Is university worth it?

I’d hate to be you right now. No offence, but going to university is a much harder decision now for sixth form/college students who are thinking of applying. The fees are up, competition is hard and scary statistics of graduates not finding jobs.

It’s hard for anyone to find a job at the moment and I’ve recently been researching on companies and how they accept people. They will automatically not hire someone who’s got a perfect CV/portfolio but turns up with a suit on and not wearing a watch… At least having a degree on that CV will at least hopefully tick the box to get the interview in the firs place.  

This is for most aspects of computer science, I’ve seen programming jobs for graduates. With requirements like “Good with C#, Java, C++, AS3, HTML 5, Python, Maxscript, Unity, 3Ds Max, Maya, good word/excel skills and can sketch well”. Now, I’m not a programmer, but it must be frustrating applying for such vague job descriptions. I think it’s probably rare to find anyone who is fluid with all of these languages at graduate stage. Almost every job I’ve seen requires a degree and a good one at that. Though there are routes you can take with internships and personal portfolio building in your own time, I think it’s personally a great idea to get a degree. 

I have yet to graduate, but I’ve already got myself a few interviews. I’m almost certain that I wouldn’t even be considered if I applied for my degree because to be honest it’s the skills you learn and the knowledge you gain which is much more important that the paper work. So now I’ve got a much more impressive portfolio that I had a few years. Of course I could have worked on 3Ds max projects in my own time, but why not both? I’ve done a lot of freelance work while at University including stuff for Microsoft, YouTube and internships.  

If you have a passion for something, you will try in all means to succeed. I personally think getting a career you love is almost winning at life.

The people and what to expect

I can’t obviously speak for every computer science course in every university. We’re all a bunch of nerds and geeks, not the cute hipster kind but the kind of nerds and geeks that’d love a discussion about the latest MMO patch updates and want to have a 3 hour discussion about optimizing a piece of code by a tenth of a millisecond. Computer science students are generally stereotyped like this in the media, The Big Bang Theory is originally based on Computer Science Students (programmers) and not physicists, and also it’s based on one of the writer’s real experience as a computer science student.

Now in secondary school, I was much on the nerdier side. I gamed on computers, loved tech and was academically smart.  Though, when I joined university it was like a whole different category and I was rather struck by it. One of the major shockers was day after Bayern vs Chelsea champions league final, as a Chelsea fan I came into class wanting to talk about the game. When I brought up the subject I was greeted to “You watch sports?” Not even narrowing it down to football but general “sports”. It was really strange to get used to and took a while that to know “Which Linux distro do you prefer?” would be a better conversational topic, Whereas before I’d know the inevitable answer would be “What’s linux?”. That being said we had some sports enthusiasts, non-gamers and genuine hipsters. Though everyone got on well with each other. I think I speak for every degree type, you are all there because you have a strong passion for a subject area. This meant you was with a lot of likeminded peers and everyone got on with each other. 

This blog post was inspired by Moss, IT Crowd

Applying for jobs, internships and programs

I’ve been keeping myself busy since finishing university, applying for scholarships, jobs and internships.  There are also some small competitions I enter like The UK APPCHALLENGE where I download and share apps on a weekly bases for a chance to win prizes. It’s also beneficial for me as I can see the standard of apps on the market place as well as observe other peoples artwork as almost a research purpose. I’ve also signed up for a few events in the next few months such as user groups and a hackathon in July.

Other than applications, the only other thing I can be doing at the moment is wait for replies! I’ve got some ones in mind that I’d love to join but really depends on competition.  I’ve also worked on some project in my own time already. For example the image I made below.

Didn’t take me too long, though I do want to improve on it in the near future.  

Thought I would lastly talk about applications, I had no idea about the terminology used for position applicants. For example an “advisor” reference. Why I await replies form companies and institutions I’ve also been in touch with students in my year and we do have some freelance/indie developments that could be a possibility.  

