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Information Technology MSc

Hello there,

I'm a Psychology graduate and graduated in 2015. I've been looking at a few career options with a heavy technology base and found a few Information Technology courses which require no prior computing experience.

Does anyone have any thoughts they can share about it? Since I've graduated I've been in a job working with technology like traffic systems and CCTV for the local council and feel this experience will help with university applications. Did the degree help further your aspirations?

Am I at a disadvantage because if I do this course i will only have done one year of study? Or do you think two different degrees will help me standout in job applications?

Thanks in advance!

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A collection of degrees is not what you should be aiming for. What would you like to do in the future and does that require a degree in IT? You sound like you're in a job that uses IT already and are not struggling/enjoying it? Why do you feel you need this degree?
Reply 2
I'd like to break into the technology industry, and my time around business/government has developed an interest in how IT can transform and help them achieve their needs. Things like how data can be used effectively and network infrastructure + security also piqued my interest. I think this requires a degree and hopefully allow me to learn some code too.
Sure I use IT currently but I'm not as technically knowledgeable as I'd like to be. The job I'm probably not enjoying as much as I thought I'd be and is not always challenging.
This would be a sorta conversion course, but since it starts in the autumn Ive got some time to prepare for the intensive nature of the course. Ultimately It's an investment that I hope will pay off, and my thinking around the two degrees is that they'll complement each other suited for business.

Thanks for replying
Reply 3
Original post by lazerspec
Hello there,

I'm a Psychology graduate and graduated in 2015. I've been looking at a few career options with a heavy technology base and found a few Information Technology courses which require no prior computing experience.

Does anyone have any thoughts they can share about it? Since I've graduated I've been in a job working with technology like traffic systems and CCTV for the local council and feel this experience will help with university applications. Did the degree help further your aspirations?

Am I at a disadvantage because if I do this course i will only have done one year of study? Or do you think two different degrees will help me standout in job applications?

Thanks in advance!


I'm 4 months late to the party, but did you decide to do this? I'm also a psychology graduate (2016), and I have been accepted to study this in September. I'm really excited, and I see it opening many doors for me, but I keep thinking that maybe this could a waste of time and money. Looking at the future careers section on the course information page, many students are now employed in mostly software engineering/programming roles, which is definitely a possibility for me, but I can't help think that maybe these were just the lucky few - when I look at my own degree on the website, I see a lot of jobs that absolutely no-one in my year have. I just don't know if it will either be a) a real waste of time, as can a 4 year bachelors degree really be comparable to a 1 year masters? or b) be so intensive that I won't be able to keep up. I would love to talk to some graduates of this type of degree and ask some questions!
Reply 4
Original post by sophsim
I'm 4 months late to the party, but did you decide to do this? I'm also a psychology graduate (2016), and I have been accepted to study this in September. I'm really excited, and I see it opening many doors for me, but I keep thinking that maybe this could a waste of time and money. Looking at the future careers section on the course information page, many students are now employed in mostly software engineering/programming roles, which is definitely a possibility for me, but I can't help think that maybe these were just the lucky few - when I look at my own degree on the website, I see a lot of jobs that absolutely no-one in my year have. I just don't know if it will either be a) a real waste of time, as can a 4 year bachelors degree really be comparable to a 1 year masters? or b) be so intensive that I won't be able to keep up. I would love to talk to some graduates of this type of degree and ask some questions!


Hi, sorry for the lateness of this reply!

I've spent the last month prepping for my application to Glasgow University and got accepted last week. I'm pretty excited to start tbh. Congratulations on your offer! From what I have researched (I.e looking at those who have done this course on LinkedIn) the software roles are fairly prominent. Though that was a quick glance i'm confident the careers department will help during and after the degree. And also recruiters come during the year so I think its entirely possible to have a job lined up afterwards.

I've had the exact same questions as you, which I why i'm preparing for this to be the toughest academic year of my life! But I'm so looking forward to it. Perhaps if you shoot a message to the graduates on LinkedIn? I think they'd be happy to tell about their own experiences. Are you planning on looking at the Human Computer Interaction module? I think our Psychology degree would complement the module well.

Have to admit too, Glasgow seems like a great place to study too (aside from it being a great university).
Reply 5
Original post by lazerspec
Hi, sorry for the lateness of this reply!

I've spent the last month prepping for my application to Glasgow University and got accepted last week. I'm pretty excited to start tbh. Congratulations on your offer! From what I have researched (I.e looking at those who have done this course on LinkedIn) the software roles are fairly prominent. Though that was a quick glance i'm confident the careers department will help during and after the degree. And also recruiters come during the year so I think its entirely possible to have a job lined up afterwards.

