Enterprise Computing DCU

luv-eirexx

Hi!!
I really want to put down a course with business and I.T in it and enterprise and computing looks great!!
But im just wondering is all the hardware and software stuff hard because i dont have a clue about any of that stuff!!!
And what are the postgrad?masters options??
And finally which would be better, Enterprise and Computing in dcu OR business information systems in nuig???

Thanks a mill!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxx

argonaut

Run away! Run away!



Nah, it's a good course, really. The hardware/software stuff is pretty basic to begin with, so I wouldn't worry about that.

I've enjoyed it so far, the class is small enough to get to know most of the members of it and well the lectures are interesting as well as the lecturers, MWard ... Which makes the students pay attention. The current second years have basically been told that work experience will be hard to get so not many will be getting it. Or so I'm told.

The drop out rate is pretty high as 2nd year currently boasts about 2/5 of what it was in first year and well, you can tell who'll make it in your course and who won't. So theres quite a few people in 1st year who were in it last year.

Basically the degree is perfect if you want to have a computing based degree without having to know the programming side of things.

By the way, who are you Mr. S?

robby^5

A lot of people go into this degree because computing is a bit of a buzzword, then they struggle with all the computing aspects of the course or do the bare minimum to get by.

If you do choose this degree I would say that an interest in computing would be preferable, you dont have to know anything going in but do understand that in first year you will be doing one java programming module (which is becoming standard for all EC1's now), web design (html, css) and web programming (javascript). There is a maths module too, I am terrible at maths, always have been and I found it tough having done ordinary level in the LC. People who did well in ordinary or did honours dont find it so bad though.

In second year there is software specification and software testing (lot of diagrams, reports and you do need to understand how pieces of code work), database management (you learn sql and do a year long project where you create a database and a website as a front end), internet applications (bit un-organised this year, but I would assume it will be refocused on teaching php next year as that was a big part of it, which a few groups used in their database projects). It's all relatively easy, you turn up and do the work and it's simple.

I would say that the course does need a bit of a restructuring, I'd go as far as to say programming 1 and 2 should be standard for all EC's (I passed both when I was in CA and it's been a big advantage) especially when they are pushing software testing as a career path for us (if there is interest they will be organising an ISTQB software testing qualification test). People are scratching their heads in software testing when they're given like 40 lines of code to understand, which is understandable as our year there are people who haven't done any programming at all and I wouldn't expect a business student to understand it either.

But yeah the point I'm trying to get across is that if you think you will struggle at any of these things or you dont have an interest in computing, then do business studies. They teach information systems too and I think a lot of EC's would have done better in that field as I dont think there is as much of an interest in the computing side of things as there should be.

EDIT - also we've been told that intra is being reduced to 6 months for EC, I dont know who this affects (not us anyway) but fyi by all accounts you will have modules in 3rd year.

argonaut

Deleted User wrote: »

The current second years have basically been told that work experience will be hard to get so not many will be getting it. Or so I'm told.

robby^5 wrote: »

EDIT - also we've been told that intra is being reduced to 6 months for EC, I dont know who this affects (not us anyway) but fyi by all accounts you will have modules in 3rd year.

Oh good.

duffy177

Hi I am interested in the Enterprise Computing course in DCU.

I have a great interest in computers however don't want to be getting bogged down into programming and for this reason I would be listing Enterprise computing over computer science.

I am interested to know how much computers in involved in this course? My dream would be to either be working as a systems administrator or network administrator in the future or to setup a small IT business to supply the needs of a IT department to small/medium sized businesses who can't afford a fully staffed It department. Would this course be suited to this want?

Has anybody taken on Cisco or CompTIA A+ courses part time while doing degree? Is there enough free time to do this?

Is there really that much business in this course? Or does it deal more with computer based things? And if so how advanced does it get and what job opportunities would it leave me with when I graduate

robby^5

duffy177 wrote: »

I have a great interest in computers however don't want to be getting bogged down into programming and for this reason I would be listing Enterprise computing over computer science.

You wont be doing much programming. The most you'll do is a java programming module in semester 1 of first year, it's essentially an introduction to programming and is very straightforward.

duffy177 wrote: »

I am interested to know how much computers in involved in this course? My dream would be to either be working as a systems administrator or network administrator in the future or to setup a small IT business to supply the needs of a IT department to small/medium sized businesses who can't afford a fully staffed It department. Would this course be suited to this want?

From the sounds of it yes EC would be right up your alley. We dont do any business startup/entrepreneurial modules though, but the management side of things is what this course is all about.

duffy177 wrote: »

Has anybody taken on Cisco or CompTIA A+ courses part time while doing degree? Is there enough free time to do this?

