level 7 vs level 8 software development

jonnytheboy86

Hi everyone,

I'm a mature student who is currently doing a PLC course in programming in GTI and am loving it. I'm hoping to go to GMIT next year to do one of their software development courses. I pretty much had my mind set on going for the level 7 course, and then I hope to do the one year addon for the level 8 course for a total of four years.

I can't help but wonder what the level 8 course entails if someone were to do it from year one and not just the year 4 at the end of a 3 year level 7 degree. I'm wondering have any students from level 7 chatted to students from year 8 or visa versa and identified any differences in the course in terms of difficulty or content. Maybe some lectures/teachers have hinted at some differences between the two courses.

It may unlikely that I even get accepted to the level 8 since I done poorly in the leaving and they seem to ask for your LC results before the interview, and I can't see me getting 8-9 distinctions in the PLC course, but I might get a couple. I have become more motivated and confident as the months have gone by as I'm starting to see what programming is all about, granted I know I still have only scratched the surface. I would like to hear what other peoples thoughts on the level 8 course are, be honest as possible I want to hear positive/negatives. And I'm aware either one of the college courses will be a big step up in difficulty as the PLC course is very slow paced and laid back.

Thanks in advance.

IncognitoMan

I'm currently in the level 8 side.

The only difference is the level 7 students have to apply for the one year level 8 add on at the end of the 3 years. The level 8 students get in as long as they pass the previous year.

It's the exact same course. The level 7s and 8s sit in the same classes and lab classes in the same rooms.

Apply for both.

Edit: oh by the way your leaving cert results won't hold you back at all. You will just use your points from the plc. Also I never had to go to the interview just got an acceptance letter during the summer.

jonnytheboy86

Thanks for the reply!

I'm relieved to hear that it's the same course so even if I don't get the level 8 course I won't be missing out on anything. I just want to double check something - when you say level 7s and level 8s sit in the same class I assume you mean they take the same classes but at different times? Or is there literally two classes in one room, because I read there is 44 places in level 7, and 50 places in level 8... that's a whole lotta students :O

Thanks again.

IncognitoMan

No, all are together. The level 7s and 8s sit beside each other. To be honest you wouldn't know who was in what level unless they told you. Like I said earlier it's the exact same course.

Lectures for programming have around 90+ students in the room (Fairly big lecture rooms).

Lectures for maths, E-Business and (html) Web design have around 130-140 students (I think) in the room as you pair up with the digital media group. Obviously these numbers will go down as people drop out.

We are then split into 4 groups for our programming labs with about 20-25 students in each group. Same for GUI. Maths and E-Business are always big numbers though.

I was in Gti before coming here as well and it's a different set up(In gti you're always at your computer). Basically here you do theory in the lecture classes then go to the labs later in the week to put that theory into practice.

I do around 3 hours of programming lectures a week and 5 hours of programming labs. 1 hour html lecture and 3 hours lab. 3 hours E-Business lectures, 4 hours maths lectures, 1 hour LIS (basically communications).

If you've any more questions feel free to ask.

jonnytheboy86

Top man loads of information there!

If I can trouble ya with one more thing - I was finding the maths class in GTI a little tough at times, then I saw a thread on here where people said that graphics programming (which is a subject in GMIT) requires some difficult maths, so that was my kick up the backside to get good at maths so I bought myself an ordinary level leaving cert text book and I'm flying through it.

I wonder is there a maths book that you use in GMIT that will cover harder calculus and other things that I'm dreading, so I'll hopefully breeze through them in GMIT when the time comes, and can worry more about doing projects and assignments and learning programming rather then stresssing about maths.

Thanks again!

IncognitoMan

There's no maths book really just recommended reading. I'll attach pictures of the 2 books recommended. In truth most people in the class won't look at these books.

The teacher goes through how to solve problems in the lectures with the students having a journal they have to keep to work on the topics covered, also then every week you have an online quiz. You'll get marks from both towards your end of year score. You have to get 10/10 in the online quiz to get the marks but you are able to take the quiz as many times as you want and the answers are multiple choice.

I know that might sound a bit confusing but honestly it's fine and you'll most likely be fine with the maths once you get here as you seem to be interested in doing the work.

Maths is only taught in first year in GMIT and the module is level 6. If you do well in the maths in GTI you'll be in a good position for GMIT.

The main topics are:
Measurement Basics,
Algebra,
Graphs and Functions,
Trigonometry,
Exponential functions,
Statistics,
Calculus.

There's probably a few more I've missed but those are the main points.

IncognitoMan

There's no maths book really just recommended reading.

The books are:

Maths for Science - Jordan, Ross, Murphy or
Foundation Maths - Croft & Davison

The teacher goes through how to solve problems in the lectures with the students having a journal they have to keep to work on the topics covered, also then every week you have an online quiz. You'll get marks from both towards your end of year score. You have to get 10/10 in the online quiz to get the marks but you are able to take the quiz as many times as you want and the answers are multiple choice.

I know that might sound a bit confusing but honestly it's fine and you'll most likely be fine with the maths once you get here as you seem to be interested in doing the work.

Maths is only taught in first year in GMIT and the module is level 6. If you do well in the maths in GTI you'll be in a good position for GMIT.

The main topics are:
Measurement Basics,
Algebra,
Graphs and Functions,
Trigonometry,
Exponential functions,
Statistics,
Calculus.

There's probably a few more I've missed but those are the main points.

jonnytheboy86

ah sound job, here i am turning into one of those nervous guys fretting about maths when there's nothing to worry about really haha, thanks for all the feedback u helped me a ton

IncognitoMan

Believe me I'm not a fan of maths. There's nothing to worry about and it's only an actual subject for the 1st year. It shows up in later subjects alright but you'll always be given the help to work through it.

I was in your exact same position last year worrying about going from GTI to GMIT and all I'll say is relax ha

voidptr

If anyone here is doing either this course (Software Development) or Computer and Electronic Engineering here, could you tell me how you are liking it and if there is a huge or just small overlap between the courses?

I'm currently proficient in the area of programming and similar areas and having a hard time deciding between these courses.

Thanks.