How demanding will be a computer science degree for the next 10 years?

I'm going to be doing Computer Science this year, I think good programmers will always be in demand, you sound like you'll be fine but Computer Science remains one of the most dropped-out subjects because people don't understand what it is and how much maths is actually involved. Your university most likely won't teach you what you need to know for the real world though, this is a real problem with Computer Science courses, you need to do a lot of programming and studying outside of your course too.

Other fields that you could go into that'll always be in demand are Engineering - if you have Chemistry and Further Maths A Levels then you could go into Chemical Engineering which is a lucrative field and very much in demand. It's very hard though. STEM degrees with good grades are always going to be in demand.

I'd highly recommend that whatever course you decide to do that you at the very least do summer placements each year of your degree or a year placement so you have some idea of what sort of job you'll be going into and have that extra push to do well in your degree because you know what'll be waiting afterwards. It also gives you a lot of experience and skills to look out for with interviews, etc. You'll be able to use all of this later when applying for jobs and understanding what's expected of you in a real job.

I just want to reiterate this post as the poster is spot on. I did not read Computer Science at university, but spend more than 50% of my time in my current profession working with code and what he/she has said is very true. The ability to stay up-to-date with changes and updates in the language(s) you specialise in key, and what you may have learned during your degree will most likely be outdated in 10 years (at least in practice).

My suggestion would be to contact a few developers or computer scientists in your target industry and ask them about their experience. Moreover, work on coding projects in your spare time.

Though true in some regards about programming, a computer science degree from a well-respected uni in the discipline, will never go out of date. Programming is only a small part of a computer science degree, something many people do not know. You are taught the fundamentals of computer science. You actually learn the theory/maths behind how a programming language is doing something or how a processor works or an operating system, etc. You can then apply that in a practical aspect to a different variety of programming languages. The fundamentals of computer science have barely changed. Bare in mind that a well-respected uni will split a degree programme 50/50 with maths and computer science, in the first few years anyway.

I'm going to be doing Computer Science this year, I think good programmers will always be in demand, you sound like you'll be fine but Computer Science remains one of the most dropped-out subjects because people don't understand what it is and how much maths is actually involved. Your university most likely won't teach you what you need to know for the real world though, this is a real problem with Computer Science courses, you need to do a lot of programming and studying outside of your course too.

Other fields that you could go into that'll always be in demand are Engineering - if you have Chemistry and Further Maths A Levels then you could go into Chemical Engineering which is a lucrative field and very much in demand. It's very hard though. STEM degrees with good grades are always going to be in demand.

I'd highly recommend that whatever course you decide to do that you at the very least do summer placements each year of your degree or a year placement so you have some idea of what sort of job you'll be going into and have that extra push to do well in your degree because you know what'll be waiting afterwards. It also gives you a lot of experience and skills to look out for with interviews, etc. You'll be able to use all of this later when applying for jobs and understanding what's expected of you in a real job.

Hi I was just wandering if you thought it was worth doing a bsc computer science course which doesn't require maths at a top 40 uni, would this be worth it or is computer science only good at top unis which are very mathematical. I was very interested but would be gutted working hard 3 years only to find out there is no reward of only the top uni grads are in demand. Also this is the same for econ, any help will be very appreciated

Some universities won't ask for maths a levels but they'll teach you or give you the material you need to know as you go through, so I wouldn't worry about that. It depends what sort of work you go into but typically in real world programming it's quite rare to use a lot of the advanced maths that are found in these courses.
Like I said, as long as you can get a good grade, do some sort of placement somewhere, and you program outside of university you'll be just fine. If you can show that you have a portfolio of work while at university and you've been doing some open source projects and you've got them on GitHub (or something similar) and you've contributed to other projects people have by fixing things, employers will find that really appealing. Try going to some hackathons too (you get together with other people at these and create something over a weekend and learn from each other, you don't need to be some expert programmer to get involved. You also have something to show for it and put on your CV).

I'd also recommend reading books like Cracking the Coding Interview, but only after you take some algorithm modules because when you go for interviews employers typically ask you to write and fix algorithms like the ones in this book on a whiteboard (some take them directly from the book).

In the real world employers will usually sit you down and give you a psychometric test (you can just pick up some books for this, it's just so they can test your reasoning for themselves) or ask you to do one online first, then they'll ask you to come in for an interview and ask you to write some algorithms and to program something or fix something in a program.

