Worth doing a CompSci conversion?

If you look at a few software development graduate courses they look for people with degrees in a maths or science subject so comp science isn't a requirement. Obviously you will want programming experience though. Not sure what a conversion course is but I would finish your current degree but get to grips with some programming and experience is always good, especially in a subject like software development where practical work is a better representation of your skills.

Formal comp sci education is not necessary to become a software developer. Computer science is not about software development. Get a junior dev job, or an internship, or even just buy a book and start building software.

Comp sci is about algorithms and discrete maths. Being a good software developer - while knowledge of those things is useful - is more about knowledge of systems, design patterns, languages and frameworks.

This kind of course will have little to no bearing on your ability to get a dev job - employers want to know you have the practical ability and even often shy away from people with theoretical backgrounds.

For context - I'm a first class computer science graduate and professional .NET developer. I work for a medium-large (small when I was hired) digital agency and my interview was with the founder and then-technical-director of the company who originally expressed concerns that I had a very theoretical background with a lack of portfolio work - the ability to present yourself as a capable and resourceful person helps too!

Thanks - that's great advice.

You mention a knowledge of Systems, Design patterns and frameworks.

Can you recommend any good books/webstes that are good for reading up on any of these areas?

Thanks again

Thanks - that's great advice.

You mention a knowledge of Systems, Design patterns and frameworks.

Can you recommend any good books/webstes that are good for reading up on any of these areas?

Thanks again

Formal comp sci education is not necessary to become a software developer. Computer science is not about software development. Get a junior dev job, or an internship, or even just buy a book and start building software.

Comp sci is about algorithms and discrete maths. Being a good software developer - while knowledge of those things is useful - is more about knowledge of systems, design patterns, languages and frameworks.

This kind of course will have little to no bearing on your ability to get a dev job - employers want to know you have the practical ability and even often shy away from people with theoretical backgrounds.

For context - I'm a first class computer science graduate and professional .NET developer. I work for a medium-large (small when I was hired) digital agency and my interview was with the founder and then-technical-director of the company who originally expressed concerns that I had a very theoretical background with a lack of portfolio work - the ability to present yourself as a capable and resourceful person helps too!

Hey there,

I'm currently sitting for my 3rd year CS programme and I'm just passing by to give me personal opinion.

Since I was young I love doing programming and I'm still doing it in daily basis but recently I found out that Programming/SDev is more like a hobby than a career for me (personally I think you can make your hobby as your career path too), I regretted my decision of taking CompSci as my main meal.

Don't get me wrong CompSci is great, is just that you can learn almost anything from the internet. Maybe if you do want to go for CS, go for something that's not to main stream (maybe AI, that's what I'm doing right now).

Sure you can do a lot of thing with programming skill but I'm pretty sure you can achieve more with your math + chemistry skill added with programming skill. For instance, I attended Student Developer Challenge hosted by Samsung for universities around the UK and I was one of the top 10 but the top 3 students are not from CS stream, they are from Art, Physics, and Chemistry streams. Its clear why I couldnt beat them, its because they applied their knowledge of Physics/Chem/Art into the application (the knowledge that I don't have). All I can do was fancy user interface design + fancy super fast algorithm which, apparently, were not fancy enough to beat them.

My point is, programming sure its cool. But Programming + other knowledge, booooh that's the stuff.


PS: now I ended up doing some physics on my own while sitting for CompSci.

TBH you may think it is not an advantage right now, but if you applied to an IT management consultancy firm - they would prefer you to have a CS degree over physics etc.

Also CS is heavily maths, so the skills are transferable if you go into computing that has a science element.

It will also open doors in the financial sector.

You are probably right, I have not jump into job hunting yet. I'm doing my placement with Symantec right now, what confuses me is that most of my fellow interns are not from CS stream, I'm the only CS student .