I've had the exact same questions as you, which I why i'm preparing for this to be the toughest academic year of my life! But I'm so looking forward to it. Perhaps if you shoot a message to the graduates on LinkedIn? I think they'd be happy to tell about their own experiences. Are you planning on looking at the Human Computer Interaction module? I think our Psychology degree would complement the module well.

Have to admit too, Glasgow seems like a great place to study too (aside from it being a great university).


That's great, congratulations!! I'll see you there then! How did you find the people on LinkedIn?

Do you have any idea of the recommended reading because I have sent 3 emails in as many months to the school of computing director/admin email address, and all have been ignored :/

I will definitely be doing the HCI module, I'm very interested in it, and I had an HCI specialist lecturer, that I really wanted for my dissertation, but ended up with someone else. Would you like to combine your psychology background with computing for a career, or is this a complete change of direction for you?

Whereabouts did you do your psychology degree?

Edit: How did you know I was going to Glasgow? We hadn't previously spoken about that...?
(edited 6 years ago)
So... the first thing to be aware of is that generally MSc "conversion" courses (that I have experience with) in IT/CS have a pretty high drop out rate. They are very intense, but definitely do-able.

Regarding employment prospects: Employers are more savvy to "conversion" masters in IT/CS now. They know that generally it's about 50-60% of the content of an BSc/BEng in IT/CS squeezed in to one year. I've interviewed conversion grads from QUB and Ulster Uni and I've found them very much a mixed bag. Those who excelled in the course were usually very good. Those who just passed the course we found to not be a great fit for the company. The last thing the tech sector needs is mediocre coders or people who only half understand tech or who "just want a cool job". Recently companies (in Belfast anyway) have shifted their focus on to CS undergrads and are focusing less on Masters conversion students. Generally CS undergrads have more of a passion, understanding and generally just more education around CS so you get a better return from them.

Regarding Cyber Security: This is a huge field and you could do an undergrad, masters and PhD just in it, and if I'm honest you'll only touch the surface of it in a conversion course. With that said, if you are aiming for government roles, you'll be in luck as government are so far behind the curve with cyber security (I mean terrifyingly behind the curve) they will take people with any kind of experience or education in this area at the moment.

Workload: You cannot practice coding enough going in to these types of courses. At masters level, you have to do a lot more independent study and you will do 90% of your coding outside of class. Form a good group in class is my advice and practice practice practice between now and September.

Good luck. You can definitely both succeed.
Reply 7
Original post by sophsim
That's great, congratulations!! I'll see you there then! How did you find the people on LinkedIn?

Do you have any idea of the recommended reading because I have sent 3 emails in as many months to the school of computing director/admin email address, and all have been ignored :/

I will definitely be doing the HCI module, I'm very interested in it, and I had an HCI specialist lecturer, that I really wanted for my dissertation, but ended up with someone else. Would you like to combine your psychology background with computing for a career, or is this a complete change of direction for you?

Whereabouts did you do your psychology degree?

Edit: How did you know I was going to Glasgow? We hadn't previously spoken about that...?


Hey, sorry I saw your username in the glasgow postgraduate page before I replied to your post, forgot to mention this but that's how.

To find people I just typed "Information technology msc glasgow university LinkedIn" and went through the searches, I don't know how representative it is but I think it's a good start.

I haven't even got started on the reading, but did notice on the course catalogue list you can find some books for the modules in the programme. I'll link to one example, Software Engineering

http://www.gla.ac.uk/coursecatalogue/course/?code=COMPSCI5059

At the top of the page there's a "reading list" link. Think this is present for all modules.

Ah that's quite cool, HCI is a possibility for me too. Ideally i'd like to combine the two, but if I find something I enjoy without my undergraduate I'll be okay with that. What about yourself? I did my degree at Derby, yours?
Reply 8
Original post by jestersnow
So... the first thing to be aware of is that generally MSc "conversion" courses (that I have experience with) in IT/CS have a pretty high drop out rate. They are very intense, but definitely do-able.

Regarding employment prospects: Employers are more savvy to "conversion" masters in IT/CS now. They know that generally it's about 50-60% of the content of an BSc/BEng in IT/CS squeezed in to one year. I've interviewed conversion grads from QUB and Ulster Uni and I've found them very much a mixed bag. Those who excelled in the course were usually very good. Those who just passed the course we found to not be a great fit for the company. The last thing the tech sector needs is mediocre coders or people who only half understand tech or who "just want a cool job". Recently companies (in Belfast anyway) have shifted their focus on to CS undergrads and are focusing less on Masters conversion students. Generally CS undergrads have more of a passion, understanding and generally just more education around CS so you get a better return from them.