So, yeah, don't worry. You should never rely on your university to teach you everything you should know, the people who do extra stuff will get ahead

Thanks a lot would the course itself at uni put me in a good position to do the psychometric tests and and solve the algorithms as part of the job interviews?

Yeah, of course, but only to a certain extent. Otherwise everyone who does your course would be getting the same jobs
It's all practice though so I wouldn't worry too much. Concentrate more on the course itself for now and after you learn some stuff start your own projects and just do a little bit now and then (a little bit over a three year period will eventually become a lot ). Also don't believe people who say the first year doesn't count

If you don't know programming try using something like codecademy.com to learn (I'd recommend Python because the syntax is pretty simple and forgiving to start with, try just doing the free ones). Once you learn one language it's pretty easy to pick up others quickly because you'll have understood the concepts. Most computer science courses seem to teach Java, try contacting your lecturers to find out if that's what they use and learn some of that too. They'll likely teach you from the ground up but this will just give a little head start as other people on your course will already know a little programming at least first.

If you can get the reading list early and start going through it before you start your course and try staying ahead of the material a little (you don't need to go crazy with this. it'll probably help you though by giving you more time to learn and do other things when you start your course), It's sometimes available publicly on your university site, you may have to google a little to find it though, or you can just ask the lecturers for this year's list or last year's. Most of the time you can find the books online by just searching for the title and putting pdf at the end of it on google (for example "Computer Science: An Overview pdf" ), but check to see if it's an older edition.

Hope that helps

Yeah, of course, but only to a certain extent. Otherwise everyone who does your course would be getting the same jobs
It's all practice though so I wouldn't worry too much. Concentrate more on the course itself for now and after you learn some stuff start your own projects and just do a little bit now and then (a little bit over a three year period will eventually become a lot ). Also don't believe people who say the first year doesn't count

If you don't know programming try using something like codecademy.com to learn (I'd recommend Python because the syntax is pretty simple and forgiving to start with, try just doing the free ones). Once you learn one language it's pretty easy to pick up others quickly because you'll have understood the concepts. Most computer science courses seem to teach Java, try contacting your lecturers to find out if that's what they use and learn some of that too. They'll likely teach you from the ground up but this will just give a little head start as other people on your course will already know a little programming at least first.

If you can get the reading list early and start going through it before you start your course and try staying ahead of the material a little (you don't need to go crazy with this. it'll probably help you though by giving you more time to learn and do other things when you start your course), It's sometimes available publicly on your university site, you may have to google a little to find it though, or you can just ask the lecturers for this year's list or last year's. Most of the time you can find the books online by just searching for the title and putting pdf at the end of it on google (for example "Computer Science: An Overview pdf" ), but check to see if it's an older edition.

Hope that helps

Hey mate, I went on code academy and had a go at html and did like it and find it pretty easy but I did get a bit stuck on the images part, although baring in mind I only spent 10 mins on it. Is this a sign that CS is not for me? How would I know when it is defiantly the course for me? I'm at the stage where I want to pursue it but I'm doubting my ability

It's fine to get stuck (lots of people do ) so don't worry about that. That's great that you got through a lot of the HTML stuff pretty easily.
I think they've got a Q&A thing that you can use if you get stuck or you can just skip to the next lesson and come back to that when you're ready.

Remember that when you start anything you're gonna suck at it Just the way things are.
If you stick with something though you're going to get better at it, it just takes time.

I think you just need to believe in yourself more, try some other languages out like Python and just go through things step by step, HTML is fine but it's more of a markup language.
With Python and Java you'll work with variables, strings, loops, etc and that'll help you a lot more when you're at uni, but you'll probably have web programming stuff too in your course so, yeah, knowing HTML would help you too.

If you can't work something out give it a few mins and think about it a little more and come back to it later. You're learning to problem solve when you're programming.
If you can't work it out, that's perfectly fine, you can just ask someone or look up how how to do it (when you're starting out you're not going to feel you know anything at all but keep going and you'll get better - everyone is the same way). Eventually you'll be able to work through things quickly, just takes practice. That's all, nothing magical about it lol

Lots of programmers get stuck all the time, even really experienced ones. That's why sites like stackoverflow are so popular with programmers asking each other how to do things, everyone helps each other.

There's a great book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell that's often cited by people, in it he states the 10,000 hour rule. When you put in around 10,000 hours into something you'll master it. Not saying it's going to take that long for you but just pointing out that everyone starts from the same place and works their way up

You say you only put in a few mins, but what if you put in 30 minutes or an hour every day or every other day? That would add up. Just be consistent with learning it and try to keep it fun for yourself, don't think of this as something you have to do, think of it as something you want to do so you can make cool stuff. Because you will.

