MSc Computer Science Conversion

adocholiday

Just want to chime in here on this course. I completed it last year (I started in September 2011, finished in November 2012). I posted in a previous thread on the subject but I'll give you guys the same input. There were 60 in my class, but they since increased the numbers to 100.

1. Workload. Go into this course with the intention of treating it like a full time job, especially if you have no prior experience in HTML, programming etc. You don't have a huge amount of lecture time but if you want to do reasonably well and stay on top of things you have to put in the effort. I did an arts degree prior to this course and I did nothing but still got by. This course was a rude awakening. I would completely discourage anyone from taking the course that isn't willing to give 100% to it. I spent countless nights up until 2 or 3 in the morning doing assignments.

2. Time. Related to workload but different. My social life completely disappeared doing this course. I was a long distance runner and had to give it up. I gave up more nights out and weekend trips away because I had to study/had assignments. You get 6 weeks off in the summer and that's it. The summer assignment was very difficult and time consuming. In the week it was due I reckon I got 2-3 hours sleep per night, the rest of the waking hours were spent in front of the computer. You won't be doing a J1! Give up any notion of an evening job too. I did have a weekend job (Saturday and Sunday 8-8) but spent Saturday and Sunday nights studying.

3. Course detail. I'm not going to go into detail on every module but here's my 2cents on some things.

Programming: We studied C and C++ and I took Java and Android in the third term. For the scope of this course I thought we should have just learned C# or Java. C and C++ are great for learning the core fundamentals of programming but my lack of experience in Java and C# really limited my job opportunities afterwards. It would have been much better spending time on those.

Databases: Had a module on database fundamentals and MS Access, then later had an SQL module that covered more of the db fundamentals. IMO, we would have been better served with a more comprehensive SQL module with the DB fundamentals.

IPA modules: Web design, systems admin & hardware/software. Great lecturer, great course material, great experience. Would have loved to have the lecturer for every module and spent all my time in IPA. Learnt the most in these modules due to the teaching. Expects a lot from you though.

Summer project: A lot of self learning involved with this. We were given the brief in March. I would advise trying to start with it as soon as possible to make things easier.

Third term: We were severely restricted in our module choice which was a big problem for our class (possibly why they are restructuring). A few of the options are good (Android in particular) but I didn't enjoy one module and couldn't change due to timetable clashes. Won't ever use any of the material I covered in that module.

4. Future employment: There are no internships with this course so you won't get any work experience. I wanted to get into software development after but it was impossible to get a job. Most of the programming jobs out there are Java or C#. I wasn't anyway experienced enough with either to even get an interview. The course material wasn't comprehensive enough and a lack of an internship meant that most applicants were ahead of me. On a positive note however I did get a great software testing job which I'm hoping will lead to a development role eventually and a good majority of the people that finished my course are now working in the IT sector. If you want a software development job, I recommend that you spend time working on a lot of your own projects or contributing to Open source stuff so that you can be competitive later. I wish I knew that at the start!

If anyone has specific questions PM me and I will be happy to answer them for you. The above might seem like scare mongering or whatever but I guarantee that the majority of my classmates would echo the above sentiments.

Strawberry Oreo

Thanks for the comprehensive post Adocholiday! I believe they are putting a huge emphasis on Java this year to tackle some of the issues you had!

Strawberry Oreo

Poppy1314 wrote: »

Do we think that due to the late application process that this course might commence later than early September?

I doubt it - despite there being late registration.

OneOfThem Stumbled

adocholiday wrote: »

The above might seem like scare mongering or whatever but I guarantee that the majority of my classmates would echo the above sentiments.

I can concur with most of that.

Interestingly there isn't any course in UCD that covers C# at all; proprietary language and all that. Also I think they wanted to make sure that you understood the languages that led to Java before coving Java.

In the BSc they used to teach Java before any other language (Java is hip!) but it wasn't the best idea, and they now start with C.

I found some of the elements easy enough to begin with in this course as I came from a programming background. However, the scope of the course is very testing. Sure I knew HTML, CSS, etc for the web development course; but my knowledge of PHP and integration with online databases was fairly shaky - meaning the assignment that was still fairly tough. PL/SQL, Active Directory, among other topics, gave me sleepless nights. Just starting the summer project - thinking about learning Python for Borda-fuse and clustering; for the lols, you know?

Strawberry Oreo wrote: »

I doubt it - despite there being late registration.

