Advice for online courses

TDLR: Have arts degree, want online IT qualification, should I go for Bsc or conversion Msc?
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I have an arts BA currently and have several years work experience teaching English abroad. I'm now feeling that this is a dead-end and am very keen to break into the IT world. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Ideally I would like to be both accredited to a certain point but also fairly skilled in areas relevant to employers within 2-3 years.
However I don't think I can afford to go to a brick and mortar university because of the accommodation costs, so I am looking only at fully-online options.

I have done a little bit of Unity development on a couple of personal projects, also self taught myself a bit of Java a few years ago.
Not very advanced stuff but I think I have the basics of programming down.
Ive always achieved academically, so I don't doubt I can apply myself and learn the skills I need with some framework and the discipline of deadlines.
I haven't done any Coursera etc. modules yet but intend to start some soon and will continue to supplement my online degree with them.

I am considering the Open University Bsc in Computer Science, but also conversion Masters in CompSci / AI from other unis like York, Bath, Wrexham and others.
So I guess my first main question is

Can others verify if: (unrelated arts BA + IT Msc) > IT Bsc? For IT employability in particular

You see when I look at some of the Msc courses they seem quite skimpy on the coding, plus a lot of it is research. So Im concerned I would not be learning the skills I need, and employers might feel that too. Ive seen others describe conversion Msc merely as introductory courses for computing. But if I do two years of that plus other coding courses, would it be be a strong enough CV altogether? Or is it better to start from the ground up with the Bsc basics?

Reply 1

NDR008

9

What job do you want to do?

It is hard to judge what each employer will prefer.
Also honestly, not all MSc in Computer Science contain the same topics.
Some contain modules on networking, CPU design, OS architecture, others do not.

I think even if you do a BSc or MSc you may need to supplement it with a programming course - if that is the sort of thing you want to do in life now.

Reply 2

Krood

OP

13

I don't know what job I want to do, but Im interested in AI, NLP, text analysis. Also very interested in game design and educational software. I feel Im quite creative and so combining any kind of design work with coding could be nice. And I think I would be good at data insights.

Its really hard to boil down :s-smilie:

but honestly, at this stage Id delighted with for any job that has a skill requirement and doesnt pay badly so general employability is a consideration.

....is it important to know what role I want in order to choose between Bsc and Msc?

Reply 3

NDR008

9

no between BSc and MSc - it is obvious, if the price, course contents, and admission are OK - take the MSc.

Reply 4

ettoa88

3

I’m in the same boat... but I worked in the NHS and don’t want to do it anymore. Currently looking at computer science online for Bath and Northumbria. I want to get into software development and think it will give me a good foundation. Nice to see others wanting to get into the IT sector.

Reply 5

Krood

OP

13

Original post by ettoa88

I’m in the same boat... but I worked in the NHS and don’t want to do it anymore. Currently looking at computer science online for Bath and Northumbria. I want to get into software development and think it will give me a good foundation. Nice to see others wanting to get into the IT sector.

I hadn't considered Northumbria yet, did you manage to gain any info about it?
Ive tried for Bath, which I haven't seen any negative criticisms of so far, but would need to delay to January for that so that I can get my Maths A level and some coding skills in the meantime.

Reply 6

ettoa88

3

Original post by Krood

I hadn't considered Northumbria yet, did you manage to gain any info about it?
Ive tried for Bath, which I haven't seen any negative criticisms of so far, but would need to delay to January for that so that I can get my Maths A level and some coding skills in the meantime.

Same here Krood... I didn't go for Northumbria in the end. It is a choice between Staffs and Bath now. I need to decide if I want to wait till Jan to get onto the Bath one, So I can do the Maths and some Java/python leading up to it or go for Staffs and start in Sept.... Not sure what I'm doing at the moment. I want to focus on software development/ web dev which Staffs looks very good for, however Bath covers more such as AI and cyber security So I wouldn't be bound just to software development later down the line... So still not sure...

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