Masters in IT after doing a Civil Eng Degree

Nedved85

Hi, Im thinking of going back to college to do a masters degree in an IT related area after finishing my B Eng 2 years ago in Civil Enginering,

Would this be tough to get used to? Taking on the programming courses like Java and C++ which i have very little exposure to?

I was looking at either of the following

http://www.go4th.ie/mit.html

or

http://www.dcu.ie/registry/module_contents.php?function=4&programme=MTC

Anybody gone down this road?

DublinWriter

Why you'd want to get into IT right now is another question.

Nedved85

Ah.. is there not more jobs in IT than in Civil Engineering?

ardmacha

The HEA advanced skills funding page is a good list of all funded IT courses. There is quite a range of things here, from Business Analytics (UCD), Geocomputation (NUIM), Health Informatics (TCD) etc.

Programming is something you like or don't, quite a personal thing. If you like it, you can stick at it and get the work done.

snappieT

I'm in the M.Sc. in Networks and Distributed Systems at Trinity. It's a grand course to get a qualification, but you really have to know your programming stuff before you get in. I'm lucky, I'm just out of an undergrad in Computer Science, but there are many many people who are having trouble with the programming aspect. Read a good Java book cover-to-cover (and understand it) over the summer, and I reckon you'd be fine!

guysmiley

I did the DCU course that you mention - M.Eng Telecom. I did this part time, taking 2 modules per semester and then the project at the end. It is run with part time people in mind, so each module has a web page and a mailing list. I enjoyed the modules especially although they do take up a lot of time in the evenings and I found it would be on my mind a lot even when not doing course work. I found the project hard enough to get into as it required a lot of self discipline and took a fair bit of time at weekends and evenings.

About what you need before taking this on - well you need some C programming skills to start. Most modules require some programming for the assignments, and most have 2 of these. They can be tricky enough but there is good help through the mailing lists. There is an OOP module which is well worth taking and this will get you going with c++ and java. It is fairly fast paced and the assignments in this module could be tough if you are totally new to programming. Also the content of most modules has a fair level of maths. With an engineering degree behind you it should be grand.

I think the way to go with this one is make a decent effort at the assignments and this will get you into the course material in most cases. Best of luck if you go with this. All in all a very interesting course, and well run.

You could pm me for any specific questions.

D-Generate

That MEng in Telecomms Engineering looks decent enough. I wouldn't really class it as IT, it would be a lot closer to Electronic Engineering than that. Lots of jobs in that field though so its a good pick.

guysmiley

You can see the options for the DCU course here:

http://www.dcu.ie/electronic_engineering/post/modules/index.shtml

Use the "Select a Programme" drop down menu to see what combinations are allowed for the different streams.