never used degree

petethebrick

I completed a four year computer science degree straight after leaving school but was never that into it. Despite my lack of interest never dropped out as didn't have a clue what else I wanted to do and the craic at college was good. Put in the minimum amount of work really, mostly cramming exams etc and somehow came out with a 2.1.
I didn't really learn a tap though and now eight years later know less about computers than an average person off the street. I've never used my degree for anything - bar gaining entry to a totally unrelated (politics) postgraduate. Now working in a different field entirely...

Anyone else waste years studying for a degree that they never used at all....
(apart from philosophy degrees obviously )

CreepingDeath

By any chance do you manage the servers on boards.ie ?

Wazdakka

In before the Arts "Degree" arguments.

Hank Scorpio

If you managed to get a honours degree in computer science and are saying you never did a tap, or put no work into it, you are lieing out of your arse imho

petes

I've no degree so I can't say I wasted it. I'm 30 now though and looking at going back to college part time to get one.




Ah fcuk it I'll still probably do what I did the first time I went to college!!

dr.bollocko

CreepingDeath wrote: »

By any chance do you manage the servers on boards.ie ?

Ohoho!

henryporter

I have an architecture degree - won't be needing that for a while!

petethebrick

nuxxx wrote: »

If you managed to get a honours degree in computer science and are saying you never did a tap, or put no work into it, you are lieing out of your arse imho

I said I never learned a tap - seriously. Attended at most about 1/3 of lectures and labs. Exams were once a year in may and it was a matter of getting the notes for each module, spending a few weeks cramming beforehand and churning it out - obviously the majority of the material was then forgotten over the course of time.
Anyway my point is rather that I spent four years studying a subject that I've never put to any pratical use which was a waste in my opinion

karma_

Your whole point fell apart when you mentioned you used that degree to get into a postgrad course.

Lemegeton

petethebrick wrote: »

I said I never learned a tap - seriously. Attended at most about 1/3 of lectures and labs. Exams were once a year in may and it was a matter of getting the notes for each module, spending a few weeks cramming beforehand and churning it out - obviously the majority of the material was then forgotten over the course of time.
Anyway my point is rather that I spent four years studying a subject that I've never put to any pratical use which was a waste in my opinion

same here. i spent 4 years getting a computer degree in WIT and it was **** all use to me. computer courses in WIT were not worth **** at the time. total waste of time.

orourkeda

Any physiotherapy students in the house?

Organise your emigration papers now

Bazzy

Lemegeton wrote: »

same here. i spent 4 hours getting a computer degree in WIT and it was **** all use to me. computer courses in WIT were not worth **** at the time. total waste of time.

4 hours fcuk me that was a lenghty course. Did you need some time out after it?

PCPhoto

I have a degree in Analytical Chemistry - but work as a photographer...go figure !!!

NothingMan

I have an electronic engineering degree and work in IT. Not really related but I covered a few things on my course that have come in handy.

Either way, I wouldn't consider that time at college a waste. You said the craic was good so I'm sure you'll have good memories. If you had have went straight into work after school you wouldn't have had the experiences you did and i'm sure, like most people, college is more about enjoying the freedom of an adult without the responsibilities of one. I grew up a lot in college while enjoying it as much as possible. Wouldn't have changed it for the world, no matter what I learned or have forgotten since.

petethebrick

karma_ wrote: »

Your whole point fell apart when you mentioned you used that degree to get into a postgrad course.

Read my post properly at least please! I mentioned that it got me into a postgrad course yes - but my point is that I've never used the degree in any way, shape or form in a pratical sense - i.e. never used any computer skills or knowledge and that in fact I know nothing now about computers and programming etc
May as well have a degree in welsh or something

bullpost

NothingMan wrote: »

I have an electronic engineering degree and work in IT. Not really related but I covered a few things on my course that have come in handy.

Either way, I wouldn't consider that time at college a waste. You said the craic was good so I'm sure you'll have good memories. If you had have went straight into work after school you wouldn't have had the experiences you did and i'm sure, like most people, college is more about enjoying the freedom of an adult without the responsibilities of one. I grew up a lot in college while enjoying it as much as possible. Wouldn't have changed it for the world, no matter what I learned or have forgotten since.