If you feel though that you don't want to be programming after a while then maybe switch to a different course, but with programming you can create so many amazing things. It's up to you if you don't feel that computer science isn't what you want to be doing.

Computer science isn't programming but it has a lot of programming in it.

You don't have to go into a programming job with a Computer Science degree but if you do go into a programming job (most people seem to) you'll of course be programming a hell of a lot.
It's not for everyone but if you start enjoying it then maybe stick with it.

Think of some things that you'd like to make for your phone for example. Or improvements you'd like to see in some apps, programs or games that you've already got, and have a goal like that that to keep you motivated in wanting to learn. You won't be able to create some huge multiplayer game yet but once you learn some programming you'll be able to make small programs and games and work from there

Think about why you wanted to do Computer Science.

If you need help with anything feel free to PM me.

this was so helpful and motivational at the same time! ☺️ Yeah I guess it's the same with everything, and there will be aspects I enjoy and some I dislike, like with every course. Also it seems good that it's not just a programming course like you said, but a nice balance which will keep things exciting. Seems like the job prospects are endless with the degree, I think many most people do go into programming because after uni and all the experience they would have had with it, it really does become exciting. Thanks again for the help, I'll have a look into Phyton tomorrow on the website just to ensure the course is more me and after that I'm fully committed! I pros boy seem really hesitant as I wouldn't want to be in a degree where I'm struggling a lot! Thanks again very much for the help, I'll also look into some of the books you said in some earlier posts and get the extra curricular showing. One last question is do you think Poor a levels would hinder me in getting a good graduate jobs, I think I'm likely to end up get three Cs due to picking harder A levels which I wasn't interested in and didn't want this hindering me as my GCSEs are good and I'm confident I'll get a good degree grade as well

I don't think A levels would play that much into it, as long as you showed that you had a good grade at a higher level which would be a degree, as well as knowing how to program other stuff outside of your degree content, and with a placement somewhere you should be fine.

Most graduate jobs seem to ask for a 2:1 overall for your degree, but try to aim higher than this for your modules because people that aim for a particular grade come out of it with a slightly lower grade than they wanted.

You'll most likely get a tutor for your course when you start so you should be able to ask them if you need help with understanding coursework and so on but you usually need to book these in advance. You'll also be in labs with other people during tutorials and you can get programming practice in there too, as well as go through with the tutor what the lecturer meant about something you didn't understand, and get your coursework done.
Try and make friends with your tutors and lecturers.

The reason I recommended python is to just get familiar with a real language, once you learn the basics of this one you'll be able to understand what programs in other languages are doing when you read through them and you'll be able to pick up the syntax (how they're written).
Python isn't very graphical by itself (you won't be making windows, etc) but this is definitely the best way to learn when you're starting out.

A simple example of this is once you learn how write a for loop in one language and how it works you'll be able to write one in another language easily because you'll understand what it's doing. Codecademy is good because you get practice with the basics on their site as you learn instead of just learning everything when you're starting out from a book, which can be a little more intimidating.

Another site like Codecademy is Free Code Camp, you might like this one for the web development stuff. They start off with basic design stuff with html and css, then move into development languages like javascript - javascript is very popular with web development companies - they also go through algorithms, etc. As the name implies it's all free and you get to see the results on the right side of the screen. You don't need to complete the whole thing, just use it for practice.

Which uni are you going to go? I'm asking because I can maybe point you in the right direction for things to study before you start (so you can make more of an informed decision).

Atm i'm going to De Montfort uni as it seems strong but if there is any slightly better with similar grades you can recommend that will be fine and I'll keep an eye out, but I think de Montfort is the one. I did get a good offer from bournmouth too and could still go but I couldn't tel the difference between them pal

The first year is designed to suit students encountering the subject for the first time, but will also challenge those with a good knowledge of computer science. The course shares a common first year with Software Engineering BSc (Hons), Computer Security BSc (Hons) and Forensic Computing BSc (Hons) and you can transfer between courses after the first year of study.

Hey mate, I went on code academy and had a go at html and did like it and find it pretty easy but I did get a bit stuck on the images part, although baring in mind I only spent 10 mins on it. Is this a sign that CS is not for me? How would I know when it is defiantly the course for me? I'm at the stage where I want to pursue it but I'm doubting my ability

>they actually think their degree will be valuable

>they actually think their degree will be valuable