About to Graduate with a BA and Looking to Pursue Further Education in IT or Computer Science (?)

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  Hybroid on 19/05/2020 - 22:17

  -1

  2) I know that you can do a Masters in IT or an undergraduate degree in IT or Computer Science. I am a bit confused to whether I should be doing a Masters or undergraduate next. Should I be taking another undergrad degree since the field is something completely different?

  That depends on your Uni and may not be your choice. If your Uni allows you take Masters directly following your current BA then absolutely go for that and avoid repeating undergrad. If it doesn't (likely as you may not have the prerequisite modules completed), then you're stuck doing undergrad all over again for the new major.

  2.5) Why should someone do a Masters over a undergraduate degree if the undergraduate has less HECS to repay?

  I'll add my 2 cents based on Engineering background. Put your shoes into an employer, either a discipline manager or a HR rep. You have one candidate with an undergrad degree and another with a Masters degree. Which would you choose?

  Now, you have 10 candidates with undergrad degrees and 1 with Masters degree. Which would you choose?

  It's absolutely not the be-all nor end-all of choosing criteria as many other factors are important, but it's a very quick way to filter and weed out 200 applicants in one go by cherry picking the cream.

  CS/IT are high supply fields. Resources are a dime a dozen and plenty being pumped out all the time. Consider how you want to stand out from the rest somehow.

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    MilkDrinker on 19/05/2020 - 22:37

    Yeah but should he even try to go for a masters if he might fail it? Maybe try something lighter and cheaper first? CCNA ETC?

    Also you gotta slog through the bad/low level areas like before you get good money. First level it support is bad like most entry level jobs. Plenty of free/cheap stuff relating to it on ozbargain that shows up. If you like it go for it.

    For example coursera udemy courses on c++ and other it related stuff.

    • 

      Hybroid on 19/05/2020 - 22:57

      +1

      Not sure how it works here but in the UK it's near impossible to fail post-grad if you put in the effort, unless you can't speak the language, caught cheating/plagiarising or committed some other heinous act causing expulsion. It reflects very poorly on the institution if there's a high percentage of failures and deters others joining in future.

      Masters is far far easier than undergrad. It's more work and effort but a lot easier as it's mostly focused on research and dissertations rather than studying for examinations designed to test your learnt knowledge/cramming. As long as you put in a reasonable effort with consistent interaction with tutors, you'll get the passing grade at the very least.

      If you can't hack the stress and work required for Masters though, reconsider why you would be appropriate to be hired for a role over others.

      However, to initially decide if they want to take that career route or not, then absolutely your suggestion (and Banana's below) makes perfect sense.

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    Icecold5000 on 20/05/2020 - 00:19

    You have one candidate with an undergrad degree and another with a Masters degree. Which would you choose?

    I'd choose the one who best perceived would fit well into the team.

    • 

      Hybroid on 20/05/2020 - 00:24

      This is the filtering stage before you even select the handful that make it to interviews. It's an unfortunate reality, the first pass is looking at 'best on paper'. Engineering jobs get hundreds of applicants for each role, there's a brutal, albeit sometimes unfair, filtering process.

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        Icecold5000 on 20/05/2020 - 00:56

        OP is going for IT not engineering. Two different industries. Candidates with an engineering degree are more comparable because their degrees are standardised. IT candidates can come from a range of backgrounds like maths, certs, linguistics degrees or no degree at all.

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  Banana on 19/05/2020 - 22:31

  There are a lot of free programming courses out there. I suggest you learn some of those in your free time to decide if you really like it. It would also take some stress off you, should you go down the IT/ Comp Sci path.

  I am currently learning Python via this guy (procrastinating, as we speak): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfscVS0vtbw

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    Baa on 19/05/2020 - 22:50

    I think there are certain things you can do to make it easier, understanding one programming language will help you transition into others, and there are many great free resources online to get you on this path. Potentially invest some time as banana mentioned and I think this will go a long way to helping things make more sense.

    I am currently working towards masters in Cyber Security (without BA but work experience), and while I have a broad understanding of the subjects I am covering I think it would be a struggle coming in cold and not from a technical background - but there are plenty others doing it without the experience I have.

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      stwongy on 19/05/2020 - 23:44

      Thanks Baa and Banana, I've learnt some of the basics of programming from my failed programming fundamentals course ( we learned C but i honestly don't have a strong understanding of it)and I've learnt some basic Python material from Grok so the stuff from the link, I have some familiarity with it already - one of my mates from when I did my math course in that year recommended me to learn from Grok. I recommend it. It's alot more practical and hands on. Its just I find its hard to steer a clear path for yourself when you are self-learning, definitely really vague compared to learning it formally.

      • 

        arkie0 on 20/05/2020 - 09:13

        Whilst anyone can learn programming, if it doesn't come naturally to you, you'll be unlikely to succeed as a technical programmer. However you can still do a CS degree and still work in a related IT field.

        My example is 3 uni students completed CS degree, progresses very differently once you get the first job.
        First student - application support > strategy/planning > channel development > marketing operations manager (big bank)
        Second student - data analyst > business analyst > Spatial Systems/GIS lead > solutions architect (energy markets)
        third student - systems engineer / tech support > network engineer > services manager > CIO (healthcare)

        All did a CS degree, none of them became a programmer but still are pretty successful. The degree is only to get you in the door for the first job, that first job then determines the second.

        You can also skip the degree and work up via help desk > level 2 support > app support/data/sys engineer, you need to be able to self study and motivate with this path since help desk tends to be a pretty shit job.

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  ily on 20/05/2020 - 00:01

  should I go to a lesser intense uni to do it?

  Masters over a undergraduate degree?

