Help with my degree

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timmmay

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#908288 5-Oct-2013 06:51

JokezNZ:
timmmay: Kids these days. There are too many experts on conservation and not enough engineers and scientists. You don't choose your degree based on what you find fun, you have to look to what job it will get you into, your career path, and your income.

I completely disagree with what's in bold, and if it were true then why are so many people doing pointless BA's? (Note: not all BA's are pointless).

I think you took me a little too literally. I'm saying people should be more practical when they choose their degree, thinking about the work they'll end up doing, the career path, and the income, rather than doing a degree that sounds interesting then trying to work out later how to make money from it. The world only needs so many conservation people and English majors.

Ouranos

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#908303 5-Oct-2013 08:15

WinPhne: Having two degrees certainly broadens your understanding but at the same time I believe its better to concentrate on a subject matter in university and do a honours/Masters degree after.

This is what I did. My first degree was technical, with a major in Operations Research and a minor in Computer Science. After working for a few years as an analyst I started part time study of more general subjects including management, economics, and finance - leading eventually to a Master of Management. The two degrees make a powerful combination. Importantly, the later study was more determined and meaningful with some work experience providing real-world context, helped by more maturity, adding a lot to the study experience.

More generally, my advice is to study something that (in this priority order): 1. interests you, 2. that you're good at, and 3. which has multiple options for a future career path. Few of the people I went to uni with went into a job that was directly related to their degree. The world is a complex and dynamic place. Unless you have laser focus on a specific career, then keep your options open. Many jobs that are around today, especially in the tech field, did not exist when I did my first degree more than 20 years ago.

Etcman

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#908446 5-Oct-2013 14:06

heisenberg:
nickb800:
heisenberg:
nickb800:
heisenberg:
nickb800: I'd suggest that you enrol in whatever degree, and make up your first year with one of everything (compsci, info, accounting, econ, marketing...). Figure out what you like, and at the end of your first year you can transfer those points to whatever sort of double/conjoint/etc that fits your interests and seems valuable.

Very few people follow through with what they planned to do at uni, so don't worry about starting with a perfect plan. I speak from experience here - I came to Canterbury to do engineering, ended up doing a BSc majoring in economics & geography.

As in my case, doing a double major (conjoint at vic?) instead of a double degree meant 4 years vs. 5 years. I wanted to keep studying at the end of 4 years so I went on to complete an honours degree. This arguably makes you much more valuable than an undergrad(or 2) and by 4 years you usually have a better idea of what you want to be doing

That is basically my plan at this stage. I will do core papers for 3 majors Computer science, accounting and possibly finance. I will then be able to decide what to get into the second year which is probably the best thing to do at this stage.

I plan to do 3 majors with a conjoint degree of BCom and BSc and when i come out of uni i should have 2 degrees. BCom majoring in Accounting and finance. BSc majoring in computer science. At the end i can decide which degree i want to do honors in.

Does this sound good? I am kind of feeling a bit more confident now :)

Sounds like a solid approach for your first year. I'd just emphasise that a conjoint degree (as opposed to a double/triple major) will take longer and won't be worth much more. Cross-crediting between degrees is limited, so you end up doing a lot of filler papers (which cost time and money). That's why I'm a big fan of double/triple majors instead, as you get the same skills more quickly. As at Canterbury you can fit economics as a science degree major, I'd be trying to fit your computing stuff into a commerce or info systems degree alongside your commerce papers. If you want to do a 5th year, use it to get an honours degree rather than a double degree.

That said, things change during your degree, and if you get good work experience during and a solid job offer at the end then honours will add little value for you (especially in computing as Timmay said)

I understand where you are coming from and i will contact victoria and ask about this.

So what you are saying is a BCom degree with 3 majors. Accounting, Finance and an outside major of computer science. right?

My question is, if a degree requires 360 points, wouldn't having 3 majors make you go over the points? does that really matter or mean anything?

Yep! I'm saying that your better to do over 360pts for one degree (say 400pts) rather than the the ~600pts(?) for a double major (i think the max cross credit is ~100pts). Do check the details on this for your degree though

Ok i see. I will look into one degree with 3 majors and then decided out of the my options.

I have been reading up a lot about software engineering and computer science and it seems, you learn programming in both and i dont really seem to understand the difference. What do yo learn that is actually difference. Victoria has nothing on its website :/

I'm currently a 3rd year BSc student in Computer Science at Victoria. At Vic, they split the computing courses into three components, that being computer science (COMP), software engineering (SWEN) and network engineering (NWEN). Despite being split, they still contribute to a Computer Science degree.

COMP - More theory, algorithms and languages.

SWEN - More software development, modelling, design and project management.

NWEN - More networking, cryptography and systems programming.

As a BSc Comp Science student, you are able to (and will have to) pick any courses from the three as there aren't enough COMP papers alone to graduate. If you aren't really interested in modelling or project management, you don't have to take them. I personally took the software development courses from SWEN and the networking/systems programming courses from NWEN in addition to the COMP papers. There are very few mandatory requirements (most/all of them in first year) so you are free to choose any of the papers from the three groups to complete your degree.

As a BE Software Engineering student however, most of your degree is planned out for you as those courses are compulsory. Taking on a full SWEN degree will require you to do all the modelling and project management stuff as well as programming. It also has the requirement of 800 hours of work experience as all BE students require.

JokezNZ

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#908948 6-Oct-2013 21:48

If you're looking at becoming a CA then I suggest you try get summer internships each year you can, these will look amazing on your CV.

insane

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#912179 10-Oct-2013 16:41

JokezNZ: If you're looking at becoming a CA then I suggest you try get summer internships each year you can, these will look amazing on your CV.

That's very good advise! I did a business degree, double majored in Information Systems and Management. Through a lot of hard work I've become a systems engineer, and ironically have used what I learn't while doing an internship in my third year more than any of the papers I did. I say 'so far' as I did the management major for when I get tired of the tools, I've no doubt some of that will still be relevant then.

Sadly many of the courses on offer are designed to get you into studying further, not necessarily getting work straight out of uni, so anything you can do to 'get ahead' should be seen as a huge opportunity.

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