What route to take?

[BTCC_Fan]

I'm currently in my 1st year at Uni studying Computing for Business but I'm unsure if this is the right route.

 

Previous to going to Uni I had the fortunate chance of working as a tech part time at my school while doing A-Levels. Having left this role now I now have realized that I want a future career as an ICT tech. (Am I mad?)

 

My main question is should I continue my degree and try to apply for jobs when I complete that or should I try to find an apprenticship course and work from there (I've just applied tonight to do a Zenos one)

 

Thanks for any help and advice you might be able to give me.

 

If I've missed anything out or you want to ask anything please feel free.

[powdarrmonkey]

I regretted dropping out of my degree course - not so much dropping that course as not doing a degree at all. It's much harder to pick up again later. I would persist, but that's a very personal decision that you need to make yourself.

 

You might do a sandwich course with a year in industry perhaps?

[RabbieBurns]

my last place wouldnt consider anyone without a degree for the low-paid 'tech' job

 

although in saying that I ended up being more like an assistant network manager so can kinda see why they wanted someone with a bit more than being able to swap out a broken fuse

[Dos_Box]

What exactly is 'Computing for Business' anyway?

More to the point though is that almost all uni level IT courses are largely irrelevant to the needs of being a techy IMHO. The CASA, NASA and CANE courses that Lancaster uni did were pretty good, but these were still seperate from a degree, and have now unfortunately been discontinued.

[BTCC_Fan]

What exactly is 'Computing for Business' anyway?

More to the point though is that almost all uni level IT courses are largely irrelevant to the needs of being a techy IMHO. The CASA, NASA and CANE courses that Lancaster uni did were pretty good, but these were still seperate from a degree, and have now unfortunately been discontinued.

 

Its not as intergrated as I thought. Its basically 'computing' modules with Business modules too.

 

This Year I do :

 

Computer Systems

Core Programming

Maths for Computing

Modelling and Algorithm Design

Organiziational Behaviour

Econmics for Management.

 

Those kind of qualifications seem far more relevant to a techie job than what my course offers.

[beeswax]

Do you want to be an IT tech in a school? If so bear in mind that with BSF and managed services you wouldn't be working for the school but for the company providing the managed services to the school and therefore in a more "corporate" environment. BSF still has some way to run so my view would be to complete your degree, and not only for the core of what you're doing, but for the other skills you should gain, generally referred to as "Graduateness" (I know it's a jobs related site, but they should know what employers are looking for). If you do a Google for "graduateness" you'll see the importance most universities place on these skills.

If you don't think Computing for Business is the right path for you can you transfer to another section of computing. Talk it over with a tutor, just as you're doing here, as this can often help clarify why you feel disenchanted with your current situation.

 

(edit)Several posts were made while I was tippy-tapping out my reply. You may want to ignore what I said.

Edited January 4, 2010 by beeswax

[dhicks]

I'm currently in my 1st year at Uni studying Computing for Business but I'm unsure if this is the right route. Previous to going to Uni I had the fortunate chance of working as a tech part time at my school while doing A-Levels. Having left this role now I now have realized that I want a future career as an ICT tech.

 

Hang on - you've only got through one term (you're 18/19?), there's no need to start aiming for a career yet. A decent degree course should teach you a wide range of material, not just enough to fit you for one job - this isn't the 1800s, you don't need to pick a career at 14 and stick with it for the rest of your life. You might find a job as an IT technician after your degree, or someone you know might have an interesting idea for a startup, or you could work freelance, or you could get hired by a large corporation at one of the third-year milk-run events, or you could invent your own job.

 

Computer Systems

Core Programming

Maths for Computing

Modelling and Algorithm Design

Organiziational Behaviour

Econmics for Management

 

That all sounds pretty interesting - what about next term / semester, do you get any free choice of modules? I figure you can't go too far wrong doing a language at some point if you can - most universities have drop-in language teaching labs, which are an excellent resource you won't get for free / cheap again in a hurry.

 

--

David Hicks

[RabbieBurns]

Its not as intergrated as I thought. Its basically 'computing' modules with Business modules too.

 

This Year I do :

 

Computer Systems

Core Programming

Maths for Computing

Modelling and Algorithm Design

Organiziational Behaviour

Econmics for Management.

 

Those kind of qualifications seem far more relevant to a techie job than what my course offers.

 

I did an Organisational Behaviour module in my 1st year of my first degree and I hated it. It was basically psychology. I hated it with a passion.

 

And I really couldnt see why I had to sit through advanced calculus either. Unless you want to be programmer, maths is pretty useless in every other aspect of 'computing'.

 

Even advanced subnetting and binary / hex work etc is pretty simple with just a basic A-level or less.

[Kitkatninja]

You can always do what I (and alot of other people did and continue to do), work full-time and then do your degree part-time in the evenings. It does take longer, a standard degree (BA/BSc) will take about 4 years, while a Hons degree will take 5. But you get the qualification and the much needed experience, and imo 5 years proper work experience is alot better than 1 year work placement.

 

Plus if you do get/go for the Apprenticeship (depending on what level you go for) you can get up to a NVQ level 3 or 4, plus the LCGI from City & Guilds, which are both vocational to compliment the academic qualification (the degree) and any professional (MS/Comptia, etc) certs that you may also achieve within that time frame.

 

-Ken

[Kitkatninja]

...Even advanced subnetting and binary / hex work etc is pretty simple with just a basic A-level or less.

 

I have to disagree, advanced subnetting (including super-netting) can be complex, especially in a multi-site/multi-domain environment... But that's just my opinion.

 

-Ken

[dhicks]

And I really couldnt see why I had to sit through advanced calculus either.

 

It's to weed out the kind of people who aren't going to stand for sitting in front of a computer for hours on end hammering away at a problem every which way until it is fixed. It's pretty much why half the A-level Maths syllabus is there, too - Further Maths was actually a lot more fun, interesting and enjoyable, calculus is in A-level to provide a 6-month slog that, if you get to the end of, proves you can concentrate for a half-decent amount of time.

 

--

David Hicks

[lionsl2005]

I had my degree in Business Information Technology. more related to yours. finally i landed in Tech job. i had previous experience in my country also i did work as a volunteer for some time in here. This course nothing to do with Techy job. if you can get fist class degree u may be luck enough to get a job. dont give up continue your studies.

[INeedAUsername]

i have done my business IT as well which included upto semester 3 in CCNA

 

Then i had to bin what i learnt and start again in this job!

 

more to the point uni life is what i learnt, being away from home was a real eye opener. the experiance i had is second to none and would definatley go back again if i could!

[jcollings]

I would advise you to carry on an complete your degree. You are young and any number of things could happen in the future to influence you career path/choices.

 

I didn't do a degree when I left school (against the advice of many of my teachers) and although I've done pretty well career wise there are times when it would have been handy to have one. There seem to be more and more jobs these days that ask for a degree as an essential criteria (criterion?)

 

Who knows you may even decide you want to go into teaching when you are older and already having the degree makes that easier.

 

Also have others have said I think (from what I saw of friends and of the young people I work with now) that the whole university experience will give you much more than a qualification.

[BTCC_Fan]

Thanks for all the advice, its much appreciated.

 

I think I Shall stay in my degree and try to do a relevant to me year in industry.