Regarding Cyber Security: This is a huge field and you could do an undergrad, masters and PhD just in it, and if I'm honest you'll only touch the surface of it in a conversion course. With that said, if you are aiming for government roles, you'll be in luck as government are so far behind the curve with cyber security (I mean terrifyingly behind the curve) they will take people with any kind of experience or education in this area at the moment.

Workload: You cannot practice coding enough going in to these types of courses. At masters level, you have to do a lot more independent study and you will do 90% of your coding outside of class. Form a good group in class is my advice and practice practice practice between now and September.

Good luck. You can definitely both succeed.


Hey, thank you for your insight into this.

Can I ask whether the end result (pass, merit, distinction) is a big factor into what employers are looking for? Does that usually correlate to good skills that are useful to a company?

That sounds like good advice, hope to do exactly that.
Original post by lazerspec
Hey, thank you for your insight into this.

Can I ask whether the end result (pass, merit, distinction) is a big factor into what employers are looking for? Does that usually correlate to good skills that are useful to a company?

That sounds like good advice, hope to do exactly that.


In my experience it does.

What you have to bear in mind is that for tech interviews, there will be at least some questions about tech as a minimum. Some roles will actually have a 2 interview stage and one interview will purely be about tech. Some interviews also have written test to see how you would solve a coding problem. You will be dealing with Senior Engineers with decades of experience who will be able to spot if you're bluffing in a second. That's the beauty of Computer Science. It's essentially applied Math. Your code will either work or it won't. People will be able to tell at a glance if you are clueless or know you're stuff.

With a pass it's not so much because of the grade, but because a pass usually means the person hasn't quite gotten the bulk of what they've done and that really can come across at interview. I know there can be mitigating factors that aren't apparent on a piece of paper though. For example some people just aren't great in written examines but excel at practical tasks (the latter being a lot more important in industry). Generally though the 'passes' we've had in for interview demonstrated little passion or understanding of tech, and on occasion were very wolly about some pretty basic stuff.

Now it's still possible to get a job if you pass your MSc, but if you get a commendation or a distinction it usually means you've done the work to acquire a fairly solid knowledge of some important areas of IT/CS. That can really come across at interview and if you have done a solid research project or a group software project. A commendation or a distinction will open a lot more doors for you.
Original post by lazerspec
Hey, thank you for your insight into this.

Can I ask whether the end result (pass, merit, distinction) is a big factor into what employers are looking for? Does that usually correlate to good skills that are useful to a company?

That sounds like good advice, hope to do exactly that.


As an example of a tech interview question, this one is fairly common. See if you can work out the logic of the answer (you don't need to know code to figure out the logic). If by the end of your MSc you can't figure this out without googling it, I would avoid roles that require you to do any sort of coding tbh.

Write a program that prints the numbers 1 to 100.

For every multiple of 3, print out the word "Fizz" instead of the number

For every multiple of 5, print out the word "Buzz" instead of the number

For every multiple of 3 and 5, print out the word "FizzBuzz" instead of the number
Reply 11
Original post by lazerspec
Hey, sorry I saw your username in the glasgow postgraduate page before I replied to your post, forgot to mention this but that's how.

To find people I just typed "Information technology msc glasgow university LinkedIn" and went through the searches, I don't know how representative it is but I think it's a good start.

I haven't even got started on the reading, but did notice on the course catalogue list you can find some books for the modules in the programme. I'll link to one example, Software Engineering

http://www.gla.ac.uk/coursecatalogue/course/?code=COMPSCI5059

At the top of the page there's a "reading list" link. Think this is present for all modules.

Ah that's quite cool, HCI is a possibility for me too. Ideally i'd like to combine the two, but if I find something I enjoy without my undergraduate I'll be okay with that. What about yourself? I did my degree at Derby, yours?


Oh, I see! I was V. confused :laugh:

HOW did you find this?! I have been looking and looking. I came across something similar to this, but didn't have reading list, or even a detailed description of the module.

I did mine in Stirling. Are you from Derby?
Reply 12
Original post by jestersnow
As an example of a tech interview question, this one is fairly common. See if you can work out the logic of the answer (you don't need to know code to figure out the logic). If by the end of your MSc you can't figure this out without googling it, I would avoid roles that require you to do any sort of coding tbh.

