy' towards your work.
My point being that school work is completely irrelevant and uninteresting, whereas employment in a field of my choice would not be.
The problem is, even for an entry level job these days you will be going up against graduates. Not having A-Levels will make it extremely hard to even get put forward for a job.
I find it's a sign of immaturity when students attempt to blame (in advance) their failure to do well because of laziness or similar. Grow some balls, put yourself on the line and do as best you can. If you don't manage to get top grades, at least you can say you gave it your best shot. Your CV shouldn't include a space for excuses.
Do your A-levels if you can stomach an extra year of school, then if you fancy going to uni, do a business degree or something other than computing.
Computing degrees don't really seem to help a great deal in terms of career prospects. If you get a business degree, you'll have a greater understanding of business processes and operation. This will be of great use to both yourself and your prospective employers, whether they employ you as a programmer, systems analyst, or project manager.
Otherwise you'll end up being stuck in some tech support role for god knows how long.
If I was to start again in life, I'd do something other than IT. While they pay can be good in some fields of IT, in others it is not commensurate with the level of skill, knowledge and education required to perform the job. Added to this, the market is saturated with lots of tech savvy young people looking for jobs.
You should try and find a niche profession and stick with it.
Computing degrees don't really seem to help a great deal in terms of career prospects. If you get a business degree, you'll have a greater understanding of business processes and operation. This will be of great use to both yourself and your prospective employers, whether they employ you as a programmer, systems analyst, or project manager.
Otherwise you'll end up being stuck in some tech support role for god knows how long.
If I was to start again in life, I'd do something other than IT. While they pay can be good in some fields of IT, in others it is not commensurate with the level of skill, knowledge and education required to perform the job. Added to this, the market is saturated with lots of tech savvy young people looking for jobs.
You should try and find a niche profession and stick with it.
Last edited:
HaX - thanks for the advice.
w11tho, I don't believe I started this thread for you to comment on my thought process or the fact I know perfectly well and have accepted why I am not living up to my full potential. I have no intention to excuse this behavior, but I sure know why it is happening.
w11tho, I don't believe I started this thread for you to comment on my thought process or the fact I know perfectly well and have accepted why I am not living up to my full potential. I have no intention to excuse this behavior, but I sure know why it is happening.
No, it's not irrelevant, it's the foundation upon which everything else sits.
But then again your choice of AS levels isn't exactly relevant for someone who's interested in computing; General Studies, Physics, Psychology, History and English Lit. - Why did you not pick Maths/Computer science?
How many jobs have you had in your field of choice? Do you know that for sure? I can think of a fair few things that I find interesting which I would definitely not find interesting once I have to do it on a 9 - 5 grind. Hobbies are fun because they are hobbies...in a lot of cases, once it becomes work, it becomes just as boring as the next thing.
You may well be living up to your full potential, as a B/C student.
In general terms, the actual subject done at degree level is not wholly important. Most Business degrees have some IT modules (and if they don't they're not a particularly good business degree) and most IT degrees have some business-type modules (again, not very good if they don't).
There are lots of young techy people, most don't know jack about jack, no matter how good their technical skills are, in general they simply don't have the required width and depth of knowledge (they are either highly specialised or a jack-of-all-trades; I was the latter when I graduated).
Switch A-Levels to something more interesting/relevant.
There are lots of young techy people, most don't know jack about jack, no matter how good their technical skills are, in general they simply don't have the required width and depth of knowledge (they are either highly specialised or a jack-of-all-trades; I was the latter when I graduated).
Switch A-Levels to something more interesting/relevant.
I'm saying starting low and unqualified, getting qualifications, and going up is the only real way to establish a decent job in it.
Or in a lot of things.
Believe me, unless you are very fortunate/focused enough to get into your dream job, in some ways employment can be even less interesting than school. I've decided to go back to formal study 7 years after graduating because of the lack of intellectual stimulation in my work. I actually miss learning new things and being given the opportunity to write detailed analysis on stuff.
I can understand why people find school boring up to the age of 14 (and 16 to a less extent) due to the huge number of subjects you have to take - it's inevitable that you will be lumbered with stuff you don't like. But for A-levels you've whittled it down to 3 or 4 subjects which most hold at least some interest for you. I think I was arguably at my academic 'peak' during A-levels because the (overall) workload is lighter than GCSE and thus you have more time to be creative with your learning and focus more on specific subjects.