Bachelor in IT

[Deleted]

Hey MMO champ!

After a few years on these forums I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of IT savy guys around. I was planning to do bachelor in IT, probably specialising into programming but I'm still unsure (it's a tough and important choice to make) so I'd like to get all info possible from all sources.

A little bit about myself

-I'm from Belgium
-I'm almost 20
-I like to be creative and find solutions to problems
-I'm addicted to my computer
-I got a "talent" for understanding computer language. We had some basic programming at school and I was the only one in my class that understood it. We used programming in MS office access & excel (basic i know). Over the year I aced it with a total score of 97% ,second best had 54% (has to mean something)
-I'm intrigued about how a code can make a game or program.

My goals after graduating (from most important to less important)

-It has to pay well
-Versatile work. I hate doing the same thing every day for the rest of my life. (for example a bookkeeper has to the same shit every day)
-Possibilities to grow, get experience and a good carreer (maybe becoming chief IT).
-Easy to find a job
-Possibilities of working at home
-Possibilities of making money on the side, for example if a small company has a problem and they need it fixing but can't afford a full time IT engineer.

It would be awesome if there are people who do IT for a living and could give me their personal opinion about it.

I'm sorry for the long post and for taking your time. I hope you guys can help me finalize my decision and I'll be very grateful.

Thank you very much in advance!

update: got some really awesome and helpful responses already! Thank you very much everyone!

[Deleted]

Have you actually tried any other programming other than MS Office-programming? I imagine that's very different from the more "traditional" kind of programming.

[Deleted]

Have you actually tried any other programming other than MS Office-programming? I imagine that's very different from the more "traditional" kind of programming.

Nope, only that very basic stuff.

[Deleted]

Nope, only that very basic stuff.

I think it's best if you start programming with a real language, like Python or C#, in that case, and see how you like it before you make sudden decisions.

[Deleted]

I think it's best if you start programming with a real language, like Python or C#, in that case, and see how you like it before you make sudden decisions.

Well yes! That's what I'll be learning at college if I decide to go through with it!

[Deleted]

Well yes! That's what I'll be learning at college if I decide to go through with it!

You should want to learn it on your free time. The worst possible option is to only do it at school.

Install SublimeText 3 or some similar editor, then go get some example code of all kinds, and see if it feels like something you could learn, and more importantly, whether you'd want to.

Also, best possible thing would be to have someone to bounce ideas and problems off of. Or, if you have nobody like that, get a rubber duck. It's nowhere near as helpful as someone who actually knows something, though, but it helps.

[Blueobelisk]

What's MS office programming.

You mean you used Excel? Excel is VASTTTTTTTLY different from programming. Excel is what they use in accounting and business.

I don't know your age so I really don't even know what to tell you. If you're in high school just be a computer science major in college.

[Deleted]

You should want to learn it on your free time. The worst possible option is to only do it at school.

Install SublimeText 3 or some similar editor, then go get some example code of all kinds, and see if it feels like something you could learn, and more importantly, whether you'd want to.

Thank you! I'll get it right away!

[zealo]

Well yes! That's what I'll be learning at college if I decide to go through with it!

No one becomes good at programming by limiting what they are creating to school work, you need a personal drive to do these things on your own if you are to excel at them.

[Deleted]

What's MS office programming.

You mean you used Excel? Excel is VASTTTTTTTLY different from programming. Excel is what they use in accounting and business.

I don't know your age so I really don't even know what to tell you. If you're in high school just be a computer science major in college.

Excel are IF functions for example (but more complicated), access was visual basics.
I'm almost 20.
In belgium, you'd lose more money if you get a master than a bachelor. (master is 3 years longer plus minimal extra salary) You'd get further in your carreer with 3 years experience and a bachelor than a master with no experience. (this ofc only applies to a few degrees)

[Blueobelisk]

Visual Basic is good. For math...

I'm definitely not recommendating a language for you. Learn a bunch in college.

- - - Updated - - -

These guys are right. It's on you to pick something and learn on your own. Depends on what you want to do. You're not specific enough.

[Deleted]

Thank you! I'll get it right away!

Sublime is a bit more complicated to use with all of it's addons than for example Notepad++, so you might want to try that one out as well.

One thing you might want to try "coding" on to see results in real time and easily, would be just to do a simple HTML page with javascript. JS is very, very simple compared to "actual code", but nevertheless, there's a lot of the same logic in the structure of the code. You can use jsfiddle.net on your web browser to start trying that out, or you can edit a page on your new editor just on your PC.

If you've got a PHP server, you could try that as well, but just remember that JS and PHP are both pretty much ass when it comes to code. Still, they can be used as a stepping stone into actual coding. And, who knows, you might get some work doing some web page crap.

