M.sc. in software design & development or M.sc. Information Technology?

iii Stevo iii

Posted this in the Postgraduate forum with no success so I said I try it here awell:

I am considering applying for one of these courses in NUI Galway.

Has anyone done or currently doing either of these courses?
What are your thoughts on it and what are the job prospects for someone who completes it?

What should i be aware of before I apply?

I have a honours degree in Mechanical Engineering - would the masters in either of the above co-inside and help when applying for jobs or are the disiplines completly different?

Thanks.

qwytre

I've done the Masters in IT one. What kind of career do you want?

If you love programming and developing software I would say go for the Software Design & Dev Masters. To be honest either way you are going to come out with a Masters degree in the IT discipline so they are both good. The Masters in IT one is more multi-disciplinary, it has 33% business subjects and 33% Behaviour subjects. The IT part is not nearly as detailed as the other course.

There are a few threads already about these degrees, just search.

Black_Knight

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

Posted this in the Postgraduate forum with no success so I said I try it here awell:

I am considering applying for one of these courses in NUI Galway.

Has anyone done or currently doing either of these courses?
What are your thoughts on it and what are the job prospects for someone who completes it?

What should i be aware of before I apply?

I have a honours degree in Mechanical Engineering - would the masters in either of the above co-inside and help when applying for jobs or are the disiplines completly different?

Thanks.

Im currently doing the MSc in SW Design and Dev. Ive the 1st year done and it was grand. Taught me alot in a short space of time too.

I did Electronic & Computer engineering as my undergrad but my IT side of things was quite weak so I decided on this course.
You cover C, C++, VB, HTML, PHP, ASP, Javascript, and SQL in the course, of which all are pretty well taught. Nothing goes into too much dept, but you get a good knowledge of them all.

There is a group project you have to do during the year. I had no problems with ours, and as far as im aware, no group really struggled too much.

My overall thoughts were positive, I wouldnt of felt ready for the working work after my degree, but after doing the 1st year of this masters its given me alot more confidence.


Things you should know, the Masters course is also combined with the H.Dip in SW Design and Dev. Both courses are the exact same the first year, and only the masters includes a 2nd year (a 1 year thesis). If you opt for the H.Dip and wish to do the masters after it, you need a 2.1 H.Dip to progress. AFAIK, anyone who was interested in doing the Masters after the H.Dip got their results.

Ive not done Mech Eng or am familiar with the course outline, but the MSc course would be a good addition to a CV when applying to a SW Dev job, or a Web Dev job. A few lads in the class had Mech Eng degrees and did the MSc course, AFAIK they had no big problems.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask more.

EDIT: I knew 1 or 2 doing the MIT. From what I gathered, for a Masters in IT, there's alot of BS business, law etc stuff in there. I think they had something like 10 exams at summer time too. They do a 3 or 5 month(i think) placement which cant hurt for a bit of experience.

iii Stevo iii

Black_Knight wrote: »

Im currently doing the MSc in SW Design and Dev. Ive the 1st year done and it was grand. Taught me alot in a short space of time too.

I did Electronic & Computer engineering as my undergrad but my IT side of things was quite weak so I decided on this course.
You cover C, C++, VB, HTML, PHP, ASP, Javascript, and SQL in the course, of which all are pretty well taught. Nothing goes into too much dept, but you get a good knowledge of them all.

There is a group project you have to do during the year. I had no problems with ours, and as far as im aware, no group really struggled too much.

My overall thoughts were positive, I wouldnt of felt ready for the working work after my degree, but after doing the 1st year of this masters its given me alot more confidence.


Things you should know, the Masters course is also combined with the H.Dip in SW Design and Dev. Both courses are the exact same the first year, and only the masters includes a 2nd year (a 1 year thesis). If you opt for the H.Dip and wish to do the masters after it, you need a 2.1 H.Dip to progress. AFAIK, anyone who was interested in doing the Masters after the H.Dip got their results.

Ive not done Mech Eng or am familiar with the course outline, but the MSc course would be a good addition to a CV when applying to a SW Dev job, or a Web Dev job. A few lads in the class had Mech Eng degrees and did the MSc course, AFAIK they had no big problems.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask more.

EDIT: I knew 1 or 2 doing the MIT. From what I gathered, for a Masters in IT, there's alot of BS business, law etc stuff in there. I think they had something like 10 exams at summer time too. They do a 3 or 5 month(i think) placement which cant hurt for a bit of experience.

