Programming Degree

sly said:
why do u want to work for a big multinational.. South africa has lots of IT problems...
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True dat, but you have to go overseas if you want to make graphics cards (NVidia) or hardcore chips (ARM). Otherwise, I've found that the good devs in SA are as good as and possibly better than most of the devs in the states.
I think that SA has become a good place to outsource a lot of work, especially for companies who have tried to do this in India and Eastern Europe and have failed.
 
iDenTiTy said:
To anyone willing to read my post:

For the love of God, please, I repeat PLEASE, do not do a Diploma in Programming or some s**t like that.

It teaches NOTHING.

Varsities are BY FAAAAR better for teaching LOGIC.

/rant finished.

FWIW, UCT has a nice Post Grad Diploma in Security, Auditing etc.
I may have a look at that.

:)
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Who on earth would waste their time with a diploma when they can get a degree. In the real world, where you don't have the right friends, your going to be struggle to be taken seriously with a diploma.

...unless you opt for the tea-girl job.
 
If you cannot do maths, you cannot program. My maths and stats modules use the same logic I use in SQL. Any programming qualification that removes this foundation is seriously flawed, but then again, thats why some people do diplomas.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
If you cannot do maths, you cannot program. My maths and stats modules use the same logic I use in SQL. Any programming qualification that removes this foundation is seriously flawed, but then again, thats why some people do diplomas.
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Thats because SQL is pretty much set theory and relational algebra incarnate :D Thats why I think a university degree is better - because of all the other seemingly arb courses you take like discrete structures and boolean logic etc that inevitably make you a better developer. Its amazing that most people don't know that sql joins are analogue to cartesian products etc.
 
semaphore said:
WITS :) or Rhodes :)
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Go to Rhodes, Prof Pat Terry sits on the Modula board and Prof Shaun Bengay has contributed largely to the Mono project, particularly the Linux port of Rotor (the FreeBSD .NET Framework).

As such, you'll be learning from the best. Just note that Rhodes University and UCT monitor each others exams in Computer Science and Information Systems.

Plus you'll have a party of note, I can guarantee you won't regret your decision.
 
timgaul said:
Go to Rhodes, Prof Pat Terry sits on the Modula board and Prof Shaun Bengay has contributed largely to the Mono project, particularly the Linux port of Rotor (the FreeBSD .NET Framework).

As such, you'll be learning from the best. Just note that Rhodes University and UCT monitor each others exams in Computer Science and Information Systems.

Plus you'll have a party of note, I can guarantee you won't regret your decision.
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Rhodes does have quite a good computer science department. The curiculum is a bit different though, so check out the department web pages to see if either focuses on anything that you are particularly interested in. Be prepared to vacate Grahamstown when you graduate though, because I hear development jobs there are few and far between.
 
im doing my masters at wits, no issues there, the company i work for used to hire straight out of the uni's we have about 350 devs now.
 
not that im aware of, well it wasnt free for me:P
 
hyperian said:
Emo. I remember hearing ads on 5FM about getting your first year free if you registered in the science or engineering faculties.
Did you guys also get dominated by NRF this year?
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I have no idea about NRF, i goto class in the evening, do my lectures go home or go back to work and sleep, my masters is paid for by the company so *shrugs*.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Who on earth would waste their time with a diploma when they can get a degree. In the real world, where you don't have the right friends, your going to be struggle to be taken seriously with a diploma.

...unless you opt for the tea-girl job.
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Are you referring to the Post Grad Diploma?

Don't be daft.

It is a POST GRAD DIPLOMA !!!

You need a degree to do it !!

:rolleyes:
 
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hyperian said:
No, think he's referring to undergrad.
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In that case, we all know that.

The problem is, most people who do Diplomas, do them because they can't do the degrees.

I'm fortunate to have done a degree, because 90% of my interviews came across because of it.

One question though, shouldn't BScs in SA have to have Chemistry and math to be called a 'Science Degree'?

However, degrees in the US and UK don't all do math etc. even if they are BSc Comp Sci courses.

:confused:
 
iDenTiTy said:
In that case, we all know that.

The problem is, most people who do Diplomas, do them because they can't do the degrees.

I'm fortunate to have done a degree, because 90% of my interviews came across because of it.

One question though, shouldn't BScs in SA have to have Chemistry and math to be called a 'Science Degree'?

However, degrees in the US and UK don't all do math etc. even if they are BSc Comp Sci courses.

:confused:
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Its changed of late. I start next year with my UNISA BSc (1st completing my certificate which is 10 UNISA BSc modules) and I will not be taking any Chemistry subjects. Fair amount of maths though.

The only difference I see between getting a BSc vs Degree is a few more math modules. I'm also doing MAT011 (high school maths) and need to get 75% to register for certain math modules (matriculated in '93 and forgot everything).

A lot is happening in the tertiary education structure of late, and the year you register determines your modules requirements. Also ICDL is becoming a pre-requisite for new students. If your doing IT degrees you have to pass it and they plan to extend it to all degrees over the next few years.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Its changed of late. I start next year with my UNISA BSc (1st completing my certificate which is 10 UNISA BSc modules) and I will not be taking any Chemistry subjects. Fair amount of maths though.

The only difference I see between getting a BSc vs Degree is a few more math modules. I'm also doing MAT011 (high school maths) and need to get 75% to register for certain math modules (matriculated in '93 and forgot everything).

A lot is happening in the tertiary education structure of late, and the year you register determines your modules requirements. Also ICDL is becoming a pre-requisite for new students. If your doing IT degrees you have to pass it and they plan to extend it to all degrees over the next few years.
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So you have to do 'high school' math because the math you did in '93 is 'outdated'?

:confused:

So if I decide to do an SA MSc, I would need to do a math course because my matric math may also be 'outdated'?

:confused:
 
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