In fairness lots of electronic engineers end up in IT. Not totally unrelated.

sorrywhat

What about the people who have degree's and cant fecking use them!

star.chaser

petethebrick wrote: »

I completed a four year computer science degree straight after leaving school but was never that into it. Despite my lack of interest never dropped out as didn't have a clue what else I wanted to do and the craic at college was good. Put in the minimum amount of work really, mostly cramming exams etc and somehow came out with a 2.1.
I didn't really learn a tap though and now eight years later know less about computers than an average person off the street. I've never used my degree for anything - bar gaining entry to a totally unrelated (politics) postgraduate. Now working in a different field entirely...

Anyone else waste years studying for a degree that they never used at all....
(apart from philosophy degrees obviously )

No, I was too busy going to 3 day parties, getting fired from jobs, experiencing dance festivals and foreign countries while you academic types were busy getting degrees you'd never use

petethebrick

star.chaser wrote: »

No, I was too busy going to 3 day parties, getting fired from jobs, experiencing dance festivals and foreign countries while you academic types were busy getting degrees you'd never use

Em, have done that too

Herbal Deity

nuxxx wrote: »

If you managed to get a honours degree in computer science and are saying you never did a tap, or put no work into it, you are lieing out of your arse imho

No, it's quite possible. The quality of most CS graduates in this country is awful.

You can actually get through a CS degree and come out with a 2.1 or a 2.2 without knowing how to program.

Most companies will have a fairly rigorous screening procedure when hiring, however. You won't get a decent job in IT by having a CS degree and talking the talk in an interview.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/02/why-cant-programmers-program.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/02/the-nonprogramming-programmer/comments/page/2/

Motley Crue

OP, my brother just finished this course in UCD....graduating soon anyway...and he is convinced its absolutely useless, and he doesn't intend to use it. I think personally that's a waste but then I taught of my own qualifications and if you think about it, they don't really ask to see your CV at a job interview unless you bring it with you and show them - and how many people do that - so essentially the qualification could, in theory, be made up...and as long as you know the job and cover your bases regarding your "graduation" year, you could do anything within reason - ever see 'Catch Me If You Can?'

Pherekydes

I have an Arts degree but worked as an A/C engineer, teaching apprentices and computer instructor.

petethebrick

Herbal Deity wrote: »

No, it's quite possible. The quality of most CS graduates in this country is awful.

You can actually get through a CS degree and come out with a 2.1 or a 2.2 without knowing how to program.

Most companies will have a fairly rigorous screening procedure when hiring, however. You won't get a decent job in IT by having a CS degree and talking the talk in an interview.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/02/why-cant-programmers-program.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/02/the-nonprogramming-programmer/comments/page/2/

Exactly. I did come out basically not knowing how to program - final year project was on algorithim design only.

Gone Drinking

Brummytom's never used his penis.. to a degree

CreepingDeath

orourkeda wrote: »

Any physiotherapy students in the house?

Organise your emigration papers now

Surely physiotherapy students just have to learn to be flexible.

strobe

Electronic engineering here, early on in the course I realised it wasn't anywhere as interesting as I thought it was going to be but figured I'd give it a year to see if it got any better. Kind of just went with the flow then and finished it out but I kind of knew all along I wasn't going to use it.

Wouldn't say it was a waste though. You never know when you are going to find yourself in a life or death emergency and have to quicky sketch out a circuit design for a vending machine.....

PCPhoto

sorrywhat wrote: »

What about the people who have degree's and cant fecking use them!

I found working as a photographer was more fun than doing batch analysis in a lab..... so didnt like the mundane mon-fri type of situation, a lot of people opt for something fun as opposed to working with whatever they qualified for.

my original plan was goto college study something which I could fall back on - so it was never my intention to work in the chemical industry - unless working as a photographer didnt work out and I needed to find work, so...so far ...so good 10yrs on am still snapping away.

hobochris

petethebrick wrote: »

Exactly. I did come out basically not knowing how to program - final year project was on algorithim design only.

Luckily in my course if you couldn't program you were found out in first and second year. I think a practical CA system should be used in all third level colleges and Uni's, It allows the college to separate those who can't from those who can very quickly.

