[mikejharper]

I will (hopefully)have completed a BSc in Applied Computing this time next year and with the job market being so competitive would you recommend me completing a MSc in Computer Science? in your experience would it help me in the applicant queue?

Many Thanks,

Mike

[JBailey82]

Hi fellow Staffs student,

In my opinion employers regard experience over masters qualifications - is there any way that you could look into voluntering to get some experience? What area of IT are you looking to go into? Are you prepared to travel if so you could apply on graduate schemes.

Hope this helps.

Jo

[choco_latte]

I finished a comp sci degree, worked for a bit, then went back to do a masters.

Talking to undergraduates, and remembering what it was like when I was playing the grad scheme applications game, I notice an imense sense of pressure which seems crazy. By which I mean irrational.

There are still not enough good compsci / engineering gradauates to fill all the grad scheme places, never mind non grad scheme junior roles at smaller organisations. I'm talking about skilled work at Thales or IBM here, not generic buisness grad schemes where the company can recruit from any degree. You just need a 2.1, decent A levels (though not as good as the grad schemes tend to quote - you can get away with Ds); Also, you need to know your classes well enough to field some course related questions at interview, and be able to do interview type programming (sorting algorithm in psuedocode on a whiteboard or in a chosen language on a PC). That's it.
Then you make like 10 applications to larger companies, which will take about 2 weeks, and you will get a job. Period.

As regards a masters, that's a very expensive thing to do as a stop gap. Fees alone are like 5k, and you will need another 10 to live on. Masters is harder than undergrad, so getting a job to fund it may not be viable. There are lots of reasons why you might want to study a masters - as a bridge to a PHD, as a bridge to another field (law? social work?). As a stop gap, you'd be better off doing TEFL or something. At least you get a suntan.

[mikejharper]

I don't really want a stop gap, I want anything that will get me a job if the Masters would not increase my employment prospects I wouldn't go for it.

I'm hoping to graduate with a first, hopefully this will get me some interviews. By sorting algorithms do you mean something like an array of integers sorted from lowest to highest etc?

My main areas of interest are programming (C#) and databases

Thanks

[DynamicSyngery]

No, at least not for that reason. A masters is like an anti-job: you pay someone else money to do work for them. Only do one if there's a clear goal and you know that the degree will actually get you much closer to it with a high degree of certainty.

You should apply for jobs. If you don't get anything, look for relevant voluntary work. If not that, then start an internet business. It doesn't really need to make money, but just something to put on your CV that shows you did some real programming.