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What's the best University?

Hi,

I'm Simon, I'm 15 and I'm in my last year at High School.

I'm taking my GCSE Exams in the upcoming months and I'm currently debating what to do after I finish School.

I've been interested in Website Development(/design) for several years now and because of this I have learnt quite a bit of website scripting languages (PHP, SQL, XHTML, Javascript, etc) and would like to take my knowledge of the languages further.

I have been doing some researching on the Internet of Universities/Colleges that have courses on Web Development (mainly focusing on the design aspects of development and of course learning scripting languages, etc).

But sadly, I have found no universities that offer a course in what I would like to take.

And so, I was wondering if anyone on this Forum is currently taking a course in any aspect of Web Development and if they are if the university/college they are studying at is good or not.

If you could please let me know of any good places to take my education of Web Dev. further I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,
Simon

Reply 1

EvenStevens

Hmmm

I know Computer Science courses tend to do markup languages and website development but focus primarily on the programming and architecture side of things and just integrate websitey stuff into it all.

Might be worth checking out Comp Sci if you're willing to do the other, more techy stuff!

Though - be careful. A degree in "web development", if you can find it, is a very narrow, focused degree. It might be in your best (future) interests to look into computer science - in which case MAKE SURE YOU TAKE A LEVEL MATHS! :P

Reply 2

Waldo Dobbs

Whilst the languages and technologies you're using are indeed useful, you might not want to become too fixated on developing solely for the LAMP or WIMP stacks. You may want to consider a more general degree - i.e. Computer Science rather than Web Development.

There are Web Development courses, but they're obviously a lot newer than Computer Science courses, which leads to differences in how they're perceived, not to mention the course content they cover.

If you do apply for a Web Development course, it's important to avoid one that is very heavily fixated on technology - technology changes, and web development is probably slightly more susceptible to fads than non-web development. Most enterprises are normally a bit slower in taking up new technology, if at all.

Definitely take A-level Mathematics, and if you're capable of it, take A-level Further Mathematics. Continue working on your portfolio of both web-based applications and standalone applications throughout your time at uni. That way you're not boxing yourself into a specific role or sector.

Reply 3

OCC++

Just to remind you about the possible pitfalls of studying a too focused and narrowed degree, you might face severe competition in future as everyone knows, India and China are coming up with IT talents and developed countrues will love to outsource their low level jobs to them.

On the other hand since you couldn't find a satisfactory course, try thinking of comp sci or just some other broader course.