It started the first week of September last year (a week earlier than other courses)

adocholiday

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

Just starting the summer project - thinking about learning Python for Borda-fuse and clustering; for the lols, you know?

Fair enough about learning C for the basics but C++ was definitely not the right choice. The reality is most people are doing the conversion course to get a job and for every graduate C++ job out there, there are 30 Java positions, and even then the level of Java covered by the course at the minute (an elective online module that doesn't have any class time or assignments) is not near enough to secure a job in it.

With regard to the summer project, I taught myself Python and used a Markov Chain algorithm (MC4) for sorting the results. The big challenge with Python is having to use a framework and figuring out the integration. The clustering was a nightmare for me in the end I have to say and I ended up just looking for common words minus stop words and grouping them, it was less than effective :P

I think this post may deter some people from taking the course lol!

Good luck with the project, if you need any help with something give me a shout!

c4counter

Well if it's true that they're going to switch the focus to java for this year, to anyone thinking of applying who wants to get a bit of a head start, I've heard good things about this video series from Stanford about programming with java http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkMDCCdjyW8. If you have the itunes university app thing you can download them there as well.

I also found this link (somewhere on the boards, can't think where now sorry!) that lists free ebooks about programming if anyone wants to have a look through those: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/194812/list-of-freely-available-programming-books

Still no sign of the applications opening today

DoD22

I email the course coordinator in May and they said it would be open for applicants in early June. The site is still under construction.

http://www.csi.ucd.ie/content/msc-computer-science-conversion

trendy88

Do we still think its going to be offered?. Being as today is the start of July. Im beginning to wonder.

Poppy1314

Yeah, I was starting to wonder the same thing. I thought the site would be back by now. Given that the course would ordinarily start this time two months, surely that's not enough time to allow for applications and offers etc.?

Even if they do intend on offering the course this year, it's somewhat ridiculous that they haven't released any info on whether or not it is even going ahead. We need to make plans with jobs etc. I have to give at least a months notice in work if I am to leave. So that literally gives me one month to apply and potentially get offered a spot before I'd need to hand my notice in, and the site isn't even up.

Strawberry Oreo

It is a bit worrying alright - I really thought it'd be up by now! I finish my contract in September so pretty much banking on this

Amphicoelias

I wouldn`t give up just yet,

They are probably on their holidays. They are a bit ridiculous though to be leaving it this late.

I think they were having meetings a few weeks ago about the potential structure of the course next year.

There are other conversion courses in Maynooth and DCU you should also consider. They are Hdip/Graduate Diplomas and they are supposed to be good.

If you really wanted and did very well in the above courses you could probably then do a masters or else secure some sort of job (you would hope).

Poppy1314

I emailed the course admin again last night asking if she could confirm whether or not the course will be going ahead this September. She just replied saying
that she cannot confirm yet whether the course will definitely be going ahead. and that they hope to have the online applications open shortly, but they're waiting for the go-ahead from Head of School.

Not really sure where this leaves it. Very disappointing.

steveLFC24

My brother did a conversion course in Griffith college, Higher Diploma in Computer Science I think it was. I also think there is one in Blanchardstown IT. He did it though springboard, so it was completely free. So for anyone that's currently not working that course is another option. The good thing about the one in Griffith is its 3 full days a week, so my brother actually managed to get an internship for the other 2 days he was off. As for the course he said he loved it. Everything was in Java, as well as a module in C#, Database module with SQL and a web design module.

We have a guy working with us that did the MSc in UCD, and he said the course is great

Strawberry Oreo

Yikes Poppy thanks for the info - I got this message from the course admin today in response to an email I sent:

"I am very sorry, but I don’t have any further updates. We had hoped to have the online applications process open this week, but we are still finalising some details."

Poppy1314

Yeah it's all very ambiguous.. I sent another email asking if the site were to re-open, is it their intention for the course to begin this side of the year or would it be 2014, or nothing at all until next Sept.. Will keep you posted!

DoD22

I got this email this morning from the course coordinator

"Thank you for your recent email regarding the M.Sc. in Computer Science (Conversion) Course.



As you will have seen from our website, this course is currently being updated, and we hope to have the online applications process open shortly. This is the only means of applying, so I can only advise you to check the website regularly, and apply online as soon as possible. For further information on the process, please go to http://www.ucd.ie/apply/howtoapply.html, and http://www.ucd.ie/graduatestudies/prospectivestudents/thinking-of-applying/. The closing date for applications will probably be one month from opening the applications process.



