An IT degree idea

shotgunshand · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:10

Hello,

I'm considering going back to Uni to do a degree in IT.

I've been in the IT industry for close to a decade but have always worked in breakfix desktop stuff and have never really managed to get into reasonable positions either to gain significant experience with a good company or get qualifications paid for by the company.

My biggest qualifications so far are two MCP's (Client and server) which go half way towards an MCSA.

The prpblem is often the degrees I've looked at are... well, utterly pathetic. I've looked at what the ciriculum on these are and it's laughable. It just seems to be dossing about for four years doing programming with outdated languages and lots of theoretical twaddle without anything really industry specific.

Can anyone make any suggestions of good, industry relevent and recognised degrees?

Cheers,

meghatronic · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:12

Computer Science.

[J.D.C] · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:14

CompScience.

Whatever you do, make sure you get a good feel for the Uni if that's the route you go down.

Lord knows, I regret going to my local for convenience over the actual quality of teaching etc.

anything I don't mind · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:18

Computer degrees are not that great from what i have heard. I have worked with people that have compscience degrees and they know hardly anything about computers, laughable. I call them clickologists. People that get in to IT because they need a job not because they like computers.

My litmass test for IT people is to ask them if they know what xvid is, if they like computers they will know right away and tell you what it is, if they have a compscience degree they will have no idea what it is.

I remember when i first started IT this guy thought he was better that the people without a degree and he used to go on about it all the time. We had an argument about mbit and mbyte and he did not know the difference, he made a right fool of himself. funny, didn't learn that one in uni then? lol.

[J.D.C] · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:19

groen said:
Computer degrees are not that great from what i have heard. I have worked with people that have compscience degrees and they know hardly anything about computers, laughable. I call them clickologists. People that get in to IT because they need a job not because they like computers.

My litmass test for IT people is to ask them if they know what xvid is, if they like computers they will know right away and tell you what it is, if they have a compscience degree they will have no idea what it is.

I remember when i first started IT this guy thought he was better that the people without a degree and he used to go on about it all the time. We had an argument about mbit and mbyte and he did not know the difference, he made a right fool of himself. funny, didn't learn that one in uni then? lol.

Well that just made me feel a whole lot better if that's all you expect.

To be fair, most of the successfull people I've spoken to for advice (earning big money) don't know much about computers in extreme specific details or anything (most are software developers); they wanted a job and worked hard.

Nothing wrong with that.

shotgunshand · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:26

See, software development is where the money is at.... but I ain't a codemonkey. Nothing I hate more than looking at reems and reems of code.

Scougar · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:28

Software dev in big companies will go overseas. Be careful with what you pick. (I'm a Software Dev btw).

shotgunshand · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:29

meghatronic said:
Computer Science.

But don't you find that a little vague? These degrees are usually - Like I said origonally - They tend to be totally irrelevent to the industry today. Sure you'll learn a lot about the theoretical side of computing... but when it comes to rebuilding a raid array on a Proliant server.... I'd be surprised if the graduates could even point out the backplane card in the box!

Dundee uni had some interesting looking degrees about security and etheical hacking.

anything I don't mind · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:38

Decide what you want to do and then try and get certified in that aspect of IT. Rather than a degree, there are industry wide accepted certifications for all types of paths in IT.

Mr^B · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:40

shotgunshand said:
See, software development is where the money is at.... but I ain't a codemonkey. Nothing I hate more than looking at reems and reems of code.

Proper software development (and software engineering) isn't about reams and reams of code.

If it is, you're doing it wrong.

meghatronic · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:41

shotgunshand said:
But don't you find that a little vague? These degrees are usually - Like I said origonally - They tend to be totally irrelevent to the industry today. Sure you'll learn a lot about the theoretical side of computing... but when it comes to rebuilding a raid array on a Proliant server.... I'd be surprised if the graduates could even point out the backplane card in the box!

Dundee uni had some interesting looking degrees about security and etheical hacking.

Yup it was vague. But I'd avoid anything "computing" or "IT", pick a good uni and then pick good modules.

Now, of course, this isn't necessarily going to get you a job. Certification might be better...

edscdk · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:42

groen said:
Decide what you want to do and then try and get certified in that aspect of IT. Rather than a degree, there are industry wide accepted certifications for all types of paths in IT.

yes, for general IT support industry qualifications > degree...

guyfawkes5 · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:43

To chip in with the whole 'I.T. degrees don't teach computing intuition' thing, a mate of mine is doing something like a cross between I.T. and Commerce (wait, wait) and has to learn various programming languages and coding techniques.

