Studying computer science at uni!

triggerthat · 13 Jan 2013 at 14:58

ilcp said:
I would NOT do computing course in GREENWICH uni. They are still apparently teaching now what they taught me around 7 years ago.

I went there and personally didnt like it. you do four modules each year, and for actual programming part they dont teach you the advanced stuff just basic. Having said that there is a course in final year (or there was!) but it was quite a jump from what they had taught us in year 2 and year 3. Teacher would skip over stuff or go too fast and we were left clueless, needless to say I dropped out of that course.

If things have changed recently I don't know..

Didn't realise that they offered only 4 modules a year. I'd certainly avoid Greenwich. You will get bored. Aim slightly higher.

Assassin_012 · 13 Jan 2013 at 15:25

ilcp said:
I would NOT do computing course in GREENWICH uni. They are still apparently teaching now what they taught me around 7 years ago.

I went there and personally didnt like it. you do four modules each year, and for actual programming part they dont teach you the advanced stuff just basic. Having said that there is a course in final year (or there was!) but it was quite a jump from what they had taught us in year 2 and year 3. Teacher would skip over stuff or go too fast and we were left clueless, needless to say I dropped out of that course.

If things have changed recently I don't know..

i went there for opening day, found that uni quite okay actually (except for the boring teacher going on about the history of greenwich),
didnt know it was that bad
glad i didnt go there

currently at Kingston Uni, second year, Computer Science (with networking)
for OP, it would've been best to apply for something specific, as i thought Computer Science alone would get me no where

i did only BTEC national diploma in college, got DDD, still got into Uni. but then again, Kingston accepts most people anyways

triggerthat · 13 Jan 2013 at 15:48

Assassin_012 said:
i went there for opening day, found that uni quite okay actually (except for the boring teacher going on about the history of greenwich),
didnt know it was that bad
glad i didnt go there

currently at Kingston Uni, second year, Computer Science (with networking)
for OP, it would've been best to apply for something specific, as i thought Computer Science alone would get me no where
i did only BTEC national diploma in college, got DDD, still got into Uni. but then again, Kingston accepts most people anyways

I know a lot of people who studied straight CS at Kingston who are now doing very well for themselves. Degrees with joint joint honours (e.g. CS with Networking) is essentially just a few modules mixed around.

I started on the CS with Networking degree, and then decided half way through that I didn't want a career in networking, so I switched to CS and my career has worked out well.

Assassin_012 · 13 Jan 2013 at 17:15

triggerthat said:
I know a lot of people who studied straight CS at Kingston who are now doing very well for themselves. Degrees with joint joint honours (e.g. CS with Networking) is essentially just a few modules mixed around.

I started on the CS with Networking degree, and then decided half way through that I didn't want a career in networking, so I switched to CS and my career has worked out well.

oh? really?
i thought CS gets you jobs which are general (with generally less pay),
as for CS with networking, well its an extra 'skill' right?

therefore, finding a job would more likely be easier?, also, going for specific network careers will get you decent pay, don't you think?

or am i thinking the wrong way??

i remember a friend in college told me networking careers earn atleast 50k...lol

I've already switched from CS (with Programming) to CS (with Networking) as i found it too confusing, i was going insane with programming, just trying to find stupid bugs

and most my code was copy+paste from examples,

so, a change was a must..

triggerthat · 13 Jan 2013 at 17:30

Assassin_012 said:
oh? really?
i thought CS gets you jobs which are general (with generally less pay),
as for CS with networking, well its an extra 'skill' right?
therefore, finding a job would more likely be easier?, also, going for specific network careers will get you decent pay, don't you think?

or am i thinking the wrong way??

i remember a friend in college told me networking careers earn atleast 50k...lol

I've already switched from CS (with Programming) to CS (with Networking) as i found it too confusing, i was going insane with programming, just trying to find stupid bugs
and most my code was copy+paste from examples,
so, a change was a must..

It is not that black and white. Degree titles don't really make a significant difference in terms of starting salary. I know a few people who land great graduate jobs (30K+) and some that don't, irrespective of degree. It's really down to career choice/industry (eg. tech consultancy graduates pay well), and the individual's aptitude. Other factors include which University you attended.

Zogger · 13 Jan 2013 at 17:48

Did comp sci at kent 04 -07. Would recommend it. Good campus and community, good placement links. I went straight into a decent job that I'm still in now. Don't know how much has changed since then, the only negative I really remember is the divide between kent hospitality and kent union (really not that negative

)

Chris1712 · 13 Jan 2013 at 17:58

If your looking for something more technical, find a Computer Engineering degree. There aren't many left because it's not very 'cool' unfortunately, but it's a much better respected degree with a brilliant job market.

dowie · 13 Jan 2013 at 17:59

Assassin_012 said:
i remember a friend in college told me networking careers earn atleast 50k...lol

I've already switched from CS (with Programming) to CS (with Networking) as i found it too confusing, i was going insane with programming, just trying to find stupid bugs
and most my code was copy+paste from examples,
so, a change was a must..

I found that with my maths degree I switched from Maths (with calculus) to Maths (with....

...wait WTF?

You can do a CS degree and just ditch programming?