El Siglo

I've a BA in Geography, now I'm doing an MSc in Environmental Science. I'll put it this way, I went from researching social housing provision in the Republic of Ireland (worked at NUIM) to δ13C and C/N stable isotope analysis as means of relative sea-level reconstruction. Undergrad was a joke, still can't use GIS.

gurramok

In the olden days of the late 90's, I graduated with a electronics degree of which I haven't a clue about electronics
Thing is in 1992, I could could not get into DCU/Trinity computer related courses as points were way too high so opted for electronics as I needed some sort of qualification or only alternative was to go on the dole or just emigrate as there were no jobs when I left school.

The govt back then only introduced more computer courses in the late 90's(think it was 1996, too late for me) so electronics was my 2nd choice. Just so happens they also introduced computer related subjects in the last 2 years of my course for my degree hence I ended up in my favourable profession right now.

To sum up, degree was a small part useful. Just don't ask me anything about transistors :P

Lemegeton

Herbal Deity wrote: »

No, it's quite possible. The quality of most CS graduates in this country is awful.

You can actually get through a CS degree and come out with a 2.1 or a 2.2 without knowing how to program.

tell me about it. in the final year of my course i wrote a website with a shopping cart in PHP script from scratch myself. but 90% of the groups in the course just copied code from the web and stuck it together and they got a better mark than me. i know full well that because of this my lecturers just assumed i did the same and never looked at my source code. in my experience most computer courses in Ireland are a joke.

dlofnep

OP,

I know alot of people in your position, even with masters degrees. But to be honest, most of them brought it on themselves. They never went out into the industry to actively seek work to further their education. A degree will only lay the foundation for you - you'll get real world experience in a job.

I work in a call-center right now part-time, and then amount of people who work there with degrees is crazy. I'm doing my honours degree (finished today actually) so I won't have to stay in such a place. Too many people get comfortable there, and end up being unable to leave.

But you said it yourself - you didn't do the work in college, so you were probably under-qualified to do anything. Not intending to sound pretentious, but that's your own fault. I don't understand people like that. Either go to college to put the hard work in, and actively seek work in that area - or don't waste your time.

NothingMan

dlofnep wrote: »

But you said it yourself - you didn't do the work in college, so you were probably under-qualified to do anything. Not intending to sound pretentious, but that's your own fault. I don't understand people like that. Either go to college to put the hard work in, and actively seek work in that area - or don't waste your time.

But what about me. I coasted through my course. Never really studied,hadn't great attendence and couldn't even do the most simple thing in C++ (neither could anyone else so we all passed). And I graduated with a distinction and walked right into a job.

There is something to be said for coasting through life on charm and good looks.


And if it gets me a promotion, i'll take a shot in the mouth.

dlofnep

You played the game sir, kudos.

But I know alot of students who didn't put in the work, were actually nervous to even apply for a job incase they didn't meet the requirements.

the_syco

petethebrick wrote: »

but my point is that I've never used the degree in any way, shape or form

But yet you admit you used it to get into a postgrad course :rolleyes:

dlofnep wrote: »

I'm doing my honours degree (finished today actually)

Congrats

=-=

Meh. The A+ cert opened up more jobs for me than the IT Certifiate course did.

Paulj

Computer Engineering graduate here.

I think in University you get out what you put in. Surely you can coast through, cramming for exams and copying code from others etc... But have you ever actually really tried to code something useful. Its not actually that difficult. The first time it's slow alright. But it's not complicated it just takes some mental focus.

So, while you may never have written anything doens't mean that you can't. The degree probably taught you a lot of the basics about boolean logic and binary/hexadecimal or whatever. You say that you can't code... have you ever really tried?

Also, the OP said he got a degree that was of no practical use to him. Did you even apply for a job in the area?

dlofnep

Thanks

Have my final year project demo today, and then I'm done!

Begin lots of cider and liver poison!

Gmol

Did a business degree specialising in HR but never went in to a defined HR role and am kinda glad as HR departments are such an obvious target in a recession and to be honest a lot of HR work can/should be done by dept managers

NothingMan

the_syco wrote: »

Meh. The A+ cert opened up more jobs for me than the IT Certifiate course did.

+1. I got a tech support job out of college, fairly basic stuff, but once I did the A+ and showed an interest in progressing, now I handle the internal IT and do a lot of site work too. I am the youngest by 5 years and the newest guy here, and the other guys are still on the tech support desk.

