Is a Software Engineering degree worth it for the career I'd like to do?

Hey, so i finished my first year in univeristy doing software engineering BSc - averaged 75% this year overall :smile:

However, while i do like the programming aspects, and love the problem solving, I was thinking of getting into Finance or Accounting grad schemes, or something like data analysis after uni - even when choosing it was between economics and SWE, but welp, we're here now xD

Is my degree still worth it for these? Is it too specific to where it isnt like transferable to these jobs? Or will i be okay? :smile:

Thanks!

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Al3x235

Hey, so i finished my first year in univeristy doing software engineering BSc - averaged 75% this year overall :smile:

However, while i do like the programming aspects, and love the problem solving, I was thinking of getting into Finance or Accounting grad schemes, or something like data analysis after uni - even when choosing it was between economics and SWE, but welp, we're here now xD
Is my degree still worth it for these? Is it too specific to where it isnt like transferable to these jobs? Or will i be okay? :smile:

Thanks!

First of all, congrats on the 75% average. I would apply to as many relevant internships now and where possible. You would only have a narrow window of time before the deadline for these.

Finance requires you to do the appropriate professional qualification for the specific role e.g. you can't do a qualification for stockbrokering and then expect to go into financial advisory.

Accounting usually accepts people with a degree in any subject and good A Levels in any subjects.

Data analysis typically don't require you to have any qualifications. Should you do, a degree in software engineering is just as good. However, according to Mike West (Data Janitor YouTube channel), he recommends getting the following:

MySQL8 certification from Oracle

A data visualisation certification from the company that made the platform e.g. Microsoft for PowerBI, Amazon for AWS, Snowflake for Snowflake, etc.

Brush up on your Python skills - I would do the certificates from the Python Institute for this, but it's not strictly necessary

I am not entirely sure whether you can go into economics with a degree in SWE, but as far as I can tell it's quantitative enough for the role, which is mostly revolving around stats and making economic interpretations.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 2

Al3x235

Original post by MindMax2000

First of all, congrats on the 75% average. I would apply to as many relevant internships now and where possible. You would only have a narrow window of time before the deadline for these.
Finance requires you to do the appropriate professional qualification for the specific role e.g. you can't do a qualification for stockbrokering and then expect to go into financial advisory.
Accounting usually accepts people with a degree in any subject and good A Levels in any subjects.
Data analysis typically don't require you to have any qualifications. Should you do, a degree in software engineering is just as good. However, according to Mike West (Data Janitor YouTube channel), he recommends getting the following:

MySQL8 certification from Oracle

A data visualisation certification from the company that made the platform e.g. Microsoft for PowerBI, Amazon for AWS, Snowflake for Snowflake, etc.

Brush up on your Python skills - I would do the certificates from the Python Institute for this, but it's not strictly necessary

Hey there, thanks so much for the information!

Regarding the internships, yeah, ive been looking and as of right now, most of the ones ive seen say you need to be in your penultimate year, which i dont think i am yet? (Im doing a 3 year degree), but i guess most of these will open closer to september for 2025

Even if I don't get any, i am working in projects , (like im making a thing that analyses the location and size of different earthquakes 🙂 , and ive also made like a net present value calculator in python for what its worth aha - probably not much tbh 😅) so hopefully these carry me if I don't get any internships (apparently they are super competitve)

As for accounting, i got ABB (Business, Maths, Physics respectively) , are these good enough? (I was like 3 marks off a A* in businees, and 2 off an A in maths - yes im still bummed about this xD), and hopefully i get a 1st at the end of this 😁

And for data analysis, luckily i got into python during lockdown, and had a module about it last year for uni, so i should be okay on that front, ill probably spend the summer working on projects , hopefully relevant to SWE roles and finance stuff :smile:

And in my university, i checked and the CS course and SWE Course are the exact same but I get more choices for optional modules :smile:

I know i shouldnt compare, but is tutoring experience (maths, business) , and volunteering in the university and in like a music place (i helped set up some events during christmas , and stuff like helping younger kids with setting up) etc okay work experience? Im gonna look for the proper like store job too but just wondering if im behind in any way in that sense?

