General Question thread for people thinking of going to DKIT

KeithM89 wrote: »

Quick question, if i have 2 repeats, do i need to pass both to continue??

It depends on your other results, you can score between 35-40 percent in one subject as long as your above a certain amount in your other subjects

moons657 wrote: »

oh whats the story on registering and paying of fee's??how much do the fee's be??:rolleyes:

Did you apply through CAO?

You'll get your registration pack this week or next week with Info on when you register.

Fee's go up every year and I think it was around €1500 last year, now thats just a guess from a figure thats in my head.

You pay in a bank by giro that comes in the registration pack

SaucyB wrote: »

im awaiting my acceptance for my grant whichc i should get considering i got one for a plc last year, i know if your accepted for the grant they pay your student fee so i just wanted to know do i have to pay the registration fee myself and then i get it back laster in the year or what because i dont have 1500 euro:( :O

moons657 wrote: »

your in the same boat as me.im hoping i get it now but i heard that sometimes they take months to come through...:eek:

Yes if you haven't got your grant in time you will have to pay the fee and you will then get it back when you get your grant.

I have heard some people not getting them until the second semester!

SaucyB wrote: »

I'm not happy at all. Got my grant this morning. 1300 for the year. Thats a joke I pay 100 a month of a loan i had to get last year beause my grant was late coming in. So i get bou 120-130 a month from this grant which leaves me wit 20-30 euro to get through a month?? and i can't seem to get work anywhere.

College doesn't look to appealing now since i cant afford to live if i go to it!

Are you sure thats for the year?

They usually give you the grant for the first semester and then you get approved for the other half if your still in college for the second semester

flyswatter wrote: »

I'd really like to give the Software Development strand a go. However, I have a notion that it's going to be difficult!

From reading this thread I see you picked that option. Is the SD very mathsy? Maths wouldn't be my strong point!

I believe the job prospects in the IT sector are decent at the moment. Can you shed any light on the software development sector?

I'm interested in music technology so I'd like to be able to do some DSP programming, building software synths and effects, that sort of thing. That's why the software development appeals.

No I wouldn'y say it is very heavily maths based, you do have maths modules in there but they are relatively easy with a lot of it being refresher stuff from secondary school.

The only module I found hard with regards to the maths side of things would be computer graphics in 4th year but that was it and I would not be great at maths either.

I'll get back to you with regards the industry later, just going for some pints

draffodx wrote: »

I'll get back to you with regards the industry later, just going for some pints

The industry at the minute does seem pretty healthy although wages have dropped a good bit across the board.

It also depends on what area you want to get into, the consultation, support side of things seems to have gone to the dogs with many people with years of experience unable to find a job.

But the programming, development side of things seems to be holding up.

Having said that getting your foot in the door to start wait can be tough at the minute and it was for me, the best advice is to keep doing your owning personal projects along the way so you have stuff to show at interviews and if possible keep up to date with new and upcoming technologies and show an interest in them.

On the music technology side of things there wasn't anything involving that in the course when I done it but what you learn would easily allow you to do a personal project like that either outside the scope of the course or for your 4th year project if you plan on going that far.

flyswatter wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Do you have any idea what the general wage structure for IT is at the moment?

As for the music technology, I believe there is a Masters on it in DKIT so that could be of interest.

I see how getting your foot in the door could be a problem. Most of the jobs I've seen offered required 3-4 years experience!

The average graduate wage is about €25k in Dublin these days a little less in other parts of the country. I cant comment on non graduate wages as I'm only working 9 months and I'm still on my graduate wage.

Also it depends on what type of company you end up in, I'm in a small independent Irish software house, so my wage is a little lower and I've no benefits but I am getting much more hands on experience in the deep end than the training and mickey mouse programming a graduate would be doing in say IBM for the first 6 months or so.

Most jobs advertised are advertised with higher requirements than the actual job requires, I found applying for positions advertised as 1 - 2 or 2+ years experience still got me interviews even though I only had college experience.

flyswatter wrote: »

Thanks. I'd imagine the top companies would be paying the best wages but only if you're a Senior Software Developer?

Would a Masters/PHD be of benefit in securing a job in the current climate or is a degree enough in most cases?

A lot of people told me experience is more important than a masters in the IT industry and it seems to ring true for most cases, however if you want to specialise in something specific a masters seems to be a minimum.