Now if I could just be motivated to do my MCSE's....

Lemegeton

Paulj wrote: »

Computer Engineering graduate here.

I think in University you get out what you put in. Surely you can coast through, cramming for exams and copying code from others etc... But have you ever actually really tried to code something useful. Its not actually that difficult. The first time it's slow alright. But it's not complicated it just takes some mental focus.

So, while you may never have written anything doens't mean that you can't. The degree probably taught you a lot of the basics about boolean logic and binary/hexadecimal or whatever. You say that you can't code... have you ever really tried?

Also, the OP said he got a degree that was of no practical use to him. Did you even apply for a job in the area?

i graduated from WIT with a Bsc Degree in Software Development and i spent 6 months applying for every programmer/software dev job i could find and no company would even look at me.

CrazyRabbit

I have a degree in procrastination and put what I learned to good use every day. Took me 10 year to get through the 6 month course.

I'll tell you about the course later.

ronaldoshaky

petethebrick wrote: »

I completed a four year computer science degree straight after leaving school but was never that into it. Despite my lack of interest never dropped out as didn't have a clue what else I wanted to do and the craic at college was good. Put in the minimum amount of work really, mostly cramming exams etc and somehow came out with a 2.1.
I didn't really learn a tap though and now eight years later know less about computers than an average person off the street. I've never used my degree for anything - bar gaining entry to a totally unrelated (politics) postgraduate. Now working in a different field entirely...

Anyone else waste years studying for a degree that they never used at all....
(apart from philosophy degrees obviously )

I think the merits of university are over exaggerated. Training students in secondary school to think for themselves and apply common sense, like to become entrepeneurs or pursue practical qualifications would be a lot better.

Majoring in Greek and Roman civilisation anyone?

brummytom

Gone Drinking wrote: »

Brummytom's never used his penis.. to a degree

My hand would disagree with you there

Schism

So what do you work at now OP out of interest?

epgc3fyqirnbsx

I did an Arts degree. Discovered it was ****e (in retrospect I might have got a cushy public sector job )
Then I did a law degree. Now its beingsaid that law is the new arts.
So while I'm at it, I'm thinking of going back studying something equally as useless, philosophy perhaps

conno3001

Lemegeton wrote: »

i graduated from WIT with a Bsc Degree in Software Development and i spent 6 months applying for every programmer/software dev job i could find and no company would even look at me.

Why do you think that is?

Because of WIT or some other reason?

trakeena

Computer Science student here about to graduate. Have a final exam tomorrow but I despise UML with a passion so internet forums it is. I think you get as much from the degree as you get in. It is possible to cram it all in for exams but that'll get you no where in interviews. Any interviews I've been on are tough. You have to know your stuff and I have been asked to code on a white board, explain protocols etc. It's not a difficult subject but requires patience and work. The good thing about Computer Science is graduates are being hired.

Armin_Tamzarian

I'd imagine it's quite common to never use a degree.
I'm in a simlar situation I graduated with a 2.1 in Computers and then did a MSc in Cryptography.
TBH I only did the MSc as it came with a free room in the college and a monthly allowance, plus it kept me out of the real world for a while.
After that my career went in a different direction and apart from the odd bit of freelance programming work I've never had a job in computers.

I sometimes wonder if I could get a job in computers now, having graduated 10 years ago and never worked in the industry.
I should imagine that an employer would be very slow to take on someone like me.

stovelid

Mine is from Trinity and the scroll is completely in Latin so I can't understand a word of it. I amuse myself by pretending the message is that good for something.

Stench Blossoms

trakeena wrote: »

The good thing about Computer Science is graduates are being hired.

Can't agree with you here.

I graduated last year in Computer Science and out of a class of roughly 40, I know 5 classmates who have 'Computer science' related jobs.

At the end of the day a degree means shag all to employers. They want to see the Certs.

JohnCleary

nuxxx wrote: »

If you managed to get a honours degree in computer science and are saying you never did a tap, or put no work into it, you are lieing out of your arse imho

I got a 1.1 in a Computer Systems & Networks course (which included a lot of Cisco CCNA and a decent amount of CCNP stuff) and apart from attending lecturers, did pretty much no study apart from the week before exams.

I think the key line here is "attending lecturers"