Hey guys

I'd like to share a part of my story too. It is about my path to software engineering. You may be able to help me or just comment.

Introduction

Long story short, I'm from Bulgaria and I finished a language school in 2011 with intensive studying of English and German as a second language, but truth be told, I know almost nothing in the latter language.

I can't exactly remember when I have become truly determined to study abroad but it should be near to my 1st or 2nd year in that school which should be 8th-9th grade. So the application process began in late 2010 for me, I was required to get an English certificate (I picked TOEFL because it was popular back then), but IELTS could have been just as good. By this time, British members on TL may already have an idea which country I have chosen. Well, the United Kingdom. Of course, I also had to maintain a certain overall mark for my diploma in order to enter university. In particular, University of Liverpool. I had an unconditional offer to study 'Computing With a Year In Industry' in some time of summer, but I changed it to 'Software Development' at the end of my 1st year.

Currently...

Well, I'm currently in year 3 still as 'Software Development'. This is my final bachelor year at university so I think about my future career from time to time. If everything goes well, I hope I can be a good software engineer one day. However, I'm still unsure if I pick modules right, so I'm going to give you quick recap of what I've studied as modules. I'm only going to list the names to make it shorter. Note that we mainly use Java for programming assignments unless the module itself is about a different language.

Year 1 (no optional modules)
COMP110: Professional Skills in Computer Science
COMP101: Introduction to Programming in Java
COMP102: Introduction to Databases
COMP103: Computer Systems
COMP104: Operating System Concepts
COMP106: Human-Centric Computing
COMP108: Algorithmic Foundations
COMP109: Foundations of Computer Science
COMP118: Logic in Computer Science

Year 2
COMP201: Software Engineering I (mandatory)
COMP207: Database Development
COMP208: Group Software Project
COMP213: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming
COMP220: Software Development Tools
COMP211: Internet Principles
COMP212: Distributed Systems
COMP281: Principles of C and Memory Management
COMP282: Advanced Object Oriented C Languages <--- 1-2 weeks of C++ and the rest 3 weeks for Objective C.

Choices: Internet Principles + Distributed Systems or Artificial Intelligence + Scripting Languages.
I picked the former.

Year 3 (currently)

Semester 1:
COMP319: Software Engineering II (mandatory)
COMP327: Mobile Computing
COMP329: Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Semester 2:
COMP310: Multi-Agent Systems
COMP313: Formal Methods
COMP318: Advanced Web Technologies

All year long:
COMP390: Honours Year Computer Science Project

I'm unsure if picking 'Formal Methods' would be beneficial if I don't plan to be in the security sector. At least for now but I didn't want to pick 'Semantics Of Programming Languages' because the lecturer i) writes only on blackboard, ii) doesn't give handouts/uploads lectures, iii) I don't feel like taking notes, iv) I have to study Maude again which isn't appealing and v) I can't miss a single lecture as a result of i) and ii).

Also, I'm not sure if 'Advanced Web Technologies' would help me. I, honestly, don't understand what syllabus could teach me: link to module

Anyway, here's a full list of my degree's modules:
http://intranet.csc.liv.ac.uk/teaching/programmes/programme.php?pcode=G610

Finally...

So after I finish my BSc in Computer Science, I think I should get a masters degree as well to be more employable and better paid. However, I've recently heard that there is no loan from SLC (Student Loan Company) for MSc. If this is the case, then I think I can't afford it. So I either need to have a gap year to earn some money or to go to USA and get a loan (if possible) there to study masters. Are there any other options?

Finally, I feel like UK can't be my place for permanent living (food, weather, etc), so I'd rather live in the US or somewhere else as long as it's an English speaking country. I've heard that there is a lack of people in the IT department in the US and that is it well paid, so that makes it even more appealing for me.

So that's it. I hope you express your opinion and/or give advice. If you have any questions, just ask.

Thank you for your time!

docvoc

United States5491 Posts

September 22 2013 16:57 GMT

On September 23 2013 01:17 darkness wrote:
Finally, I feel like UK can't be my place for permanent living (food, weather, etc), so I'd rather live in the US or somewhere else as long as it's an English speaking country. I've heard that there is a lack of people in the IT department in the US and that is it well paid, so that makes it even more appealing for me.

To my knowledge this is the same kind of thing everyone says about the U.S. about the job field they study in. To my knowledge, the U.S. has no dearth of people working in IT nor is there a short supply of people that are brought in from foreign countries to work for pennies on the dollar. The U.S.'s weather is also heavily variant and the cost of living in any big city is high. I'd suggest looking more into it, I'm not saying it's impossible by any means, but I do think your view on U.S. IT may be a bit misinformed.

To be fair, I'm not expert, so if I'm wrong, don't take any of what I said as true.

NeuroticPsychosis

United States322 Posts

September 22 2013 17:04 GMT

He's right in a way, the US doesn't have enough college students studying IT so they mainly hire IT people from other countries...also the majority of students pursuing Masters or PhD degrees in science/technology/engineering related fields come from outside the US. Good Luck OP

EJK

United States1302 Posts

September 22 2013 17:31 GMT

can you give additional reasons for wanting to pursue this other than being employable and good pay?

Shield

Bulgaria4824 Posts

September 22 2013 17:39 GMT

On September 23 2013 02:31 Smurfett3 wrote:
can you give additional reasons for wanting to pursue this other than being employable and good pay?

Nope, but everyone advises me to get a masters degree for those 2 reasons.

EJK

United States1302 Posts

September 22 2013 17:45 GMT

On September 23 2013 02:39 darkness wrote:

Show nested quote +

Nope, but everyone advises me to get a masters degree for those 2 reasons.

What do you advise yourself though? Could you be passionate about these kind of jobs? Is this something you see yourself committing to for the next 20-30 years of your life? Will you regret not doing something else if you end up doing this?

Shield

Bulgaria4824 Posts

September 22 2013 18:17 GMT

On September 23 2013 02:45 Smurfett3 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Well, believe it or not, I've wanted to do IT since I was a child. I haven't changed my mind since then, so I don't see myself change my mind (hopefully). So yes, I'd commit as a software engineer.

Chairman Ray

United States11903 Posts

September 22 2013 18:40 GMT

What kind of job will you be looking for? Computer science is quite vast. If you want to work for somewhere like Intel, then having a MSc is definitely a huge plus, but there's a lot of places where your education level isn't as important.

Shield

Bulgaria4824 Posts

September 22 2013 18:42 GMT

On September 23 2013 03:40 Chairman Ray wrote:
What kind of job will you be looking for? Computer science is quite vast. If you want to work for somewhere like Intel, then having a MSc is definitely a huge plus, but there's a lot of places where your education level isn't as important.

Software Engineering. Preferrably non-web languages. I don't want to be into the Critical System (Formal Specification) so far.

Chaosu

Poland404 Posts

September 22 2013 19:10 GMT

#10

Here in Poland Masters in IT is only for really passionate people, ordinary programmers don't need it at all. Also, people who wish to learn further usually are already working/practicing the programming, I don't think you wrote anything about your experiences but "gap year" is definately a good idea if you have no experience (and not a bad idea if you have some already, as Masters is something you can take when you're a bit older too).

Chairman Ray

United States11903 Posts

September 22 2013 19:18 GMT

#11

One thing you can do is try to get a good job after your BSc, work for a while and then go back for a MSc if the place you work at could benefit from it. A lot of companies give benefits and support to their employees going back to school.

Have you also considered getting a PhD? There's a huge gap between MSc and PhD in software engineering since research roles are high in demand now and they often require PhD. You'll sometimes find starting salaries of 150k+.