Conflicted and Frustrated :@

donfarrell

Okay heres the thing,

I am 18 and currently doing computer science and nearly finished my first year and I hate about 90% of it.

I am barely passing and am getting really lazy with handing up work or I don't hand it up altogether.

The thing is that I don't know what I want to do with my life and I thought it would be in computers as I am pretty good with them. If anyone I knew had a problem with thier computer, laptop, printer, router etc. I'd be the one they'd call but this course is just not for me.

I would probably enjoy it more if I had some money to go out at the weekends but I find it simply impossible to find a job anywhere. I have no experience which pretty much labels me un-hireable.

Anyway, I would gladly drop out and go on the labour until I find what I really want to do but I feel that I would be letting a lot of people down. My brother got nowhere with his leaving and has been on the doal for about 2 years now, my dad got let go from his bricklaying job due to reccession and is now on doal and my mam is only working part-time.

I am going to apply for the maintence grant which I will probably get that will take a bit of pressure off but I'm stilll stuck.

I dunno what I expect to get back but it felt better to write it down
Thanks

ash2008

i knew a guy who knew absolutely everything about computers and loved playing around with them, but hated studying it in college. College degrees arent very suited to more practical people. The degrees are very wide ranging, lots of theory and you have to study things like programming etc...which may not be the area that you like.
What exactly is it that you hate about the course, do you still enjoy working with/fixing computers outside of college or are you completely fed up with it??

Id advise you to go and speak to someone at the college, a careers advisor or your year head. Its possible some things you currently hate in the course wont be so prominent next year. Alternatively, maybe there are other courses more suited to you that you could explore with the careers person and switch over next year. Or you could do a plc course which might be more practical rather than so much theory and programming etc.

Also remember that when you get a qualification in computers, there are many different areas you can specialise in - programming, testing, technical/software support. hardware support etc etc. So much of what you do in the course, you wont have to do when you get a job.

helimachoptor

Op, i had the opposite problem, first year i loved it, second year hated it, 3rd year liked it and 4th year hated it and lost interest a lot. But dont worry once you get into the real world it gets a lot more practical!

Des Carter

Op, I would advise against dropping out of the course as it will be incredibly hard to find work without a degree (even with one) due to the recession. I would also advise making an appointment with a guidance counsellor (either in the college or a private one) as I didnt know what I wanted to do and went to a private one and found it a great help.

Nolanger

Computer science is probably the best IT degree to get. Stick with it, but remember you can always do it as an evening course when you're a mature student.

LegacyUser

I just finished my final year of a computer science course and was in a similar position after first year. Hated most of the stuff in it. But I stuck it out until the end just to get the degree.

I'd advise you to really have a think about what you want to do. If you're struggling in first year to put in effort and its all uninteresting to you its probably going to get harder and more soul crushing.

In hindsight I would have changed course after first year into something more enjoyable. But I'm still glad I finished it and it wasn't all bad.