Not to my knowledge. In 1st year you should have ample free time to pursue outside qualifications though, the workload wasn't that heavy. In second year there's about 15 hours of lectures/practicals a week and there are a lot of assignments, projects, quizzes and in class exams so you'd be very pushed to do any additional outside work past 1st year imo.

duffy177 wrote: »

Is there really that much business in this course? Or does it deal more with computer based things? And if so how advanced does it get and what job opportunities would it leave me with when I graduate

There were two purely business modules, this is a computing degree so the vast majority of what we cover are computing topics. Management (Business Game) and Marketing were the only two purely business modules we had and they were both in first year. In 2nd year there was Quantitative Analysis for Business Decisions but that's more of a maths-type module (lots of forumale)

johnmcdnl

What sort of jobs is this course suited for... I see network administrator and similar jobs being mentioned...

any other branches I could lean off into when I finish this course

blacon

robby^5 wrote: »

In 2nd year there was Quantitative Analysis for Business Decisions but that's more of a maths-type module (lots of forumale)

Don't forget Business Communication Skills.

A lot of the stuff we do touches on business while focusing on Computers. Its a computing degree - its part of the School of Computing, not the Business School. So don't take this degree if you're not confident that you want to work with computers.

I think its an excellent degree tbh and I certainly recommend it to anyone who loves computers but isn't good at maths / programming.

johnmcdnl

johnmcdnl wrote: »

What sort of jobs is this course suited for... I see network administrator and similar jobs being mentioned...

Enterprise Computing really isn't suited for network administration. Even Computer Applications barely prepares you for that.

Cy_Revenant

Deleted User wrote: »

Enterprise Computing really isn't suited for network administration. Even Computer Applications barely prepares you for that.

I would have thought otherwise.

theflash800

i did this course. just finished first year. was really good. hopefully ill have passed all my exams
but to be honest. I wouldnt take this course up with the intention of having a huge business focus. there are 2 business oriented modules during first year. i took up the course intending to a good bit of business. i was sadly mistaken. however. im so glad it turned out to be mainly computer work. because as things turn out. my academic talents seem to lie with the IT side of things.
but it mostly computers. unless you have a decent knowledge of maths and a decent computing interest i wouldn't suggest this course.

if you have a decent maths ability.. and you can use a computer beyond regular internet browsing. (tampering with settings, know a rough idea of what ram and a cpu is, know wat an operating system is etc...) then this is a brilliant course. I love it so far!

gerrowadat

duffy177 wrote: »

I have a great interest in computers however don't want to be getting bogged down into programming and for this reason I would be listing Enterprise computing over computer science.

Any particular reason? Most systems administrators (the ones in demand anyway) can code to a certain extent, and you're kind of limiting yourself if you're saying "I don't want to learn how to code" straight off the bat.

Any kind of decent system/network administration requires computer science.

Cy_Revenant

Deleted User wrote: »

Any kind of decent system/network administration requires computer science.

I disagree.

gerrowadat

Cy_Revenant wrote: »

I disagree.

Okay.

lil_cain

Deleted User wrote: »

Any kind of decent system/network administration requires computer science.

Yeah. I regularly need to work out big O notation when I'm pushing firewall policies.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote:

Any kind of decent system/network administration requires computer science.

Nomesayin?

You would need even a basic knowledge of computer science for trivial tasks such as determining the broadcast address of a network, manually fiddling with byte order, writing multithreaded programs and so on.

lil_cain

Deleted User wrote: »

Nomesayin?

You would need even a basic knowledge of computer science for trivial tasks such as determining the broadcast address of a network, manually fiddling with byte order, writing multithreaded programs and so on.

If you're manually fiddling with byte order, or writing any kind of non-trivial multi threaded program as a networks/systems administrator, you're probably doing it wrong.

And I wouldn't say I know the first thing about computer science, yet I can still work out the broadcast address of networks in my head (not that I have to do it on a regular basis)

lil_cain

lil_cain wrote: »

If you're manually fiddling with byte order, or writing any kind of non-trivial multi threaded program as a networks/systems administrator, you're probably doing it wrong.

And I wouldn't say I know the first thing about computer science, yet I can still work out the broadcast address of networks in my head (not that I have to do it on a regular basis)

To write any multi-threaded program which uses shared resources, you need to know about mutual exclusion using semaphores, locks or some other method, which is computer science. To work out the broadcast address by bitwise ORing the subnet mask with the network address, that's computer science. I'm not sure if Enterprise Computing teaches much of that; I know Computer Applications does.

gerrowadat

lil_cain wrote: »

Yeah. I regularly need to work out big O notation when I'm pushing firewall policies.

Enjoy pushing firewall policies for the rest of your career so.

ShaneMc12345

Im starting enterprise computing in september and am just wondering what i should expect. how many hours a week will i have. is there lectures on a friday and is this degree a tough one.?

johnmcdnl

ShaneMc12345 wrote: »

Im starting enterprise computing in september and am just wondering what i should expect. how many hours a week will i have. is there lectures on a friday and is this degree a tough one.?

