Business & Computing

Wats_in_a_name

Thinking about putting Business & Computing down in my CAO but was wondering is it a Business Course with Computing or a Computing course with Business or an even mix?

Also, I have heard there is a high drop out rate. -Is this true?

Amirani

It's more of a computing course with business. It's no MSISS though...

ED E

I'm a 1st year CS. And I'll be honest, we CS don't usually like bizzkids. I'm only in the place one semester and I've got why already.

You have to ask yourself why you're considering doing B&C. It would seem a lot do it for lack of proper direction. To quote myself from a few weeks ago: "B&C are tools left in the cleft between the nerds and suits"

If you're a budding entrepreneur, you'll likely hate the programming. If you're a nerd you'll probably enjoy pure CS a lot more.

Why B&C and not MSIS?

tabouli

Hi OP not sure if you've looked at the course page but there's some useful information to be found there. It's important to bear in mind though that it's a new course and course literature etc might not be fully up to date. For example, on that link it says that second year B&C take the CS telecomms module as a mandatory subject, and they don't. Just something to be aware of.

I'm not in B&C (CS actually, and I can assure you that not everyone has the same attitude as the poster above regarding "bizzkids" :rolleyes:), but from what I can see it seems to be evenly split between the two for the first year at least. On the CS side, you'll be doing maths, java programming, one semester of assembly language and also the programming project. From second year on, you can choose options from a number of either CS or Business modules, depending on where your interests lie.

Yes, it is true that it has a high drop out rate, but so do most other computing courses around the country. As long as you research the course and know what you're getting yourself in for (and do some work once you get here ) you should have no problems.

Personally, I think it seems like a pretty good course. From a CS perspective, you essentially get to swap out some of the less interesting hardware type modules for business ones instead. Good luck in whatever you decide to do anyway.

Jehuty42

0/10 for trolling there. Totally transparent. Reported.

boblong

OP please be aware that the nonsense in this thread is not representative of most computer science students.

Dante

I'm in 2nd year Business and Computing so I'll give you a basic run down of what the course is about. In first year, I would say that the course focuses mainly on the Computer Science side rather than the Business side, however in 2nd year it seems to have evened out a bit, if not become a bit more business orientated. In 3rd year, apparently you get to choose whether to continue with the Computer Science aspect of the course or veer more towards the business modules, but knowing the course directors this is probably complete bullshít.

In first year you do about 8 modules; Introduction to Programming, Computing, Programming Project, Maths, Statistics, Economics, Introduction to Management, and Business Systems. The business modules are all straight forward enough, they just involve a lot of reading and revising. The computer science modules can be quite tricky and caught a lot of people out in terms of difficulty, but if you put the work in it'll be fine. In 2nd year you do a few new business modules such as accounting, organisational behaviour and introduction to finance, and in the CS side you continue with 2 fairly basic programming modules.

As for the high drop out rate, it is true that out of the 31 people that started the course last year only about 14 are left in 2nd year, however, this was more due to us as a course doing absolutely fúck all throughout the year and going out far too much, as opposed to the difficulty of the course. The course itself so far is not too hard compared to other courses provided you put even a small bit of work into each module during the year. One thing I'd advise you not to do is to stroll in on the first day thinking that its just going to be a nice handy business course with a few basic computing modules on the side, because you will quickly find out that the computer science aspect of the course, particularly programming and computing, can be quite difficult to get your head around if you've never done it before, as the 16 or so people who failed the year found out.

Overall, I think Business and Computing is a good course. Just make sure you know what you're in for in regards to the computer science modules, because programming is a core aspect of the course for the 4 years, which many people decided just wasn't for them and changed courses/dropped out. IMO the name of the course should be changed to Business and Computer Science, because the 'Computing' part can be a bit misleading. I know I make Java out to be really difficult, but its actually fairly easy once you sit down and practice it, and that is coming from someone who went from 16% in the summer exams to almost 70% in the repeats. Good luck with it if you slap it down on your CAO anyways.

EDIT: To whichever CS head XxbizkidgirlxX is, your attempt at trolling was absolutely horrendous, you socially-inept freak.

Steppes

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

I'm a 1st year CS. And I'll be honest, we CS don't usually like bizzkids. I'm only in the place one semester and I've got why already.

You have to ask yourself why you're considering doing B&C. It would seem a lot do it for lack of proper direction. To quote myself from a few weeks ago: "B&C are tools left in the cleft between the nerds and suits"

If you're a budding entrepreneur, you'll likely hate the programming. If you're a nerd you'll probably enjoy pure CS a lot more.

Why B&C and not MSIS?

