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There are a number of ways to start working in the Computer industry.
This section discusses the different possibilities, but the main point
is that computing is increasingly becoming a graduate profession, where
you are expected to have a degree if you wish to progress in your career.
Just start doing it!
This used to be much more common in the Computer industry when there
was much less experience of and knowledge about computers. People would
learn a little about programming, and take on a programming task for a
local company, and find that they were suddenly the Computing expert.
An example nowadays might be that you build web pages for people you know,
and it gradually turns into a business. One drawback of this approach
is that many people find later on in life that the lack of a degree can
hold them back when they apply for more challenging jobs. It is possible
to go back and get a degree later on (we have had around 100 such mature
students in our department over the last ten years), but it is much harder
to study when you are older and perhaps have a family to support.
Get a job straight from school
A number of employers such as the Civil Service and Local Government
have made a habit of taking on people straight after A-levels and training
them to do the more menial kinds of Computing jobs - less challenging
computer support jobs or simple programming. If the job includes day release
to study for degree level qualifications, then this can be a good route
into the Computing industry (although doing a degree and a job at the
same time can be very hard work). If it does not include time to study
for qualifications, then you may end up in the same position as those
who just start doing Computing - looking to study for a degree later in
life.
Get a degree in Computing
This is now the standard route into the Computing industry. From a good
degree, a graduate should be useful to their company on their first day
in the job. Indeed, we find that our students that take an industrial
year in the middle of their course have the skills needed to be useful
immediately they arrive in a company. There are a range of degrees available
to allow you to choose one that will suit your particular interests, see
Degree Courses in Computing and IT. My
own advice would be that you study for a degree at Aberystwyth,
but I freely admit to being biased. I have tried to compile a list
of questions for you to ask that will help you assess any Computing
degree scheme.
Do a postgraduate taught Computing Masters
Some people choose to do a first degree in history or zoology because
that is what they were best at or most interested in at school. Many of
them find at the end of their course that there are not many jobs as historians
or zoologists, and decide at that point to retrain for jobs in Computing.
There are a variety of 12 month or 18 month postgraduate courses that
give a grounding in Computing to graduates from other subjects.
Bizarrely, national figures imply you are more likely to get a job
immediately if you are a history or biology graduate than if you are a
Computing graduate, but to a great extent that is due to the way they
collect the figures. Further study counts as a job for the figures, and
many more historians and biologists feel the need for further study in
order to be employable. We do not see our graduates rushing to retrain
as historians in order to get a job.
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