The course will be full-time only, and will run from September 2013 until December 2014. The fees were €2,750 last year for EU eligible students. I attach a copy of last year’s schedule which will give you an idea of what is involved, although some modules are being changed. The modules are divided between the Institute of Public Administration and UCD, and used to be in 6-week blocks, this will probably change to 3 days/2 days in UCD/IPA this year."

Strawberry Oreo

Thanks for that DoD22!

Poppy1314

DoD22 wrote: »

I got this email this morning from the course coordinator

"Thank you for your recent email regarding the M.Sc. in Computer Science (Conversion) Course.



As you will have seen from our website, this course is currently being updated, and we hope to have the online applications process open shortly. This is the only means of applying, so I can only advise you to check the website regularly, and apply online as soon as possible. For further information on the process, please go to http://www.ucd.ie/apply/howtoapply.html, and http://www.ucd.ie/graduatestudies/prospectivestudents/thinking-of-applying/. The closing date for applications will probably be one month from opening the applications process.



The course will be full-time only, and will run from September 2013 until December 2014. The fees were €2,750 last year for EU eligible students. I attach a copy of last year’s schedule which will give you an idea of what is involved, although some modules are being changed. The modules are divided between the Institute of Public Administration and UCD, and used to be in 6-week blocks, this will probably change to 3 days/2 days in UCD/IPA this year."

I got this exact email, almost word for word a month ago. This was the response I got back today "Yes, if and when the course is advertised, it will be for September 2013 until December 2014."

DoD22

Poppy1314 wrote: »

I got this exact email, almost word for word a month ago. This was the response I got back today "Yes, if and when the course is advertised, it will be for September 2013 until December 2014."

When did you get that response?

Poppy1314

DoD22 wrote: »

When did you get that response?

Early this afternoon.

trendy88

Tis all a bit Irish. Just want to get cracking on the application process already.

DoD22

Poppy1314 wrote: »

Early this afternoon.

Yikes "if and when" isn't good

Doug89

It's getting to be a bit of a joke at this stage, I've been getting wishy-washy emails for months now. Does anyone know IF it does go ahead how many people they take? I was well assuming that I'd know if I was accepted and all at this stage, it's July!!!

Poppy1314

It is a joke at this stage, bloody ridiculous! I think somebody had said on previous pages that they take around 100 for the course. Is it safe to assume that the course won't be happening this year? Do UCD often just put off masters for a year?

Also, has anybody spoken to the other contact person on the site page, Dalton I think was the name.. Did he give any indication as to whether or not this is happening?

trendy88

Received this reply this morning, in response to my questioning whether or not the course will be going ahead.


Unfortunately we cannot give you a definitive answer at present. A couple of issues are outstanding but it is hoped
that the course will go ahead.

Regards

Patricia

Poppy1314

Thanks for that Trendy88. It's great that they're hopeful it will go ahead, but it's not very practical.. Even if they provided us with a deadline as to whether or not we will know if it's going ahead.

If they just said we'll know by next Friday or whatever, instead of these vague responses.

Doug89

I had a bit of a funny thought about this earlier on - maybe it's all just a clever marketing ploy by UCD, a while back on other threads people were saying that it wasn't all fine and dandy at the end of the course jobs-wise, that people were doing jobsbridge etc....so they left us hanging to have us forget all about that and just be delighted when applications open! I hope I'm wrong of course!

DoD22

Anyone hear anything new?

donegal11

Doug89 wrote: »

I had a bit of a funny thought about this earlier on - maybe it's all just a clever marketing ploy by UCD, a while back on other threads people were saying that it wasn't all fine and dandy at the end of the course jobs-wise, that people were doing jobsbridge etc....so they left us hanging to have us forget all about that and just be delighted when applications open! I hope I'm wrong of course!

Wouldn't work like that, people would just choose another postgrad if the course wasn't up to much and a later/stalling date would make the situation worse. I'd say with the expanded numbers last year perhaps having trouble making sure everyone can pass and setting in the course at the right level. It also has to be said that ucd are also offering courses under the ICT skills and springboard programs this year which could be complicating things up for them.

trendy88

Received this email today. They seem optimistic at the very least.

Hi Niamh

Apologies for the delay in replying to your email but I have been away from the office. You may already have received a reply from my colleague, but just to confirm that we still intend to run the course and to have the online applications process open shortly, but I cannot give a precise date.

Kind regards.

Clare Comerford