Is HND easier than BSc

joey1211

joey1211

joey1211

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Advice needed please.

Things aren't going to well at work (due to one or two idiots) and so am contemplating going back to education. I completed the 1st year of BSc Comp. Sci. at Aberystwyth Uni in 2001 but left in the 2nd year as i found it too hard.

My work currently involves 50% design/layout (at an intermediate level) and 50% systems. Duties include setting up new pcs for the work environment. creating new new email accounts, running basic network tasks i.e. backup, file sharing.

The course i'm thinking of doing is HND Computer Networks at SIHE (Swansea). Am I likely of finding this two year course just as difficult as the three degree at Aber?
 
Yes I have done both in the field of computing and the HND has not only a smaller work load but also covers a smaller amount of material. I think you will find the HND a challange but rewarding with the benefit of better job prospects when you complete the course. Good luck.
 
I've completed both a HND and BSc ... the HND is far easier, but most employers aren't interested in it (for good reasons) ... a few people got minimum wage work placements with dell after the course finished (as call centre staff), which are now working there way up within the company, but the majority moved onto uni.

The differences being with the HND everything is so much more relaxed, for each subject you study you get 3 or 4 work booklets (assessments) to do which get handed to you and you simply have to complete them in your own time.

The whole point of attending the classes is for the (so called) lecturers to teach you what you need to know for passing the assessments, and if you don't attend the classes you can simply search google for the answers.

I got exams at the end of the first year of the HND and they were at an average level compared to all the ones I had to do at uni ... they weren't hard, but they weren't easy either.
 
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BSc usually implies a fair degree of maths as I understand it, just like BEng implies a helluva lot of maths ;)
 
It was with the maths and programming I had the most trouble with on the BSc, even with attending all the extra tuition they laid on for us in the evening. It just wouldn't click.

I made myself forget all the java i managed to grasp. The language on the HND is C++ with a little java. Even though I dont have much interest in programming, I take it C++ is still relevant today?

Thanks for the replies. Keep 'em coming.
 
I would aim for a BSc or neither. HND doesn't give you anything of value really, unless you have messed up your school exams and want to do a BSc, an HND can be used as a stepping stone.

I don't think an HND would progress your employability. Keep at your current job and move up the ladder, or get a Bsc.

I had a couple of friends that did HNDs (in IT) (don't know why because they did well at school), 1 guy does stuff similar to you, 1 works in a call centre that has nothing to do with IT and the other started stacking shelves in Tescos. That was a couple of years ago and I haven't spoken much since but beleive one of them has started a degree.
 
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I did an HND at Uni in 2 years. After completing that I then moved onto the final year of the degree, so like everyone else did the Computer Science Degree in 3 years. I did more or less exactly the same work as people on the degree for the first 2 years, same lecture notes (some of the same lectures) same exams some of the time as well.

The 3rd year was a bit of a struggle but by no means an impossible step, talking to friends who were doing the computer science degree from the start I had the same understanding as they did and ended up with exactly the same degree in the same time.

I would definatly recommend getting the degree, it opens up other doors (JET teaching program etc) as well as being more impressive to a employer. I did look about for some jobs on just my HND, I would say without any experiance I could have applied for about 2% of jobs with my HND and about 5% with the degree. (that 3% makes such a diffrence thou!)
 
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I'm doing a BSc in Network Computing. The people on the HND version of my course have easier work loads and get taught more about the basic concepts.

But in the 3rd year all the HND students convert to the 3rd year of the BSc course so theres no difference in qualification acquired at the end although on the BSc you probably learn a lot more.

I noticed people say they found programming and maths hard. I found maths difficult but I found programming really easy conversely.
 
HND's can be useful. I did well in mine (nothing below a merit, over half distinctions), and decided not to step up to the degree (too much debt for me!).
I got an ok job doing web development and some sql server stuff, which I left after two years and am now working for a great company doing pretty much the same stuff at more than double my original wages.
I realise in years to come it might be useful to have a degree, but as a launching point it has worked well for me so far.
 
Strangly enough, one of my harder modules for BSc Digital Media at Glamorgan is taken by a few HND students but overall most HND courses are much easier and are often concidered a waste of time (except if it's being used to get into a BSc course).

Keep looking for a course that suits you. I would imagine Computer Science is very tricky as I found A-level computing very hard.

A degree makes all the difference in this day and age. It's gives you enough opening in the door to throw your portfolio accross the room into the employers lap.
 
"Students who achieve at least two merits in the final year will be eligible to proceed onto the Honours degree programme offered within the School."

Does this mean that if i pass the course with the two merits, that I enter the BSc degree at the 3rd year? Or do they mean the 1st year?
 
<sigh> I see this old chesnut is back is it?

Well something for all you "OMG HND SUX!!!!!11" types to bear in mind that a HND is in fact the first two years of a degree course. Full stop.

Thats why UCAS, the people you apply to to get into university, the ones with all the information about all of the courses, offer bridging courses from HND to degree. These are mostly 12-18 month courses, the extra time being to ensure 110% that some extra modules which are required by different institutions get completed.

Its the 3rd year that really counts, which brings you up to the degree level - and in that vein the first two years of a BSc are easy. Also - if you drop out of Uni after two years, most sensible institutions will offer the student to certificate as a HND.

> BSc Year 1 (HNC)
> BSc Year 2 (HND)
> BSc Year 3

So forget all of this "Oh HND's are useless", "HND's are so easy", "HND is easier than A Levels" rubbish - and actually find out what your talking about.

EDIT: Oh just to add insult to injury, i'm a lowly HND>Honours Degree student, on around 6k more than a lot of freinds and colleagues with 'real' degree's.

Once you get a job, and your going for your second, disregard where you got your degree, they're not bothered. In the real, working world, its experience and skillsets that count. 'Degree Snobbery' makes my blood boil.
 
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Oh wonderful. Another thread for degree students to brag & spout nonscence.
Why do these people feel the need to 'show off' something that doesnt need to be, or better put, cant be?

I'd rant, but i think the above post puts it across better. :)
 
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