Vanilla · 13 Jan 2013 at 18:02

danielanthony said:
The course was OK, did a lot of Java, although that's probably all changed now. I now work for one of the biggest IT companies in the world (EMC), I'd definitely do the same again.

What do you do at EMC??

Assassin_012 · 13 Jan 2013 at 19:51

triggerthat said:
It is not that black and white. Degree titles don't really make a significant difference in terms of starting salary. I know a few people who land great graduate jobs (30K+) and some that don't, irrespective of degree. It's really down to career choice/industry (eg. tech consultancy graduates pay well), and the individual's aptitude. Other factors include which University you attended.

ah, i see.....guess i got it all wrong then..

damn, should have done better in college, most of the big Universities (Imperial, Brunel) rejected me because my grade sucked in my first year of national diploma (estimate of MMM if i complete the course, yet i still came out with a DDD), Kingston was one of the lower ranked, from when i checked (2 years ago..), meh.....

jabroni_83 · 13 Jan 2013 at 19:53

I did comp sci at exeter about 10 years ago. a lot of java, and generally a waste of time tbh. I've been working in IT for the last 7 years and love it, but my degree really hasn't helped me day to day.
The first question I'd ask anyone interested in a career in IT is whether you want to work in hardware or software (broadly speaking). I chose hardware oppose to programming etc... as whilst I did enjoy programming (and there probably is more money in it initially at least) infrastructure was where my heart was (how sad)

.
Unfortunately, despite a degree I've had to work my way up like anyone else. 1st line to start with and fortunately for me a fair bit of luck to have worked in 3rd line+ for more than 5 years now. It suites me, but I really don't use my degree at all.
My advice to anyone looking at a career in IT is to consider apprenticeships instead. or at least a industry placement year in your course. Worth its weight in gold to my mind.
that said, 3 years of drinking was a good laugh

Assassin_012 · 13 Jan 2013 at 19:55

dowie said:
I found that with my maths degree I switched from Maths (with calculus) to Maths (with....

...wait WTF?

You can do a CS degree and just ditch programming?

ah lol, forgot to put 'games'

at first i did CS (with Games Programming)
switched to CS (With Networking)

they said it was okay to switch, if you find the course hard.
most of it are the same modules, just that i don't have modules like Artificial Intelligence, Advanced programming etc.. and added in networking modules like Network Communications..

I still gotta do programming (C++/JAVA), just, the easy stuff and not as hard...lol

Biz.Kid09 · 13 Jan 2013 at 20:52

Thanks for all the posts guys. As I have said I hope I can get a place at Kent as I have read lots of good things about it. I am also inquiring about apprenticeships now at a few companies in IT roles not just IT companies as an alternative to uni.

I did consider choosing for example the CS course with Networking but I am not entirely set on that is what I want to do hence why I just chose normal CS. If I am accepted for Kent to do CS for example, I will certainly enquirer regarding changing courses if I do decide to want to completely focus on that.

triggerthat · 13 Jan 2013 at 23:37

Assassin_012 said:
ah, i see.....guess i got it all wrong then..

damn, should have done better in college, most of the big Universities (Imperial, Brunel) rejected me because my grade sucked in my first year of national diploma (estimate of MMM if i complete the course, yet i still came out with a DDD), Kingston was one of the lower ranked, from when i checked (2 years ago..), meh.....

Competition for Imperial is high. They mightconsider you if you achieved DDD and an A in A-Level Maths. BTEC National Diplomas are not highly respected in the eyes of top Universities.

FoxEye · 13 Jan 2013 at 23:45

Razor-BladE said:
I got an A in A-Level and found the maths in my 1st year a big step up and quite hard We had 3 maths units first year, one was ok though. Two reasons I found it hard..

At Swansea Uni I had the opposite experience.

Got a C in maths at A-Level, and found the 1st year comp sci maths content trivial/ non-existent.

Number_25 · 13 Jan 2013 at 23:47

FoxEye said:
At Swansea Uni I had the opposite experience.

Got a C in maths at A-Level, and found the 1st year comp sci maths content trivial/ non-existent.

I rejected Swansea Universities offer purely after talking to a third year CompSci student 'off the record'.

I don't know whether your experience is the same, but I'm loving it at Aberystwyth.

FoxEye · 13 Jan 2013 at 23:56

Number_25 said:
I rejected Swansea Universities offer purely after talking to a third year CompSci student 'off the record'.

I don't know whether your experience is the same, but I'm loving it at Aberystwyth.

My reasons for choosing Swansea were, looking back on it, not the most well reasoned

I liked the beach

Number_25 · 14 Jan 2013 at 00:01

FoxEye said:
My reasons for choosing Swansea were, looking back on it, not the most well reasoned I liked the beach

My beach is better!

No, but seriously - Mumbles is absolutely stunning. That was actually in my thought process when choosing my University.

Biz.Kid09 · 21 Jan 2013 at 10:34

Got a conditional offer from Greenwich this morning. Not heard back from the others yet.

Zephyz · 21 Jan 2013 at 20:12

Did you do systems analysis in your btec? I'm struggling with that at the moment and would like some help. My teacher is awful and there's no resources I can find online.