London Job Market: Advantage of Masters?

SimonTemplar

I have a degree in computer science (1.1). I have a decent portfolio of personal / college projects across different technologies (Java Spring, ASP.NET MVC, PHP, Python, VBA, WPF) and I'm always learning new stuff (udemy, udacity, plural sight etc). My biggest weakness would be the maths side of things which was never my strong side. In terms of career, I have 5+ years experience developing small scale tools to meet specific business needs which patch gaps in the main enterprise architecture. That takes about 50% of my role and the rest is system analyst.

I'd love to move to London but I can't decide whether to do a masters here (two years part time) and then move, or move sooner.

I know some members of the forum have London experience. Does a masters have a big difference in terms of recruitment, pay, promotion etc... over there?

The type of job I'd like is either a Java or .NET developer, preferably web back end, although I would take a VBA job if push came to shove.

EamonnDunne

SimonTemplar wrote: »

I have a degree in computer science (1.1). I have a decent portfolio of personal / college projects across different technologies (Java Spring, ASP.NET MVC, PHP, Python, VBA, WPF) and I'm always learning new stuff (udemy, udacity, plural sight etc). My biggest weakness would be the maths side of things which was never my strong side. In terms of career, I have 5+ years experience developing small scale tools to meet specific business needs which patch gaps in the main enterprise architecture. That takes about 50% of my role and the rest is system analyst.

I'd love to move to London but I can't decide whether to do a masters here (two years part time) and then move, or move sooner.

I know some members of the forum have London experience. Does a masters have a big difference in terms of recruitment, pay, promotion etc... over there?

The type of job I'd like is either a Java or .NET developer, preferably web back end, although I would take a VBA job if push came to shove.

I spent several years in London, a masters will make little difference, if any. Its all about commercial experience.

CarefulNow

Forget about a masters, you'll get a job really easily. Drop me a PM if you want some decent recruitment contacts in London.

beeftweet

Just wondering would there be much work for graduates? .Net Sql Server Work? Should have completed a six month college placement around september. Thinking about trying to get work as a Junior sql server developer. Would they be much opportunities? Thanks

beeftweet

Just wondering would there be much work for graduates? .Net Sql Server Work? Should have completed a six month college placement around september. Thinking about trying to get work as a Junior sql server developer. Would they be much opportunities? Should have mentioned I should have level 7 bsc in software development, would the lack of level 8 be a problem

djpbarry

SimonTemplar wrote: »

I'd love to move to London but I can't decide whether to do a masters here (two years part time) and then move, or move sooner.

Doing a masters purely to just to stick it on your CV in the hope of enhancing employment prospects is generally a poor investment of time and money. Just start applying for jobs.

But whereabouts are you based at the moment? I mean, Dublin’s a pretty good place to be as a developer these days. I’d only be looking at London if you want to get into the finance industry, or something similar, which might not be great for you if you say your maths isn’t your strong suit! Not trying to be negative, just pointing out that London is not the be-all and end-all – you could potentially have a much higher standard of living in Dublin.