Also , one more question...is it bad if I on a potential CV put, "Software Engineering with a focus / specilization in analytics", or should i jus5t stick to the official name?

Sorry for the barrage of questions! 😅but yeah again thanks for responding it really helps!!

Reply 3

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Al3x235

Hey there, thanks so much for the information!
Regarding the internships, yeah, ive been looking and as of right now, most of the ones ive seen say you need to be in your penultimate year, which i dont think i am yet? (Im doing a 3 year degree), but i guess most of these will open closer to september for 2025
Even if I don't get any, i am working in projects , (like im making a thing that analyses the location and size of different earthquakes 🙂 , and ive also made like a net present value calculator in python for what its worth aha - probably not much tbh 😅) so hopefully these carry me if I don't get any internships (apparently they are super competitve)
As for accounting, i got ABB (Business, Maths, Physics respectively) , are these good enough? (I was like 3 marks off a A* in businees, and 2 off an A in maths - yes im still bummed about this xD), and hopefully i get a 1st at the end of this 😁
And for data analysis, luckily i got into python during lockdown, and had a module about it last year for uni, so i should be okay on that front, ill probably spend the summer working on projects , hopefully relevant to SWE roles and finance stuff :smile:

And in my university, i checked and the CS course and SWE Course are the exact same but I get more choices for optional modules :smile:

I know i shouldnt compare, but is tutoring experience (maths, business) , and volunteering in the university and in like a music place (i helped set up some events during christmas , and stuff like helping younger kids with setting up) etc okay work experience? Im gonna look for the proper like store job too but just wondering if im behind in any way in that sense?
Also , one more question...is it bad if I on a potential CV put, "Software Engineering with a focus / specilization in analytics", or should i jus5t stick to the official name?
Sorry for the barrage of questions! 😅but yeah again thanks for responding it really helps!!

which i dont think i am yet? (Im doing a 3 year degree), but i guess most of these will open closer to september for 2025
You would need to be in Year 2 of your course. However, the deadlines for these tend to be in December, if not earlier i.e. narrow window to apply.

Even if I don't get any, i am working in projects , (like im making a thing that analyses the location and size of different earthquakes 🙂 , and ive also made like a net present value calculator in python for what its worth aha - probably not much tbh 😅) so hopefully these carry me if I don't get any internships (apparently they are super competitve)
Sounds good for IT/programming related roles. Do you have a website to upload these?
The NPV calculator won't help for finance roles specifically, but if you want to work in IT roles at a bank, this should be an interesting talking point.

As for accounting, i got ABB (Business, Maths, Physics respectively) , are these good enough? (I was like 3 marks off a A* in businees, and 2 off an A in maths - yes im still bummed about this xD), and hopefully i get a 1st at the end of this
Depends on the individual role. Most accounting graduate schemes have A Level grade boundaries. Tax for example typically ask for BBB, and Consulting asks for AAA. It would depend on the level of competition for the role as well as the individual firm that you want to apply to. For some accounting firms outside of the Big 4, they don't make a big as a fuss with A Levels and they focus more on the grade of your degree.
In any case, you are more than eligible to study any professional accounting qualification you want (most ask for low passes at A Level and grade 4+ in 5 GCSEs). However, your employer might have specific requirements.
Do note, if you don't get into an accounting grad scheme, I would look at medium sized accounting firms as well as any management accounting graduate schemes (if you don't care what type of accountant you want to become). If you want to specifically want to be a financial accountant, then you should really apply to accounting practices only (the Big 4 being ideal).

And for data analysis, luckily i got into python during lockdown, and had a module about it last year for uni, so i should be okay on that front, ill probably spend the summer working on projects , hopefully relevant to SWE roles and finance stuff
Why would it need to be relevant to SWE or finance? Do you intend to become a data analyst in tech and finance? Can you expand on this?
I don't think by doing data analysis on finance stuff would make you eligible for roles in quants or fund management for example. If this is what you meant, you might want to elaborate, just in case.