Back at uni

I’m still very busy doing university work at the moment, but I’m at the very tail end of the work. I’ve done 90% of my final year project now, the artefact is complete and the overall conclusion and evaluation of the project is that it’s a success. I’m happy with what I’ve done but still there a bit more writing for the report needed. Some last assignments left and 1 exam. But I’m nearly finished with all of my university assignments now! Around 3-4 weeks until I’m officially finished the workload and exams. 

Here is a link to my final year project for those who are interested.

http://it-ca.net/blogsean/?page_id=1244

I’ve applied for a university scholarship too, although I’ve planned to apply to some internships for the summer. It’s a great time to update my portfolio and CV. I’ve been in touch with lecturers and trying to get references complete for the application process of the universities I’ve applied for. Although this time, I’ve only applied for 1 program. Mostly because at this level funding is really available for students who want to study a master degree/PhD. Otherwise I’ll be looking for jobs in the field or internships in the near future if my application process isn’t successful.

We have poster day next on the 8^th of May, I will get some pictures and blog about how that went. I personally have no idea what’s involved with such an event, so hopefully I can inform others what to expect. 

Narrowing down my choices

From what I remember about the process of joining university, I know I got accepted for my firm university but decided to go to my insurance university instead. I attended open days for both but, as I talk about later in this blog, I found some bad points with my firm choice in the exams/tour which led me into labs/side rooms not disclosed on open days. 

I chose my universities and courses based on location, course and personal opinions. I did attend open days for the main university I got accepted into, but after sitting my interview exam and learning more about that specific course I learnt that it wasn’t right for me. On the open days there wasn’t really anyone technical around so I personally couldn’t ask the right questions. So at my interview I learnt what OS/Software they preferred which wasn’t my first choice. I know I could learn this new OS and software but, because I was familiar with another platform, I wanted to pursue that path.

Another reason the interview and exam helped is because we toured the building, and I noticed how poorly its upkeep was. I won’t say which university it actually was, but I remember not being please how unhygienic and basically overall how the building wasn’t cared for on the inside. There was  paper/wallpaper peeling off in the waiting room. In the labs only 50% lights were working and there was dirty/muddy carpets in those rooms too. Open days only show the latest builds and the cleanest rooms, yet because I was actually touring/taking an exam for the position I noticed how bad the conditions where. 

Location is a factor too. Living costs change from place to place and there are certain areas which are extremely costly and it will affect your decision. As well as if you want to live at home. I lived at home while at university and I do regret it. I would move out if I did a masters/PhD and would recommend others to do so too. It might be costly, but it’s possible to live. 

 

Generalist vs Specialist

Computer science courses are very different, in each university they generally have a different approach. There are reliable techniques and languages that are broadly used by everyone but that being said, each studio uses different techniques, software’s and languages. Some even develop their own software which is in-house and not publicly available.

I didn’t appreciate at first the range of tools and languages we had to use at when I first started university, but now I recognize why it’s important to have all of this knowledge. I was put off when I thought that there are literally people in the industry who are specifically hired for 1 software and 1 aspect of that software. For example Vray – Lighting artists. They are genuinely amazing at what they do, but it’s something so specific that it would be hard to fit this into a general curriculum.

I tweeted Autodesk 3Ds max experts at one of their last meet ups. 

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/pinning-the-stack---3dsmax

The above link is to the live stream that was held, the event will be public in a couple weeks I guess, but for now this is the general link to find it.

The question tweeted was

“Would you recommend becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none? Generalist vs Specialist when breaking into the field.”

All of the experts in the stream had a great answer for me, it was their own opinions obviously, but they recommended that a generalist was better to break into the field. One of the points they made is that if you are looking for a job and no one is looking for exactly what you specialise in, then you’re going to struggle in your career to start with. Yet if you’re a generalist, then you’d be happy jumping into a lot of projects and are willing to learn new things. Plus a great knowledge of the software’s will always help. 

One of my inspirations in the 3D field Joe Gunn is speaking in the video above. He and others brush upon generalist vs specialist and mention that if you’ve just finished university or studying then if you class yourself that anything other than a generalist people won’t take you seriously. I know this blog is becoming rather specific, but it’s transferable with most courses in computer science. Although you may have a preferred language and thing to do, you should also try and learn an array of things to give you a better general overview of the field.