I.T. Postgrad in DCU

Spacedog

What are the post grad courses in DCU like, I'm intrested in applying for the M.Sc. in Security & Forensic Computing, it it difficult to get a place in this course? and what is the course like in general, any gripes?

dregin

I know a guy who did that course last year. I think one of his projects was to hack a piece of firewall software. Sounds madly leet altogether. Not really sure how good the course as a whole is though.

humbleCounty

im on the course this year, it sucks!

very badly organised, they came up with a cool title and then just threw a few lecturers at it.

We do twelve modules, only a few are any good.

Secure Coding - very good course, interesting, and taught to a high level
Cryptography (with Mike Brady) - as above
Number Theory - taught ya what ya need to know for crypto,
other than that Network Security, Forensics are ok, as are the David Gray crypto modules,

on the whole not a great course though, you would be better doing some study of your own, reading a few books etc, but you wont get any letters after you're name if thats important

Spacedog

what's the programming like, what language do you do? Java? C? what level of programming ability would you need going into the course? I can program ok, but wouldn't be a whizz at java without a bit of shakedown time.

also, what are the crap boring subjects, every course has a few, there's always a catch!

dregin

Eh, yeah you have to be good at most of the main languages. I think places are fairly scarce for the course. It would probably be C, C++, Assembly, a good knowledge of OS would probably be handy. Take a look at the modules on the C.A. course. You'll probably need to know most of the stuff that's taught. Very well too.

d@rk l0rd

What is it you want to do at the end of the course? Is security computing the area you definitely want to work in?

Spacedog

yeah, security, networking and databases are what I'm into, just finished a degree in IT management, lots of DBA stuff in the course, programming's a bit thin though, but I can get by. It's hard to put my finger on how good I am at anything, once we got into the swing of something we'd move on to something else. I'd be intrested to see what the first couple of programming assignments looked like, to get a feel of what would be expected.

humbleCounty

http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~dobrien/ca500/assignments/assignment01/html/assignment01.html

theres an assignment, assembly language would be a plus, but its explained fairly well. Once you know any OO language, you'll be grand, just might need to get up to speed, but thats no big deal.

like i said, i wouldnt recommend it though

Spacedog

I just finished 3 years of business crap, Accounting, strategic management, business studies etc. I didn't realise there would so much. I'll be glad to do anything to do with maths or computers again. what is the least relivant subject you guys do?

That assignment looks fun.

humbleCounty

theyre all kind of relevant, some are just very poor

Advanced OS, Advanced Data Comms, Secure Software Design (ugggh,its not what you think!) are all particularly bad, Biometrics was a joke for first 8 weks, last 4 (new lecturer) look promising

d@rk l0rd

humbleCounty wrote:

theyre all kind of relevant, some are just very poor

Advanced OS, Advanced Data Comms, Secure Software Design (ugggh,its not what you think!) are all particularly bad, Biometrics was a joke for first 8 weks, last 4 (new lecturer) look promising

Advanced Data Comms....shudder :eek: Badly run course, terrible lecturer!!

plague

I did the MSc in E-Commerce 3 years ago now, after doing CA. I also had the David Gray Crypto lectures as well as number theory, which I enjoyed. Also had Mike Scott for some crypto lectures too, and then had to break a crypto algo too. Other then those, a little disappointing, but a good overall experience.

dave13

Plague i'm thinking of doing the E-Commerce Msc. Did it help you get a decent job and how was the overall Employment level of your class afterwards?

plague

It's the usual problem of needing experience to get a job but no-one willing to hire you without experience. I don't think the Master's really mattered, what was really desired was experience.

Job market wasn't the best when I finished. Quite a few got programming jobs. There were about 15 on the technical side. I'd say at least 6 of us didn't get a job for good while. Some have left computing in general, decided enough was enough, others have fecked off until things pick up a bit.

Make sure to apply for the graduate schemes in October, once they don't mind that you finish in August, rather than May or June. No one told me when I was in my final year that I had to apply to those schemes during the first semester!

So the answers to your questions are sort of and about 60% in the few months after.

dave13

Yeah I also didn't realise you had to apply in november for most jobs. Thinking the masters would at least be a productive way to spend a year while i apply for all the jobs. And it only costs €1200 to do it.

Also what was the workload like? Compared to fourth year CA(where i currently am)?

d@rk l0rd

wonderboy wrote:

Plague i'm thinking of doing the E-Commerce Msc. Did it help you get a decent job and how was the overall Employment level of your class afterwards?

The E-comm Msc. (technical) is a pretty well run course. The business sections are especially well run.The technical subjects are mostly very crypto/security based as we're mixed in with the Forensics for this. If you're only intersted in security/crypto, you should do Forensics. If you're interested in the business area and have a bit of an interest in crypto stuff, do the technical e-comm. I think all of last year's class have pretty good jobs (eg. Microsoft, Accenture etc.).

The workload is pretty intense, especially for the business modules. A lot of them are 100% Continuous Assessment and require a lot of teamwork. Lots of presentations to give!!
Tech. stuff is just piles of crypto/security protocols work. OK if you're really into that stuff and java coding, otherwise not the most exciting stuff.

Gavin

The title of the forensics masters is misleading.

Coming out of the course, you will have an excellent grounding in Cryptography, both theory and implementation. You'll understand secure coding reasonably well, that is buffer overflows, and just general practical ways to avoid insecure programming.

You will have a rough overview of forensics. The network security is unimpressive, as is the 'advanced data comms'. If you are coming into the course with a good systems administrator knowledge, you won't learn anything new in that respect.

Overall, it's not particular well organised or focused. The School of Computing do not have practical network security experts.

However, you do get a masters at the end of the day. What I would advise is, if you want to do the course, spend the first semester working on the subjects of course, but also do a good bit of your own work. First semester is not intensive so you have time to do a good bit of your own learning. Semester two is fairly busy with java crypto programming, so you won't have much time for anything else.

Pick a good practicum ! Don't be concerned about getting a high mark in it, pick something interesting that looks good on the CV, and presents a real challenge. Most Masters degrees don't have honours/pass levels, so worrying about marks isn't a big deal.

The course can be good, if you put a lot of work into it, but it can also be very annoying, with incompetence from certain lecturers, and stubbornness from others !

If you just want to get into network security/sys admin stuff, a better route may be cisco certs and the various sys admin/security qualifications.