  It completely depends on what you want to learn and do with your degree. Read the subjects and the curriculum and find out which you think is more appropriate. Some undergrads and masters are completely useless. Some are very useful and less intensive. And a large range in between. A masters is generally more focused, and might be a way to avoid needing to do the math subjects you dislike. Also, consider tutoring.

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  mshanann on 20/05/2020 - 00:39

  +1

  Realistically ….

  To get a job as a programmer in Australia fresh out of university in the market conditions we face would be extremely challenging.
  If you have great grades, you have a chance - particularly if you are willing to accept a low-paying salary.
  Nobody hires programmers without one or more stringent technical interviews including coding tests and a heap of challenging questions from algorithms to language-specific nuances and concepts.
  A one-year masters course won't cut it in this market - particularly if the supporting degree is an arts degree. An engineering undergrad degree, that's a different story.

  If you have excellent communication, presentation, and English skills in general with a good tech understanding, there is a number of specialised roles that can be had from technical writer / documentation teams, to product manager or even sales. You would have far greater chance with a master's degree in IT landing a role like this with your background, compared to being a grunt programmer.

  However you are not going to get such a role with a Master's degree alone - you need a portfolio of content that you can bring to an interview that demonstrates your skills in a particular area that is in demand.

  For example, let's say the ultimate goal was to land some type of hybrid cloud tech role for a tier #1 such as Amazon (AWS) / Microsoft (Azure) / Google (GCP) / Oracle (OCI) - or even partner firms that consult in this space. Then one way you could go about this is to try to identify recently announced cloud offerings that are complex and/or poorly documented, but attracting a lot of buzz. Using the documentation available, in conjunction with trial accounts, you could try and produce some content that describes or demonstrates the offering in a value-add way tailored for a particular audience (tech / or manager / C-level etc). You may be able to identify such areas by looking at the openings/jobs advertised at these companies, and try and locate teams / product-areas with a number of openings. By producing blog articles that can easily be searched/located in google, that incoming traffic gives you the perfect opportunity to advertise yourself - not only by the tech content on your blog, but anything else you want to throw up there that shows you are an interesting person and someone that a company would like to have on their team. The blog then becomes your portfolio which nicely complements an in-progress or completed masters degree.

  Anyway - this is just my opinion. I've worked in the industry as a developer/architect for over 20 years - and at least in the enterprise space, you try and hire the best of the best when it comes to programmers. The risks are too great otherwise with bad code and bugs. Other areas in IT are more forgiving.

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  obit11 on 20/05/2020 - 08:55

  Get a service desk job when your ba is done and start getting experience, do online uni couple of subject's a trimester to get more knowledge and pieces of paper.

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  Ghost47 on 20/05/2020 - 12:53

  The first question I would ask you is: how bad do you want it?

  You've said you've struggled through CS before, why was that? Because I'm sure if you work at getting good at maths you could, so did you not spend enough time on your studies? Saying "I struggled" or "it stressed me out" isn't great because you could just psych yourself out. If you haven't done maths in a long time you might need to start at the very beginning (like high school maths). I think if you are stressing about content at uni, you aren't working hard enough to understand it. I remember my third year macroeconomics subject that had calculus in algebra in it, and since the previous years' content didn't have any it kicked my ass, but I can admit it's because I didn't study it hard enough.

  If I were you I would look at Udemy programming courses first to dip your toes a bit, and also look at Discrete Mathematics stuff on the Khan Academy (because you will need a strong grasp on Discrete Mathematics in particular for CS). Some people on reddit have said that they've been able to get jobs through self learning (they are likely in the US though). There are courses online like this one you could try (if you have the time?). You could even enrol yourself in Harvard's CS50, it's a free intro to Computer Science course and it's highly rated.

  After you get a head start maybe look at doing a Masters. It'll be shorter than an undergrad (but could cost even more). Although personally I would not be signing up for a Master's if I was in your position right now. How are you doing in the BA also? Some Masters will require a certain average mark I believe.

  I'll also add that a degree these days means very little, it really is just a piece of paper. You'll have to do some side projects and internships to make yourself more desirable, but it might be easier if there's a high demand for skilled programmers.

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  [Deactivated] on 21/05/2020 - 08:02

  The year was quite a stressful and traumatic experience because I had suddenly started learning higher level math

  The difference between the poet and the mathematician is that the poet tries to get his head into the heavens while the mathematician tries to get the heavens into his head :)

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  POSITIVEVIBESONLY on 21/05/2020 - 15:44

  Did you do COMP1917? That subject brought me to love computer science. I know it's not for everyone but it is one of the hardest subjects I've taken to this day.

  Ask yourself if you truly do enjoy computer science. I did multiple courses online on udemy and freecodecamp and odin project in my own time. Don't just do it cos there's jobs and it's the new craz. If you do love doing it, I believe anyone can make it.

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  Quantumcat on 21/05/2020 - 22:26

  If you are naturally poor at maths and you struggled with a first year programming subject I would think twice about this. Postgraduate degrees are usually really expensive (think 50k+) as most don't have any government subsidy like bachelor degrees do. Will be a huge waste of money if you pull out part way through.

  If you do end up going into computer science try to take softer courses (like systems analysis, project management, and computer ethics not programming) and do a grad program afterwards, where you can try out roles like business analyst, systems analyst, ux designer etc to see what is for you. I don't think programming is going to be for you - programming suits the sort of people to whom maths comes easily but they fail at English, it is that sort of mindset that does well naturally at programming (that's me, I always took the lowest level of English I was allowed to get away with at school).

  If you are covid affected and have a low income you can qualify for the cheap graduate certificates, only around $3k and they articulate so you can turn them into a grad dip or masters if you decide you want to pursue it, and if not you've only lost $3k. See https://www.courseseeker.edu.au/