But, I'd suggest you try Python or C# as was suggested earlier there. You can download some examples and try them out. There's also a freeware heavy duty editor (compared to Notepad++ anyway) called NetBeans, that can be used to develop Java, Python (I think), maybe even C#, and then it should be able to run those applications.

[Deleted]

In belgium, you'd lose more money if you get a master than a bachelor. (master is 3 years longer plus minimal extra salary) You'd get further in your carreer with 3 years experience and a bachelor than a master with no experience. (this ofc only applies to a few degrees)

This is indeed true. I recently graduated myself with a bachelor in IT (fellow belgian here ) and companies aren't interested in master degrees as they have to pay you a lot more. Just taking a bachelor is a good idea.

Your most important goal, the money, is something you'll have to think about. If you believe you will earn a lot more than most people when you recently graduated, it will come with a cost. I don't know how the travelling distance between your place and Brussels/Ghent/Antwerp is, but most companies are within these regions.

[Deleted]

This is indeed true. I recently graduated myself with a bachelor in IT (fellow belgian here ) and companies aren't interested in master degrees as they have to pay you a lot more. Just taking a bachelor is a good idea.

Your most important goal, the money, is something you'll have to think about. If you believe you will earn a lot more than most people when you recently graduated, it will come with a cost. I don't know how the travelling distance between your place and Brussels/Ghent/Antwerp is, but most companies are within these regions.

I live in the heart of Antwerp! As you are Belgian and also did IT. Could you give me your personal view on the matter? I'm also probably going to KDG in Antwerp. Brussels would take 30min by train.

- - - Updated - - -

Visual Basic is good. For math...

I'm definitely not recommendating a language for you. Learn a bunch in college.

- - - Updated - - -

These guys are right. It's on you to pick something and learn on your own. Depends on what you want to do. You're not specific enough.

Could you tell me what isn't specific so I can update my post?

[Blueobelisk]

You can choose to make:
1. Video games
2. Websites
3. Apps
4. Write the code for hardware
5. Write the code for software like Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.
6. Make viruses/hack people
7. Operating systems

Etc.

[Deleted]

I wasn't as intrigued by programming as you were, but I had a healthy interest in everything involving a computer. If you are as good as you say you are in learning new languages, most common in school are Java, C# and PHP, then it shouldn't be much of a problem to get started. Most schools require nothing more than an interest, as they start from scratch.

Is there anything else other than this bachelor you are thinking about, if I may ask?

[Howard Moon]

Who cares if you've only "programmed" in Excel before. If you can grasp the general concept of how code works, then you can learn any programming language. You are still young, I say DO IT!

I've been developing software for probably around 10 years. I love my job and have enjoyed all of my prevous jobs in the branch. It never gets boring for me. I think of programming as solving puzzles. There is a problem which needs a solution. In software development there are infinite solutions to any problem. But you usually don't just wany ANY solution, but rather the most efficient, quick, robust, or elegant one. That is the real challenge and fun in the job.

It's important to differentiate "IT" from Software Development. When I think of IT, i think of the IT department at the company where I work at. They keep the computers in the office up to date and do hardware/software maintenance. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not what I personally would enjoy. Of course they do some programming as well, like some of our Intranet systems etc, though that is usually just a matter of configuring a bought CMS system or so.

Software development pays well and is very rewarding in the sense that you almost immediately see the outcome of your hard work. Also, softies are usually pretty chilled people, not drama queens like in Marketing or so. I've rarely had any serious conflicts with other programmers at work.

I'd personally recommend to make yourself a website on your spare time. But start from scratch, none of that wordpress bullshit. Once you have html under control (which is easy stuff, basically xml.. but it is an important asset for programming nevertheless), pimp up your website with some javascript or php. Program yourself a basic picture gallery or a guestbook. Start small, don't try to make a badass android game right off the bat... you'll be overwhelmed and lose interest quick.

[P for Pancetta]

Here is a link for you:
http://blog.agupieware.com/2014/05/o...ors-level.html
A list of free cursusses and courses related to computer science, provided by the best universities in the world.
If you're going to a university to study IT i'd suggest doing at least the introductory courses on the list to give you a little edge.

[Deleted]

I wasn't as intrigued by programming as you were, but I had a healthy interest in everything involving a computer. If you are as good as you say you are in learning new languages, most common in school are Java, C# and PHP, then it shouldn't be much of a problem to get started. Most schools require nothing more than an interest, as they start from scratch.

Is there anything else other than this bachelor you are thinking about, if I may ask?

I've been thinking about Master in business science or bachelor marketing too.

[shise]

I do not study IT, but all I can tell for what I know is:

When it comes down to computers, do as much as you can by yourself, don't expect the university to teach you everything; they'll give you the basics so that you can develop yourself, then you have to take it a step further to be better than the rest. In short, go for it and do your own stuff on your very own computer