Thanks for the detailed response!

A few questions,

Do you have an idea of the numbers in both courses?

Application date is finished and I have not applied for either course, would I still have a chance of getting into either?

You said the second year is a thesis, is this still full time college or could it be done away from Galway?

I read that the course fees are 2000euro, is the registration fee of 1600 odd euro added to that or is it included?

I just have a general idea about both courses (MIT more law, business intensive than SWDD), but am a bit confused about the end jobs coming from them.
Are SWDD qualified people able to work in the same areas as people with a MIT and visa versa, or am I cutting myself off from an area of IT by choosing one of these courses?

Finally do you have an idea of the job prospects for SWDD or MIT?

Thanks again.

Black_Knight

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

Do you have an idea of the numbers in both courses?

We had about 30 in each.

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

Application date is finished and I have not applied for either course, would I still have a chance of getting into either?

Yes. 1 lad joined in the 1st or 2nd week of September last year.

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

You said the second year is a thesis, is this still full time college or could it be done away from Galway?

On paper its said to be full time, but a few of the lads have asked could they do it part time if they got work. There was no problem with this.

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

I read that the course fees are 2000euro, is the registration fee of 1600 odd euro added to that or is it included?

Not entirely sure. I think all I paid was 2000.

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

I just have a general idea about both courses (MIT more law, business intensive than SWDD), but am a bit confused about the end jobs coming from them.
Are SWDD qualified people able to work in the same areas as people with a MIT and visa versa, or am I cutting myself off from an area of IT by choosing one of these courses?

I would say there is much of a difference. At the end of the day, im pretty sure companies will look at your CV, be impressed that you have done further education and look at the languages and skills you have learned from that course. Whether your further education is the MIT, or MSWD&D I dont think matters a whole lot.

Though having not done that MIT, its hard to say.

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

Finally do you have an idea of the job prospects for SWDD or MIT?

From my SWDD H.Dip so far, ive been applying to SW dev jobs, Web dev jobs, IT sector jobs, IT Graduate jobs, or anything graduate thats got some manner of programming in it.

Ive had 2 interviews this summer, and ive at least 1 call back from those 2. Im going doing a website for a friend of a friend also as a bit of extra cash too. All as a result of the course.

As with anyone starting out, theres alot of rejection, but there seems to be a nice few graduate jobs out there to get a good foot in the door. A few of the lads have already got jobs after the 1st year of the masters/h.dip.
I know ones a Web developer and one got a job as a programmer in an investments company. Lots of opportunuties in lots of varied sectors.

sealgaire

Dang, there were only 6 in the MIT when I did it 2 years ago. Seems people are staying in education!

KylieWyley

Black_Knight wrote: »

Im currently doing the MSc in SW Design and Dev. Ive the 1st year done and it was grand. Taught me alot in a short space of time too.

I'm in the same situation except I had no exposure to IT in my undergrad degree. Found the first year to be a good crash course in software development. Theres about 6hrs of C programming lectures each week in the first semester, plus labs + assignments on top. So you get a fairly good grasp of it!

I was lucky enough to get a web development job before I had my summer exams finished. While its still quite competitive, the IT sector is much more buoyant than many other sectors of the economy!

@Black_Knight, who bist du?

Black_Knight

KylieWyley wrote: »

I'm in the same situation except I had no exposure to IT in my undergrad degree. Found the first year to be a good crash course in software development. Theres about 6hrs of C programming lectures each week in the first semester, plus labs + assignments on top. So you get a fairly good grasp of it!

I was lucky enough to get a web development job before I had my summer exams finished. While its still quite competitive, the IT sector is much more buoyant than many other sectors of the economy!

@Black_Knight, who bist du?

Well Kyle. Tis I, Matt.

KylieWyley

Cool, A hoi hoi!

While we're on the subject of the M.Sc, have you heard from them about next year yet? I haven't heard a sausage. Don't know when we've to decide our thesis proposal or anything . .


( OP, organisation and administration isn't the IT department's strongest point . They've got some sound lecturers though! )

Black_Knight

And some awful ones.

Ive no clue Kyle, ive not heard from em either. One of the lads went in for a talk with them a few weeks back, nothing much was said, just sussing out ideas and the like. ATM im looking for jobs so im not even sure if ill be back.