Suitable IT universities?

[dowie]

So you can't set up an independent studio, or at least write and maintain your own programs without working for another company?

You can't take on client work?

there are ways to get experience outside of the "get a degree, get a job, work for a few years"

Like I said before - why make it harder for yourself.

If you want to be a developer then go get a degree - tis the best route. Trying to argue with that or suggesting working on a help desk and studying irrelevant vendor certificates related to IT support is quite frankly a bit silly.

There is no reason why you can't also take on client work or personal projects while studying for a degree and in the unlikely event that your personal project becomes very successful then you've got a fairly valid reason to not bother with the degree any more - still its a long shot and a degree is the best option for most people. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg don't have degrees but they did start out pursuing them.

 

[aastii]

In respective order:

2 out of the three say equivilant then rather than all.

:/ The equivalent refers to the subject studied. edit: 1 position out of the 3 valve jobs accepts work experience instead of a degree but it is for a senior position job so not something entry level.

And as has been mentioned - it is different for entry level positions. If you have worked in the industry for 10 years they won't care what you did at degree level. It is standard now to expect a degree for junior dev positions.

And yet it is possible to get into a job without a degree...

Like I said before - why make it harder for yourself.

If you want to be a developer then go get a degree - tis the best route. Trying to argue with that or suggesting working on a help desk and studying irrelevant vendor certificates related to IT support is quite frankly a bit silly.

There is no reason why you can't also take on client work or personal projects while studying for a degree and in the unlikely event that your personal project becomes very successful then you've got a fairly valid reason to not bother with the degree any more - still its a long shot and a degree is the best option for most people. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg don't have degrees but they did start out pursuing them.

Because he isn't certain what he wants. Sooner or later decisions will have to be made, but when OP says

"I was thinking about doing something programming related (maybe a game programmer, software programmer or something maybe along those lines) or anything interesting to do with computers and involved a high wage (I heard a rumour where programmers can earn 100+ grand a year? - not sure if this is just rumours)"

That isn't specifically programming. Leave options open and educate about all of these options rather than stick to just one, especially at an age where what you anticipate doing for the rest of your life can change every other week. It isn't making it more difficult, it is opening him up to other potential options, whilst still fulfilling the computer related criteria

 

[Creelers]

2 out of the three say equivilant then rather than all.

The second mentions that you can get it with equivalent work experience, I'll give you that.

When the third one mentions it, however, it means an equivalent degree, not experience.

 

[Scythian]

Sorry about the late reply, just wrote a long one but accidently wiped it all (tryed undo-ing it but that didn't work - will write another one tomorrow)
Will definately take the 'enjoy what you want to do' advice though!

 

[Scythian]

Okay, time for a proper reply
Read over the posts - point of the thread is to good a good picture of something (possibly programming related) which would be a good career path. The course I'm starting (at college) will cover games, web and software devlopment which should give me a taste of the different areas (and decide (if any) which is the one for me)

Is university the only way through this route? Are there different options avaliable? (The microsoft related program sounded like it would be a good thing to look into to see different IT areas which I could at least look at)

The things which are mostly catching my interest are the things i'm going to be looking at my course (but not limited to!)
As for the maths, I didn't only get a C cause i'm not smart enough. I did foundation paper and when I got my C I wasn't given the option to retake. If need be I could try and find evening classes to get a better grade in maths. (This is more likely to be for personal interest though)