Software Development

tcawley29

ok, so this year i will hopefully be starting this course and am looking forward to it. anyways i wanted to know roughly how much will the books set me back. what is the maths like because i did ordinary level for the leaving cert but higher level in junior cert. what other costs are there. how many hours are there in first year and how helpful are the teachers. also just been wondering, since i can do an optional fourth year to get level 8 is it really worth the effort or would i be wasting my time. also wondering about a laptop since i will be getting a new one for the course is there any minimum requirments. thanks

D.a.v.i.d

I`m currently heading into 3rd year Systems and Networking in September.

All of the computing courses in Sligo are all common to first years...so what that means is you are going to be doin bits of everything...Networking, Databases, Programing, and Design, THEN you choose what path you want to take...I started with Software Dev...and switched to Systems & Net.

Personally I have not bought any books in my past 2 years in college...just A4 hardback pads! Lecturers will advise on text books and if you do decide to get them they are usually no less than €30 and can be €60+...complete waste of money for first years in my eyes...everything you need to learn is given to you, as long as your in lectures for it

Maths is basically Ordinary Level Leaving Cert maths...basic algebra and such.
If you passed maths in the LC you will be A+ at it in college....until second year

Other costs = lots of pens and hardbacks, you will need a large USB key!

I had 26-28 hours in my week...good few early mornings.

Lecturers are helpful...some more than others...but it`s a completely different atmosphere compared to school..

I am doing a level 7 now and am going to do the Level 8 add on....stressing yourself out for points in the LC when you don`t need to is ridiculous.

Laptop...no real requirements....a €500-€700 machine should be plenty good.

For comparison mine is 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram DDR3 1066mhz, GeForce 210M graphics card, running Windows7 64 bit. Had it since first year.

The only resource heavy application you`ll be running is Photoshop CS5 and Dreamweaver...but the college computer labs are there for that.

I think i`v answered everything! LOL Good Luck!

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

D.a.v.i.d pretty much answered everything!

You have a lot of hours in first and second year at least 24 hours a week, we got all our lecturers condensed into 4 days, so no class on fridays. Your hours ease off a little in 3rd year, as your project is one of your 6 subjects, ao you have around 20 hours of lecturers. In 4th year, you have around 15 hours a week of lecurers, but its by far the hardest year!

I would advise doing 4th year, if you look at software jobs online (monster.ie) pretty much all require an honours degree. Software jobs for graduates are picking up at the moment too, lot better than 18 months ago. Cant say what it will be like in 4 years though!

Best of luck with the course

dingding

Also you have the benefit of studying in a college that has won the Microsoft Imagine Cup.