I'm going into 3rd year now so from my experiences - you'll have about 15-20 hours lectures a week and I had one lecture on a Friday in first semester in first year and have had Fridays off since My year was probably just lucky with that so tbh you could just as easily end up with a full day from 9-5 on a Friday. Then add another couple of hours onto that for group projects and just other projects in general, you'll have way more some weeks than others but it's rarely what you'd call a really long week.


As for is it hard - if you go to the lectures, and keep on top of the work it's not too bad. Suppose everyone probably says that about any course but yeah from my experience it works well. There isn't a huge workload but you'll find that you'll always have something that needs to be done and as long as you don't let a couple projects run up on you at once you shouldn't find the workload to be overwhelming. Common sense really like, once you get the work start into it relatively fast. If you have an interest in the subject it should help a lot anyways.

rg99

Mr.S wrote: »

I've just finished up first year in Enterprise Computing (EC)

Don't worry about not knowing any of the technical stuff, while its handy to have some prior knowledge, they teach all the hardware/software stuff from scratch, so you'll be fine!

You don't really do that much hardware stuff in first year anyway, one module (Intro to IT hardware (;)) is really easy, and basically you learn about all the parts of the PC, how to put it together, simple stuff:)

Not to sure about postgrad stuff, once you have the degree, you could take up any computing/business postgrad you wanted to really.

I was looking at the NUIG course myself last year, the DCU course is more computer orientated in first year (we only have 1 Business module each semester, Business "Game" and Marketing) while the NUIG course has a lot more business in 1st year.

Oh, and the DCU course, in 3rd year you take a full year out to go on work experienced (organized for you) the NUIG course doesn't have that. The work experience is a big plus, it gets you something good for your CV and you get a good experience in a working environment:)

And a final thing, in first year in EC, you take a maths module for the whole year. Its not impossible, but its probably the hardest module you do in 1st year, and it actually requires work, rather then cramming the night before! If your doing Honours maths for the leaving, you'd be fine. If your doing ordinary maths, you'd want to be be around the C1 level. As far as i know though, theres no maths after first year:)

Hope that helps!

Its a good enough course, not to many hours (we had Fridays off in the first term, and Tuesdays off in the second) and theres only about 50-60 total in the course (you'd get about 30 max in a lecture though:D) so you get you the people on your course really well:))

you do 9 months paid work XP in bis

Alexidium

I do the course and I love it.

danish pasterys

blacon wrote: »

Don't forget Business Communication Skills.

A lot of the stuff we do touches on business while focusing on Computers. Its a computing degree - its part of the School of Computing, not the Business School. So don't take this degree if you're not confident that you want to work with computers.

I think its an excellent degree tbh and I certainly recommend it to anyone who loves computers but isn't good at maths / programming.

Is scraping through this degree possible for a mature student that has worked in an office past 5yrs didnt do leaving cert not confident in maths however comfortable on a computer an very hard working would the maths center help me ??

Realisitic answers appriciated

danish pasterys

Alexidium wrote: »

I do the course and I love it.

Is scraping through this degree possible for a mature student that has worked in an office past 5yrs didnt do leaving cert not confident in maths however comfortable on a computer an very hard working would the maths center help me ??

danish pasterys

danish pasterys wrote: »

Is scraping through this degree possible for a mature student that has worked in an office past 5yrs didnt do leaving cert not confident in maths however comfortable on a computer an very hard working would the maths center help me ??

To be honest, not really. The idea of scraping through a degree is a pointless exercise as there is no point doing one if you are aiming to get the least amount necessary. If you commit fulltime to it and treat it like a 9-5 job, you will do well however.

H2G2

danish pasterys wrote: »

Is scraping through this degree possible for a mature student that has worked in an office past 5yrs didnt do leaving cert not confident in maths however comfortable on a computer an very hard working would the maths center help me ??

Best advice, go do a Cert or diploma course first and not a Hons BSc. If you take on a 4 year Hons Degree programme and bomb out, you are left with nothing. Try a 2 year certificate first in an IT. If that works out, you are ready for it...

danish pasterys

H2G2 wrote: »

Best advice, go do a Cert or diploma course first and not a Hons BSc. If you take on a 4 year Hons Degree programme and bomb out, you are left with nothing. Try a 2 year certificate first in an IT. If that works out, you are ready for it...

Cheers guys

danish pasterys

ShaneMc12345 wrote: »

Im starting enterprise computing in september and am just wondering what i should expect. how many hours a week will i have. is there lectures on a friday and is this degree a tough one.?

Hi shane,

Just wondering how ur finding the course so far? As im thinking of doin it next year. I was wondering if it workload is tough and particulary how is the maths and programming ? I myself am a mature student and didnt do my leaving cert so am very weary about the maths side of it

Are ther many matures in the class?