British Computer Society

Welshy

Welshy

Welshy

Soldato
Joined
9 Jul 2006
Posts
3,322
Location
London
Is there anyone here who's a member of BCS and can give me a little more information about it?

Basically I'm a second year university student, studying to become a programmer. What, if any, benefits might i gain from joining the BCS? The website is surprisingly vague - it says there are online librarys, discounts etc that i can gain access to, but are these any good?
Also i read that they do courses to gain certain qualifications, anybody got any opinions on them?

Probably most importantly, would it look good on a CV?
 
im a memeber but after actaully getting it i cant see anything i get from it which is of use to me :o
 
Its seriously a waste of time... I am however a member of IEEE which has its advantages. If your course is acredited by BSC I think it excempts you from part of the Chartered Engineer qualification which I guess you have to be a member to get, so might be worth it if your considering that.
 
Last edited:
Stelly said:
I'm only a member because it looks good on the old CV... a lot of companys are now asking for it

Stelly
Click to expand...

Same here; might as well have it when you are completing your degree, is slightly harder to get once you have been out of uni for a few years iirc
 
I was a member for a year and it was a load of rubbish. You don't get anything for your money. Their web forums are useless, just full of a bunch of academics. I posted a real world question once and just got back a load of "why do you want to do this?" :D

Seriously, you're much better off getting acquainted with the MSDN forums. A simple "frequent contributor to MSDN forums" will look much better on your CV. Or maybe write some articles and post them onto Codeproject and link them on your CV. It's these sorts of thing employers look for... active participation... not just the fact you are a "member" of something.
 
Welshy +
bcslogo.gif
=
computernerd.jpg
 
At best being a member of BCS means you're stupid enough to pay their membership fees. At worst...well let's not go there...

For me, BCS on a CV is just struggling to add things on - I've hardly ever seen it on a CV (of which I've seen plenty) and have never seen it as a requirement (or even a nice-to-have) on a job spec.
 
Dr_Evil said:
Welshy +
bcslogo.gif
=
computernerd.jpg
Click to expand...
Needs ginger hair to be me :p


So we're agreed that there's no real point becoming a member? Just trying to find good things to put on my CV, they're always asking for extra-curricular activities and such.
 
Welshy said:
Needs ginger hair to be me :p


So we're agreed that there's no real point becoming a member? Just trying to find good things to put on my CV, they're always asking for extra-curricular activities and such.
Click to expand...

Basically means you receive a magazine from them every few months. It's not subscribing to them that's the problem... just wait till you try to leave them! I ended my membership and still kept on receiving publications from them for about 6 months, then they tried to bill me. They regretted that one.. ah ha... I can't actually enter certain buildings or the south of england... but it was worth it ;)

If you want something on your CV say that you are part of a computer discussion group, give it a name and meet up with 3 people in the bar once a month to talk about which CPU is most l33t :D :D
 
I think one of the most important things you can get on your CV would be contribution to an open source project and to show that people are actually using your code out there. Non of this BCS crap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom