The path of enlightenment.

[Siva]

No it's nothing as serious as that, I've decided to go to University this year (Sept.) I've been thinking about it for a long time, figuring out whether I want to go to Uni to further my career or just for the experience of going to Uni. But over the past year I've been working, I realise a career is what I want. So I sit at a crossroads right now.

I've got it down to three. Web development, Graphic Design and Computer Science. I'm equally interested in all three fields, as I've been working with aspects of all of them for some time.

And as we have experts on all three of these disciplines right here on Alpha, I figure you guys would be pretty good to ask.

To clarify, what I'm looking for is input from the higher levels of these fields on what your life is like, how you find it, is work easy to find (whether in employment or self employment), and if you went to Uni on it, what did your course incorporate.

Also, uni recommendations in general (and not just on the ratio of guys to girls, I can find that myself)

[Aidan]

I'm taking the three year Computer Programmer Analyst Course, in which after I'm going to USC in California to specialize in Game Engine Development. Then I shall apply to Square

It's looking promising.

Now you say "Computer Science". Bit vague, but what aspects of it are you interested in?

[Siva]

Software development/programming languages, I want to come out the other side knowing Java and C++ ideally.

[Aidan]

I'd then suggest The Computer Programmer course

You'll come out the other side knowing even more than Java, and C++. After that two year course, you can always stay the third year and do the analyst course (1 year).

[clyzm]

Not for nothing but out of those, Computer Science pays the most.
It is also the most competitive from what I hear.

Be aware that graphic design is like 80% adobe illustrator, logos, templates, and printing at high DPIs. Rarely will you use photoshop and be actually creative

[Siva]

I was hoping you'd show up Derek. Your cosmosys art group is the level I hope to be some day in graphic design.

Be aware that graphic design is like 80% adobe illustrator, logos, templates, and printing at high DPIs. Rarely will you use photoshop and be actually creative

I think this as a course is out then. I learned ps/ai on my own and I love those programs so much because I like being creative. I'm not really interested in logo's and templates, I do those already... no point in spending 3 years practising alot of shit I already know, and spending tens of thousands of pounds to do it.

Unless there's something I'm overlooking?

Also pay isn't really what I'm looking for in my career, I know it sounds weird but-- anything I end up doing will give me enough money to live reasonably well off, anything above £35/k a year would be nice but I'm not really seeking it. If I'm going to do it for the rest of my life I'd rather be happy than well paid, heh

[Aidan]

If I'm going to do it for the rest of my life I'd rather be happy than well paid, heh

WELL PUT.

That's the exact same mindset I have as well.

I'd rather be happy making decent money,
than miserable making a lot of money.

[Dae]

Web development, Graphic Design and Computer Science

Unfortunately I don't know a lot about education in the UK, but in here, if I was faced with a similar choice, I would start from looking into what exactly are they actually going to teach, rather than choosing out of a personal preference.

For example, I have a passion for web-development, but I wouldn't want to waste my time on learning common stuff which every Indian now knows from birth. Web-development is not about making templates from Photoshop, coding your own yet another content management system on PHP and MySQL. That is something anyone can learn relatively quick.

In my understanding, a proper web-development course in the University should not only go far beyond that and teach many languages, databases, frameworks, ERPs, but extensively cover the theory (with math and shit) behind all those things and many other things, such as networking, server administration etc. But the difference between such course and any common "computer science" course is indistinguishable.

[ynnaD]

I'm currently in a software course atm, i'll keep it short cos you don't wanna hear things you've bound to have heard a million times from others, all i gotta say is, if Programming is what you wanna do, Computer Science is the way to go, you'll get elements of game design thrown into that to!

[Mastakilla]

If I'm going to do it for the rest of my life I'd rather be happy than well paid, heh

WELL PUT.

That's the exact same mindset I have as well.

I'd rather be happy making decent money,
than miserable making a lot of money.

Lots of money will make me happy.

[Aidan]

Lots of money will make me happy.

Even at the cost of a miserable job?

[James]

The entire thread will be full of personal preferences and choices by them. I'm going to briefly mention the former only.

Forgive me if the next part sounds a little condescending.

If I were in your shoes I'd take whatever you previously had/the most experience in, people who take up a course in university without previous knowledge in the subject should not expect a satisfactory introductory course. This is why a lot of British students typically drop out of courses and university altogether if they do not find another course. (IIRC Chococat dropped her original major to take up psychology, I've never spoke about her actual reasons however so this maybe completely irrelevant because I think she just liked psychology more. Sorry Em!)
It's also why many people who got brought up into the modification scene of videogames have went onto these courses with relative ease (See most coders on this forum, Grayman and EvilDaedalus/EVD) they've picked up what they know about the subject already from hobbies.

As Dae sorta said, I strongly recommend that you're good/decent (whatever your standard of either word means) at Math if you're taking a more coding centric course.

Also, as Derek said for computer science but I feel it applies for all of them; they're all competitive for a portfolio. You'd want to keep everything you create. Also be aware post-education your studying won't completely stop, what you may have learnt in university may eventually be redundant in future as you'd have to learn how to use new software/languages. Who knows you'd be using a successor to Adobe suite (When Apple rule the world with Quicktime suite) or Python and C will be completely dropped for Boa and D-Bigmac. Bad examples, but what I'm trying to say is that you'd need to learn new stuff eventually regardless of what career you take. Even if they're similar to their predecessors, there will be stuff you'd need to pick up on.

Also oh my god finally a reason to post this kind of related video to ALL the subjects you're deciding:



Such a good video.

Also, don't pick a game design course.

[Zantinzuken]

I have two degrees in multimedia programming and web engineering. It's definitely one of the few jobs out there that hasn't appeared to be hit drastically by the recession (well on our side of the pond). Currently I'm doing a masters in ebusiness to further my knowledge in a business area as I think its vital if you want a high paying job with future prospects.

I'd coin what Dae mentioned, look at what you will be doing in each course. I made sure to find out what projects and continuous assessments would be required of me over the years. Have a look at past thesis/dissertations too, I found that quite good for understanding what skills I'm going to have by the end of the course.

[clyzm]

I was hoping you'd show up Derek. Your cosmosys art group is the level I hope to be some day in graphic design.

I'm flattered.

Graphic design is more of the mathematically-precise, restrictions, and less creative types. This statement might offend some, but I talked with several people taking the course, and most of them agreed on my description. You can still be creative, just not as much as other courses.

An example of one of the many projects of that course: you are required to print and make a very high quality brochure utilizing vector graphics, most of which have very specific size and acute measurements you must follow. The creative aspect is the entire composition of it, where the heading will go, what font you'll use etc.

If you want to use photoshop a lot and have little restrictions, I suggest you take some kind of sketch classes, or even painting, as these skills will be essential once you have a tablet. From there on in, it's practice practice practice.

Most of the industry that utilizes Photoshop for creative work is mostly freelance, and you have to be REALLY good to make a living off it. I suggest you minor in Computer Graphics if your college offers such a course; the difference between Graphic Design and Computer Graphics is drastic, with the latter making heavy use of Photoshop and photo-manipulation as well as concept art, eventually preparing you for the game/movie industry (but again, you will need some basic knowledge of drawing before doing so.) Note that it will also introduce you a lot into 3D modeling (not extensive, but basic) because every well-paid designer out there is practically a jack-of-all-trades, adept with every medium of digital art.

Then again, this is from knowledge of how American courses operate, most of this experienced during my time at the University of Illinois. It might differ slightly or maybe extremely in the UK.

It seems your best bet is CompSci, and like James said, you will need math knowledge and reasoning (algorithms and algebra mostly, but some calculus may help).

[Siva]

In my understanding, a proper web-development course in the University should not only go far beyond that and teach many languages, databases, frameworks, ERPs, but extensively cover the theory (with math and shit) behind all those things and many other things, such as networking, server administration etc. But the difference between such course and any common "computer science" course is indistinguishable.

Exactly my problem. I figure the only way I'm going to be able to really see what the course will be like is to attend an open day, talk to lecturers and students etc, ideally ones in their last years so I can get the best range of experience (as opposed to the first years who will probably just tell me everythings breezy, which I don't want to hear.).

Also, as Derek said for computer science but I feel it applies for all of them; they're all competitive for a portfolio. You'd want to keep everything you create. Also be aware post-education your studying won't completely stop, what you may have learnt in university may eventually be redundant in future as you'd have to learn how to use new software/languages. Who knows you'd be using a successor to Adobe suite (When Apple rule the world with Quicktime suite) or Python and C will be completely dropped for Boa and D-Bigmac. Bad examples, but what I'm trying to say is that you'd need to learn new stuff eventually regardless of what career you take. Even if they're similar to their predecessors, there will be stuff you'd need to pick up on.

So true. Thankfully, the reason I want to go to Uni is to learn the skills that will enable me to pick up new languages and apply those languages in useful ways later on down the line in my career. I want to come out of Uni with knowledge of one or two languages at the very least, as well as the framework and understanding to pick up anything else I want to learn. (I mean sure, everyone's dabbled in Python before but that doesn't make us all developers right?)

It seems your best bet is CompSci, and like James said, you will need math knowledge and reasoning (algorithms and algebra mostly, but some calculus may help).

It does seem so.

Don't worry everybody, my math is good. I'm no prodigy but Algebra/Algorithms and most basic geometry related problems are no problem at all for me. Calculus is a step beyond me at the moment, but I was planning on learning it sooner or later, why not let it be sooner?


Thanks for the help again everybody.

[James]

Also, try to stay on education as long as possible considering the current conditions of the economy (FUCK SAKE I HATE BRINGING THIS UP). Honestly I would try for a masters degree no matter what, and at the end you'd be baller recession or not. People who have recently graduated university barely even have a job related to their field. Masters in sound engineering WORK IN ASDA

When at university, reach for the sky not the ceiling. Don't accept mediocrity, do as much as you humanly can for the course. There's plenty of successful undergraduates but that's rare that they'd reach anything more than a 38k paying job before retiring at 65.

Unrelated concern, get a part time job ASAP when at university. Those loans will not last unless you actually want to be a drop-out hipster who only got a fixie bike from his education.

[Siva]

I already do web design as a part time job, I plan on carrying that through to University. If my clients all go south then I'll definitely get one though.

[Zantinzuken]

Also, try to stay on education as long as possible considering the current conditions of the economy (FUCK SAKE I HATE BRINGING THIS UP). Honestly I would try for a masters degree no matter what, and at the end you'd be baller recession or not. People who have recently graduated university barely even have a job related to their field. Masters in sound engineering WORK IN ASDA

When at university, reach for the sky not the ceiling. Don't accept mediocrity, do as much as you humanly can for the course. There's plenty of successful undergraduates but that's rare that they'd reach anything more than a 38k paying job before retiring at 65.

Unrelated concern, get a part time job ASAP when at university. Those loans will not last unless you actually want to be a drop-out hipster who only got a fixie bike from his education.

This.

Graphic design is more of the mathematically-precise, restrictions, and less creative types. This statement might offend some, but I talked with several people taking the course, and most of them agreed on my description. You can still be creative, just not as much as other courses.

This.