I know i shouldnt compare, but is tutoring experience (maths, business) , and volunteering in the university and in like a music place (i helped set up some events during christmas , and stuff like helping younger kids with setting up) etc okay work experience?
Is it relevant for the role? If so, yes. If not, no.
Tutoring experience is great if you want to apply for roles in tutoring or teaching. Volunteering is great if you want to work in charity. Setting up events is great if you want to go into event management. Helping younger kids is great if you want to work with kids. However, if you intend to use this for roles in finance, accounting, or software engineering, then I think they are at best talking points; they definitely won't count towards any relevant work experience that you are paid for and in full time work for.
If anything, 2 week work experience at a firm or doing an internship that offers roles similar to the ones that you want to apply for would do significantly more good that the volunteering stuff (which is altruistic and nice, but not directly relevant). So internships in financial firms, accounting practices, factories with accounting departments, IT departments, etc. make significantly more sense.

Im gonna look for the proper like store job too but just wondering if im behind in any way in that sense?
I don't quite get you. Are you going to look for work in retail? If so, it's nice for a part time job and some sort of character/work reference, but not directly relevant for any graduate job that you have mentioned that you are looking for.
if you want to work in retail for a graduate job in retail or possibly logistics/FMCG, then I can see some relevance.

is it bad if I on a potential CV put, "Software Engineering with a focus / specilization in analytics", or should i just stick to the official name
I'd stick to the official title of the degree. Unless you are applying for research related roles in academia or postgrad degrees, I don't think most people would be looking into the degree that deeply (the exception being some accounting firms, and they are looking for the grades you got). If recruiters want to ask more detail about it, they would either ask about your modules in your application or during the interview; most typically won't care (sorry to say). If they ask what degree you got, they typically just want to know which subject it is in.

By the way, feel free to ask for second opinions on any of the above. It's important that you get a wide range of sources to back up what you think. Also, opinions from people working in the field or specifically the roles that you want to apply for weigh a lot more than from people who don't e.g. I'd rather get an opinion and career advice from an accountant than from an academic advisor (unless the advisor was a former accountant him/herself/or whatever pronouns is appropriate), if I want to be an accountant (even more important if the accountant works at the firm that you also want to apply to).

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 4

Al3x235

Yeah i put them on github for now, but ill make my own site eventually :smile:

I guess id like them to be relevant to swe or finance as i thought itd be a little bit of an edge aha, and yeah an analyst in tech or finance..or fintech 😅 is more of what id like to go into i think!

And thanks for the info about grades, its good to know i should pass those, so that brings any ,,nerves" down a little :smile:

As for the work experience, ive kinda just thought that its good to get any work experience in uni , even if it is for just work experience - and also some extra money lol...and yeah i do kinda mean for these to be talking points, but its probably better to turn up with *something* for work experience than nothing - this was my thinking lol
And yeah with the retail..kinda the same thinking lol..i kinda trapped myself in the thinking of..no retail job or experience like this = not being a 'proper uni student??'(idk why i think that either, but i should probably stop thinking it)
But i will FOR SURE look at getting any relevant work experience i can :smile:

Regarding advice, the lecturer on my financial computing module made the switch from comp sci to finance/accounting/tech in finance (not sure which but one of these) , and then somehow switched back lol so ive emailed him for advice! :smile:

Thanks for all the help it actually helps to put my mind at ease quite a bit! Thankyou :smile:

Reply 5

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Al3x235

Yeah i put them on github for now, but ill make my own site eventually :smile:

I guess id like them to be relevant to swe or finance as i thought itd be a little bit of an edge aha, and yeah an analyst in tech or finance..or fintech 😅 is more of what id like to go into i think!
And thanks for the info about grades, its good to know i should pass those, so that brings any ,,nerves" down a little :smile:

Thanks for all the help it actually helps to put my mind at ease quite a bit! Thankyou :smile:

yeah an analyst in tech or finance..or fintech
If it's specifically to go into tech or fintech (which is essentially tech in the finance space), then I can see the relevance. For finance in general, it would depend on the individual role but generally any IT project you mention would just make you come across as a tech guy as opposed to the role you want to apply for (which can be a bad thing since they are looking to get as many people to go into tech in the finance sector - they're short).

And thanks for the info about grades, its good to know i should pass those, so that brings any ,,nerves" down a little
Forgot to mention, the grade boundaries are arbitrarily set by individual firms. Outside of the Big 4, these grade boundaries won't determine which area of accounting you specialise in or go into.