Write a program that prints the numbers 1 to 100.

For every multiple of 3, print out the word "Fizz" instead of the number

For every multiple of 5, print out the word "Buzz" instead of the number

For every multiple of 3 and 5, print out the word "FizzBuzz" instead of the number


I haven't done any coding in 7 years when I was in school, and only did visual basic (don't worry, I'm about to start some reading and practice coding next week to prepare), but is this a conditional if statement? Start with 3 and 5 FizzBuzz, then be else if for 3 Fizz and 5 Buzz. Not sure on the exact coding though. Very rusty.
Original post by sophsim
I haven't done any coding in 7 years when I was in school, and only did visual basic (don't worry, I'm about to start some reading and practice coding next week to prepare), but is this a conditional if statement? Start with 3 and 5 FizzBuzz, then be else if for 3 Fizz and 5 Buzz. Not sure on the exact coding though. Very rusty.


Yes you're on the right lines, but have a think about what the if statements should be nested within.
Reply 14
Original post by sophsim
Oh, I see! I was V. confused :laugh:

HOW did you find this?! I have been looking and looking. I came across something similar to this, but didn't have reading list, or even a detailed description of the module.

I did mine in Stirling. Are you from Derby?


You know they may have added that recently, I think I visited the page before in like May and there was no link to a reading list. I may be wrong but yeah, I've only recently found the "Reading list". Are you going to buy the books?

Ah I applied for IT at Stirling, looks an amazing campus. No but in the Midlands, are you moving to Glasgow or commuting?
Reply 15
Original post by lazerspec
You know they may have added that recently, I think I visited the page before in like May and there was no link to a reading list. I may be wrong but yeah, I've only recently found the "Reading list". Are you going to buy the books?

Ah I applied for IT at Stirling, looks an amazing campus. No but in the Midlands, are you moving to Glasgow or commuting?


There seems to be a lot of online resources, so I'll see how I get on with that before I fork out hundreds.

I also applied, and got in, but Glasgow is just a better uni, so even though the tuition fees are far greater than Stirling, I decided to just go for it. I'll be staying at home unfortunately. I'd love to move to Glasgow, as I will be spending about 5 hours a day just getting to and from uni, but money doesn't permit :/ I take it you will be?
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 16
Original post by sophsim
There seems to be a lot of online resources, so I'll see how I get on with that before I fork out hundreds.

I also applied, and got in, but Glasgow is just a better uni, so even though the tuition fees are far greater than Stirling, I decided to just go for it. I'll be staying at home unfortunately. I'd love to move to Glasgow, as I will be spending about 5 hours a day just getting to and from uni, but money doesn't permit :/ I take it you will be?


Yeah think I'll definitely check the online stuff out first. Have you started yet? I'm working full-time till I start in Sept so I won't get as much time as I'd like to really prepare. Will try as much as possible though.

Yeah Glasgow is just too good of an opportunity. Yep moving, kinda have to. Probably try to get a part-time job whilst there, not sure if it will be detrimental to studying though.
Reply 17
Original post by lazerspec
Yeah think I'll definitely check the online stuff out first. Have you started yet? I'm working full-time till I start in Sept so I won't get as much time as I'd like to really prepare. Will try as much as possible though.

Yeah Glasgow is just too good of an opportunity. Yep moving, kinda have to. Probably try to get a part-time job whilst there, not sure if it will be detrimental to studying though.


Well now that I have a reading list, although not all modules are available to view, I'll be starting on Monday. I'm just working part-time right now, and I do intend to work whilst studying, but I work back shift, and even right now it's having an impact on my sleeping pattern, so I will have to see when the time comes.

Do you mind if I ask what age you are? And are you male or female?
Reply 18
Original post by sophsim
Well now that I have a reading list, although not all modules are available to view, I'll be starting on Monday. I'm just working part-time right now, and I do intend to work whilst studying, but I work back shift, and even right now it's having an impact on my sleeping pattern, so I will have to see when the time comes.

Do you mind if I ask what age you are? And are you male or female?


I'll PM you, probably better than over a thread.
Hey I know this is an old thread but I’m currently deciding on the MSc conversion course for information technology in Glasgow. I also studied psychology at undergraduate level and have absolute no prior knowledge to computer science.

I would like to ask if they teach you with the intent you have at least a little knowedlege in this area or if they teach you the very basics with understandable simple language? Also how are you enjoying the course and what the struggles are?

Very interested in this course since it will open many more doors and job opportunities (hopefully!)

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