Which CS curriculum to take?

Question

I'm currently planning to do a transfer right now and my area of interest is Software Development.

I've been thinking a lot about these two curriculum and I want to ask advice on which one would benefit me in my future career (I'm thinking long term).

This is from a university: http://www.cs.sfu.ca/undergrad/prospective/programs/sosy/overview.html

Typical university: Lots of heavy theory and classes are huge.

This is an MIT-ish institution. Not college or university: www.bcit.ca/study/programs/550tdiplt#courses

Courses are condensed into two years (8 courses per term), only results to a diploma. Very hands on and teaches a lot of new technologies.

I understand that I'm comparing a university to something that isn't but the main reasons why I haven't decided yet are:

• I'm kind of a "hands-on" guy and I'm afraid I might end up hating going to school if I choose university.

• University will obviously take 1-2 yrs longer than the other option

Can i get advice on this? Thank you.

Answer 1

I can't speak for the field in general since I own a private web development firm and have never had first-hand experience working in the field, but the folks I know who do work in programming say that most of the people in their work come out of university rather than professional schools. I don't know whether this is because more people in general go to university or what.

Either way, they've all said that they appreciated their university experience, primarily because the theoretical experience taught them how to think.

No amount of hands-on experience in an academic or hands-on education setting can prepare you to pitch, plan, audit, test, launch, and maintain a live product, in my opinion. You'll learn that all on the job. As for languages, if you're like most programmers, you'll learn that all in your spare time doing odd jobs or contributing to community projects.

In the end, it'll just boil down to exploring some more on your own and following your gut. Hope all turns out right!

Answer 2

There's an argument for either path.

Many programmers have taught themselves, skipping college or majoring in some other field. The 2 year program covers a wide variety of skills you'll use in the workplace, so you'll definitely be able to work in the field based on those skills. You'll be able to use the languages and tools to build software for the desktop or the web, and learn more skills on the job.

On the other hand, the 4 year program will allow you to explore how the languages and tools are designed. How would you make your own operating system, programming language, database system, network or web? Many jobs now go for candidates with a 4 year degree, MS or PhD preferred - if you want those, you'll need to dig deeper.

I think it's hard to go back to school once you start working, so making the right decision for you now is important. Go look at the job descriptions at your dream company - what do they ask for? Do you want to get deeper into the technology, patent new algorithms and come up with new ways of doing things? Do you want to work on the business side, doing technical sales, managing programmers or doing project management?

Answer 3

Something to consider is if you look near where you live do you see many software developer jobs requiring a university degree? I did take the university path instead of the college path but I'm a bit of an intellectual that went after the challenge that one finds in academia. I did enjoy taking a few different subjects and taking a few courses in things that I doubt I could have taken at college.

Another factor to consider is cost though. How easily could you pay for either option as if you start university but don't finish that could be worse than the other path.

Answer 4

I'm familiar with both schools, and know people that went to SFU and BCIT. (I was at UVic for CS).

If you do not know much about development now, I can tell you for certain that you will learn more of the basic skills, and learn them better, if you go to BCIT. BCIT is a fabulous school with an amazing reputation.

That said, I met a lot of people who then did their next two years at UVic (or SFU in your case) because they wanted what the full BSc program had to offer. The people that did this were often in very good shape for their lab work, compared to students that had started in University. They did suffer a little bit in the math classes though.

So, you will get a more solid foundation at BCIT, but you will ultimately go further in University. What University assumes you know is what BCIT will teach you (how to use a debugger, practical software design, how to create a usable application, decent testing, etc.) but University spends the difference teaching you things that you will never learn in a purely technical school.

One thing that I would definitely consider is if you will be living on campus or not. If you will be living at home in either case, then go to BCIT, and look at the transfer program to SFU in your third year. If you will be living on Campus, then go to SFU no matter what. Nothing can replace the awesome experience of living on campus at a University.