Career advice please!

[matteo]

Hello Mybb.

I'm currently doing my BTech in IT(software development) and I'm not really sure what I going to be doing next year. I'm considering doing my Mtech but I'm also thinking about doing a bsc.hons in compSci, or maybe I should just get a job? I'm really lost guys please help me.

Thanks

 

[Hamster]

Do you need the money/job?

 

[matteo]

Do you need the money/job?

No, not really I'm currently living with my parents.

 

[Hamster]

Finish your studies. Once you start working it becomes difficult.

 

[matteo]

Thanks but I'm not sure which path to take, a Mtech or bsc hons. I don't have a compSci background so maybe an Mtech would be a better choice?

 

[cguy]

Thanks but I'm not sure which path to take, a Mtech or bsc hons. I don't have a compSci background so maybe an Mtech would be a better choice?

While I'm sure it has happened somewhere in the past, is a BSc. Hons readily available? Like you say, I don't really see how someone without a CS background can really do it unless they somehow manage to avoid all modules requiring the CS/math background (when I did this, it would have been impossible since nearly everything from networking, to graphics, to compilers required a strong background). Perhaps things have changed?

 

[Hamster]

Thanks but I'm not sure which path to take, a Mtech or bsc hons. I don't have a compSci background so maybe an Mtech would be a better choice?

Regardless of the feasibility of each (the MTech being the natural progression from the BTech of course), it all depends on what you want to achieve.

Personally I don't see the use of an MTech. If you are going to study more than 4 years the BSc Hons is probably worth more the effort.

For a career, unless you want to go hardcore and do complex mathematical and statistical stuff, a BTech is more than sufficient.

...but again, if you have the means to study, do it. Just don't over qualify yourself or expect a senior position/salary straight out of uni.

 

[CamiKaze]

Would be a wise decision to rather study Information Systems after you have completed your BTech.

 

[matteo]

Regardless of the feasibility of each (the MTech being the natural progression from the BTech of course), it all depends on what you want to achieve.

Personally I don't see the use of an MTech. If you are going to study more than 4 years the BSc Hons is probably worth more the effort.

For a career, unless you want to go hardcore and do complex mathematical and statistical stuff, a BTech is more than sufficient.

...but again, if you have the means to study, do it. Just don't over qualify yourself or expect a senior position/salary straight out of uni.

Thanks a lot, that was really helpful

 

[matteo]

Would be a wise decision to rather study Information Systems after you have completed your BTech.

I hear you. Thanks

 

[matteo]

While I'm sure it has happened somewhere in the past, is a BSc. Hons readily available? Like you say, I don't really see how someone without a CS background can really do it unless they somehow manage to avoid all modules requiring the CS/math background (when I did this, it would have been impossible since nearly everything from networking, to graphics, to compilers required a strong background). Perhaps things have changed?

Perhaps they have, I'll do more research. Thank you

 

[Dada]

I would not go with the option of studying Information Systems, it shares many modules( just repackaged differently) with Information Systems. It would be just repetition of some sort.

I would advice that you do your MTech, especially since you stay with your parents and don't really need to work immediately. When you do your MTech do yourself a favour stick to a technical topic one that requires you to build something. It will help develop your conceptualization skills and generally make you appreciate the people who build things from first principles, I know that ever since starting my MTech. I have so much respect for people who are able to give life to their ideas, anyone can fantasize about going to the moon. Very few people can come up with a way to get there. So much work goes into bringing things to life. If you look around each and every product\service was conceptualised for a specific purpose and blood, sweat and tears went into every single one of them.

So I would conclude by saying go your Mtech, and choose a technically aligned topic. Stay away from lovey dovey topics, my personal advice. Remember your topic will stay with you for a few years, it's all you will think about, you will even start to dream about it.

 

[HavocXphere]

Delay the job part as long as you can. It'll differ by sector but in my experience its best to stay in academics right up until you reach a fork in the road where those that want to be professors teaching the subject stay & everyone else bails. That strategy effectively puts you at the top of the food chain in terms of qualifications in the commercial world.

Personally I'd rather have a Bsc than an Mtech though - mainly due to international portability. I'll freely admit I'm ignorant of the specifics on this front though...

 

[Dada]

I disagree there is a lot of benefits to acquiring a Mtech , or any Masters degree for that matter. I am busy doing my Mtech part time, I am handing in about 2 months time. The benefits for me I can say they are the following
Improved writing skills
Critical thinking
Asking the right questions
Respect for other disciplines
Technical skills
Project Management

To discuss the benefits further. It goes without saying your writing skills will improve, writing a 80 page plus document is guaranteed to improve your current level of writing by some margin. Well you may wonder if writing has some importance, well it does if you have seen the level of ambiguity that is present in some people's work it's a bit disappointing at times when you have to go back to the person and ask them to give more information, if more people in this country had a postgraduate degree, I think there can be generally better clarity in written communication as the degree will instil some level of discipline in how you write, you will consider minimizing the pain of the reader.

