Career advice please!

[matteo]

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.

I've been thinking about this a lot and dada makes some very good points, but I'm not sure I'll be very interested in doing a lot of research right now. I love programming and I'm looking for something that'll be technically challenging so I think the informatics degree sounds right.

How are you coping with a bsc though? I'm not sure how good I am in maths as I've been running away from it(did maths lit in high school) but I think I'm pretty good at learning new things as I passed my ndip with distinction and I'm also getting decent marks the year. What scares me is the idea that I'll be completely lost in a bsc and end up dropping out in the first month! I'd really appreciate any advice on how I should prepare for this.

Thank you.

 

[^^vampire^^]

I've been thinking about this a lot and dada makes some very good points, but I'm not sure I'll be very interested in doing a lot of research right now. I love programming and I'm looking for something that'll be technically challenging so I think the informatics degree sounds right.

How are you coping with a bsc though? I'm not sure how good I am in maths as I've been running away from it(did maths lit in high school) but I think I'm pretty good at learning new things as I passed my ndip with distinction and I'm also getting decent marks the year. What scares me is the idea that I'll be completely lost in a bsc and end up dropping out in the first month! I'd really appreciate any advice on how I should prepare for this.

Thank you.

I think you'll be fine doing informatics. I haven't done any formal maths on a very high level since my NDip (finished 2007) and the machine learning is killing me math wise; it's a lot to wrap your head around. Although even in the Computing Honours you can do more management subjects as I said before, like the project management, security etc.

Best would be to try do some research on the modules offered in the courses and see what would be your best match.