1. God forbid people can - gasp! - have multiple interests!

2. You are not authoritative; quoting yourself doesn't do anything other than make you look like a complete tool.

3. Have you ever actually spoken to someone who does B&C or are you just trolling for the sake of it?

ED E

Steppes wrote: »

1. God forbid people can - gasp! - have multiple interests!

2. You are not authoritative; quoting yourself doesn't do anything other than make you look like a complete tool.

3. Have you ever actually spoken to someone who does B&C or are you just trolling for the sake of it?

Hi Steppes

1. When the course director for a business course cant present, I'm instantly worried.

2. I never claimed to authoritative, my opinion, I gave it. The fact when I made that remark nobody attempted to contradict it should be noted.

3. Yes I have. I certain 2/3rd year(you know the one!) despite being one of them accepts the trolling of them. Also the largest portion of programming is B&C. Half our group is from that course.

And yes, it was 4AM and I have a bit of a tendency to troll in the wee hours of the morning.


OP: In a totally honest and serious note though, I think the one thing that shouldnt put you off is the failure rate. Honestly, I only pay attention in programming around a third of the time, but when something new comes up(pity it doesnt happen more often) I do. It would appear to me(and at least the other 1st years) that a lot of the B&C students never pay attention. NBC Basketball seems to be a favorite distraction for them.

The day Assignment 1 was due, half a dozen of them were sitting outside the Programming support center looking for help a few hours before deadline. If you can apply yourself forget the rates.

t1mm

2. I never claimed to authoritative, my opinion, I gave it. The fact when I made that remark nobody attempted to contradict it should be noted.

This indicates that the people you were talking to have similar opinions to yourself, rather than proving your point that students enrolled in Business & Computing are "tools" I'm afraid.

You have to ask yourself why you're considering doing B&C. It would seem a lot do it for lack of proper direction.

Course diversity, wider interest, and further options at postgraduate level is are all far more likely reasons.

OP: I wouldn't let the failure rate affect your decision either. The course is not difficult provided you do some work - it will help if you have an interest in computers/programming before you enroll in the course but its an added bonus rather than a necessity.

Good luck, whatever choice you make in the end!

tehjimmeh

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

IMO the name of the course should be changed to Business and Computer Science, because the 'Computing' part can be a bit misleading.

Well anyone putting a course down on their CAO should be reading the undergrad prospectus and finding out what the course is actually about before potentially committing the next 4 years of their life to it...

From what I hear, it seems a lot of Business and Computing students were under the impression it was a business course with some ECDL-level computer courses. The mind boggles as to why exactly, but I suppose they're not alone in terms of students just throwing down courses on their CAO without knowing what they're about, it's just probably not the easiest course to just do and get by in if you happen to get it and aren't that interested.

My advice would be to read the prospectus entry for it carefully to get a feel for what the course actually entails, and also read the entry for Computer Science, and if there's no chance you would ever even consider picking CS, then I'd avoid it.

Dante

tehjimmeh wrote: »

Well anyone putting a course down on their CAO should be reading the undergrad prospectus and finding out what the course is actually about before potentially committing the next 4 years of their life to it...

From what I hear, it seems a lot of Business and Computing students were under the impression it was a business course with some ECDL-level computer courses. The mind boggles as to why exactly, but I suppose they're not alone in terms of students just throwing down courses on their CAO without knowing what they're about, it's just probably not the easiest course to just do and get by in if you happen to get it and aren't that interested.

My advice would be to read the prospectus entry for it carefully to get a feel for what the course actually entails, and also read the entry for Computer Science, and if there's no chance you would ever even consider picking CS, then I'd avoid it.

I can't really disagree with any of that. however, the B&C prospectus was extremely misleading in regards to information about modules choices, future module options and quite a few other issues which doesn't particularly help much.

Becca_19

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

3. Yes I have. I certain 2/3rd year(you know the one!) despite being one of them accepts the trolling of them. Also the largest portion of programming is B&C. Half our group is from that course.

Hey Lethal_Bullet, I'm the certain bizkid I assume you are claiming to have talked to. Let me just clarify, we have never spoken aside from general group conversations taking place in the room. And I do not accept most of the trolls, they are simply not worth even replying to.

As for wats_in_a_name, I agree with everything DaaaaaaaaaaN said, I'm in 2nd year Bnc and I love it, very happy with my choice.

ruairschach

Hi wats_in_a_name I am studying Business and Computing myself, and contrary to what some people are saying it's a great course with students of the same standard as any other computing course. If you are coming to the open day this Saturday, I will be working on the stand if you want to come and ask me any questions feel free to do so!