One day during his second year he asked me to help him install a game on his laptop, and bemused enough already, I said, "Okay, open 'My Computer'."

Long pause...

"Where's 'My Computer'?"

scorza · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:43

The theoretical side of computing is entirely relevant to industry today. The point of learning the old, unfashionable languages is that you learn the fundamentals of good programming which a course specific to one language will not give you.

Tbh it seems like you don't really know what you want to do, what do you consider to be a "reasonable position"? A degree might be unnecessary for what you want to do.

Also remember that Computer Science grads have one of the highest rates of unemployment at the moment - it's not a good time to be graduating in that subject I'm afraid. Who knows about in 3 years time though, personally I think it will still be a bad place to be. As said, a lot of software development is going abroad right now.

AJK · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:47

shotgunshand said:
But don't you find that a little vague? These degrees are usually - Like I said origonally - They tend to be totally irrelevent to the industry today. Sure you'll learn a lot about the theoretical side of computing... but when it comes to rebuilding a raid array on a Proliant server.... I'd be surprised if the graduates could even point out the backplane card in the box!

Degrees are academic courses which should involve much more theory (mathematics, algorithm design, etc.) than practical application (ie. setting up a server). I don't think you really understand what kind of education a Computer Science degree should give you... you seem to be confusing it with product training.

Marvin · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:54

To be fair, not everyone who does a Computing-related degree has no idea. Talk to someone doing Computer Science at Southampton, biggest bunch of geeks I've ever come across (well, maybe on par with here...

). On the other hand, I go to Sussex (and do Computer Science), and while many know their way around a computer, there are also a fair few who are clueless...

Guess that's why job interviews exist.

It's also not all theoretical garbage, much of the 'theory' side is very important in understanding exactly what you do, and why.

And to groen, I only just about know what Xvid is (had to google to double check), but I'm hardly computer illiterate, and do know what I'm doing, but in Computing you learn by doing, and I've never had reason to use MPEGs - as I don't use my PC for multimedia. Sure, if I was a applying for a job in that sector, then obviously it's probably a good indicator, but if I was applying to a software company that wanted programmers to produce some new spreadsheet program, it's irrelevant - my knowledge of chosen programming languages/general programming knowledge would be far more important.

Also, I'd say you're after more an IT "hands-on" degree than an academic degree. Where certification would perhaps be a better road to travel down, rather than uni.

burns · 14 Feb 2011 at 15:19

What do you want out of the degree? Comp Sci has nothing to do with IT really (well, very little). I would agree that certification would be the way forwards, much cheaper and more to do with working in IT rather than programing, hardware design and the like.

Ev0 · 14 Feb 2011 at 15:25

I would first ask the question what is in IT that you want to do in future?

CompSci is good for development work, but if it's more infrastructure/networks you want to do then maybe look at something more orientated to that. Also look at engineering as some degrees cover a lot of similar things, mine for instance had modules in microprocessor design, C++, software engineering etc.

If it's things like arrays in servers then don't go to uni for that, it'll be a waste, crack on with some vendor certs from MS and Cisco to go down the infrastructure route. Hardly any to no uni courses do that sort of thing as it's just not needed in an academic arena, you can show someone that in 2 minutes and it's done. No specialist skill or knowledge involved.

groen said:
My litmass test for IT people is to ask them if they know what xvid is, if they like computers they will know right away and tell you what it is, if they have a compscience degree they will have no idea what it is.

I hear that's how IBM et al pick all their staff

That's pretty much balls though, some of the best people I know in IT probably wouldn't know as it's not their thing, knowing a video codec that's likely used by people with hooky copies of films. Great test there, and wholly irrelevant to enterprise IT

And all the compsci people I can think of that I know would easily know what that was.

Mr Jack · 14 Feb 2011 at 15:37

meghatronic said:
Computer Science.

If the OP doesn't want "theoretical twaddle" why would you recommend Computer Science; a good Computer Science degree should be almost entirely "theoretical twaddle".

Our OP should be looking at Software Engineering or Computer Systems Engineering, or some other computer related degree with "Engineering" or "Programming" in the title. Computer Science is not, and should not be, primarily practically focused.

Bleek · 14 Feb 2011 at 15:46

I wouldn't recommend a degree for IT, ever.

Get an ISEB, ITIL, PRINCE, APM or similar qualification, particularly if you want to progress in to management.