Whatever your ability was to think critically it will be improved, I can speak for myself in that these days I am very critical of a lot of things, I am less accepting of ideas verbatim. Thirdly you learn to ask the right questions, those questions that tear ideas apart . Fourthly you will learn to respect other disciplines, especially when your topic takes you on journey where you read articles from Law, Economics, Computer Science, Information Systems, Philosophy, Business. You realise the importance of other disciplines( I used to look down on any other discipline that was not in the computing sphere) and the value they add to the body of knowledge, and how someone from a different field can stimulate your mind so much that it borders on 'erotica'

The other thing it helps develop, if you are producing some kind of artefact as part of your thesis, is that it will upgrade your technical skills, as you are likely to work with technologies you would unlikely use in the workplace, even more unlikely in South Africa. Which I think helps you grow as an individual, and forces you to perceive the programming world differently. Finally you will become a better project manager, as to graduate you have to manage the thesis, and it's no small feet especially if you are doing it part time

Regardless of the feasibility of each (the MTech being the natural progression from the BTech of course), it all depends on what you want to achieve.

Personally I don't see the use of an MTech. If you are going to study more than 4 years the BSc Hons is probably worth more the effort.

For a career, unless you want to go hardcore and do complex mathematical and statistical stuff, a BTech is more than sufficient.

...but again, if you have the means to study, do it. Just don't over qualify yourself or expect a senior position/salary straight out of uni.

 

[cguy]

I would rather have a BSc Hons over an MTech myself, however, I wouldn't want the kind of BSc Hons I would be able to do after a BTech just for the paper.(ie, light on CS/math). I agree with all the benefits that dada lists,(same kind of benefits one gets doing an MSc or PhD), so in the OPs case I suggest an MTech as the next step.

 

[matteo]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I really appreciate it.

 

[Hamster]

Improved writing skills
Critical thinking
Asking the right questions
Respect for other disciplines
Technical skills
Project Management

If you need an MTech to acquire these skills I've got bad news for you. If you think an MTech makes you a good project manager I've got bad news for everyone.

I'll agree with your statement that you might get to work with stuff you'll never get to work with in the average day job...but that is irrelevant.

...not that you shouldn't do an MTech or hons if you have the chance.

 

[cguy]

If you need an MTech to acquire these skills I've got bad news for you. If you think an MTech makes you a good project manager I've got bad news for everyone.

I'll agree with your statement that you might get to work with stuff you'll never get to work with in the average day job...but that is irrelevant.

...not that you shouldn't do an MTech or hons if you have the chance.

I took his statement to be more of a "lite"/"self-PM" exercise: I.e., you become good at managing your own time, tracking your own progress, correcting your behaviour if you are falling behind (or taking other measures), seeing scope creep and dealing with it, getting a feel for how much time you think task X is going to take vs. how much time it does actually take, etc. Possibly even QA, branch management, automatic regression testing, etc., depending on how pro you choose to go...

All very relevant to project management, but like you say, still just a small fragment of the complexity that arises in the real world, where you have to deal with groups of people in an environment that is often only ostensibly sane.

 

[Dada]

If you need an MTech to acquire these skills I've got bad news for you. If you think an MTech makes you a good project manager I've got bad news for everyone.

I'll agree with your statement that you might get to work with stuff you'll never get to work with in the average day job...but that is irrelevant.

...not that you shouldn't do an MTech or hons if you have the chance.

What cguy said. I was referring to personal project management for yourself. It probably does not compare to a real world. However after managing myself for so long, I am in a better position to manage a real world project.

I am in no way suggesting that if you don't do your Masters or PhD you can't acquire those, with effort I am sure you can obtain them( with mixed results). However doing them through a postgraduate program there is focus and intensity which I believe gets the best out of you, than if you would have tried to hone those skills on your own.

As to how relevant or irrelevant the stuff you get to work is, it depends on the topic and how close it is to your job and or industry. One of the guys in my class was focusing on big data and that panned out nicely for him. As he was doing his research he was gaining knowledge more than relevant to his day job, and he was adding value to his company.

I personally think that everyone in SA should be doing 4 year degrees, there should be no 3rd year exit, and that we should be producing 4 times the number of postgraduate students. Then we can be at a better place to compete in the knowledge economy

 

[^^vampire^^]

I did my BTech and started doing a BSc Honours in Computing this year.

If you enjoy doing research and have something you know you will research and enjoy then you can go the MTech route - what value it will hold in getting a job I'm not sure. I was going to go this route but UNISA stated that you have to basically tag along with the research topics proposed/undertaken by other doctorate candidates/professors which were all dead boring so decided against that.

The BSc Honours in Computing offers some interesting topics from UNISA. If you are very mathematically inclined you can do Machine Learning (warning: more confusing than fun, by a long shot) and there are other useful modules like Natural Language Processing but they aren't easy. There's also other subject like Software Engineering, Software Project Management, Security etc etc.

If you want to focus more on software dev then maybe a BSc Hons in Informatics might be better. If you want more mathematical or management type modules then a BSc Hons in Computing. If you want purely theory/research and can find a topic allowed then do an MTech. You basically need to choose what you want to do as a job and make your choice based on that.