Should you enroll in the UoW CS degree programme?
Hi, I noticed several questions on this thread asking about what it is like studying for the Computer Science degree under UoW at SIM and whether it is worth enrolling in.
Having not seen any answers with enough depth about these question I want to answer the common questions people ask about whether they should enroll in this degree programme, what the experience is like and give some practical, down to earth advice to people concerned with starting university education. For reference, I took all 3 years and I am currently halfway through my third year and will graduate in 6 months with my major in Big Data.
What is university of wollongong?
University of Wollongong is a public university in the state of New South Wales in Australia established in 1975. They offer overseas degree programmes to countries around the world and SIM is one of the partner institutions that teaches the degree. UOW confers(awards) the degree so it will be identical to the the degree awarded by the University body in australia.
Their global ranking is something like in the top 200 universities in the world, compared to NUS and NTU in the top 20, which is not very high but it is the highest ranked university in singapore offering undergrad computer science degrees from a private university. University ranking and demonstrated ability are all important when starting your career, so you have to place importance on the ranking of the university you choose to go to as well as your grades and achievements after graduating. If you get an offer from NTU/NUS/SMU or one of the other local autonomous universities in a similar field, take that offer and don't go to SIM because life will be easier for you.
The degrees cost $33,000 for Singaporeans and foreigners for 3 full years of study assuming you don't fail any modules. Look at their website for the full details.
What is a career in CS and should I enroll in it?
First of all you need to ask yourself what do you want to work as in the future with a computer science degree. Computer science is a broad field of study(like applied physics) with multiple disciplines each one requiring specialized knowledge and practice to get a job in. There is no such job in the world called Computer Scientist and you will have to specialize in a field to start your career. Having an idea of what you want to work as is the first step in planning your future.
There are many careers you can enter with a CS degree, do you want to work as a Software engineer? IT specialist? Web developer? Cybersecurity analyst? Network engineer? Hardware Engineer? Database administrator? Game developer? The list is vast and each career is drastically different. You need to know the major career paths in IT and choose a few that you like or can see yourself doing for the rest of your working life. Start by doing research online about "computer science careers", understand the knowledge and skills that each one requires and the type of work they do. This article is a good start.
www(dot)thebalancecareers(dot)com/top-jobs-for-computer-science-majors-2059634
However, you also have to have to have a rudimentary understanding of the kind of technologies that each career involve so that you can make your judgement, and this is no easy task. It took me over a year of studying at SIM to have a basic understanding of the technologies involved in some the major career paths before I decided to choose my career in data science. You need to know about the relevant: Programming languages, frameworks, libraries, fields of study, software used and hardware(if applicable) in those career paths before you decide. Initially I wanted to be software engineer before starting at SIM. Software engineering is what most people in the world do with a CS degree and has cool sounding name. I spent nearly 1.5 years learning software engineering(in and out of school) and researching what a software engineer was before I decided that this wasn't the career for me. Different careers suit different people so find out what works for you.
Secondly, you have to be able to be able to program. Programming ability is a major requirement in CS and IT industries. No matter what job you enter you will have to know how to write code and be able to demonstrate your skills at it. It is common for internet advertisements to advertise something claiming that employers in the IT indjustry don't care about whether you can program or not, this is bull meant to lure people into buying their services, all my lecturers and the working people I know agree on this. If you cannot learn programming or don't have any potential at programming you will not be able to succeed in the tech industry. It is something you will be doing for the rest of your life so think about that before committing to a degree program.
If you are like I was and have never tried programming before, take some online courses that teach you the basics of programming to get an idea of what programming is about and see if you like it. There are 3 major general purpose programming languages C++, Java and Python all of which you will learn at SIM. I started learning Python(10 years ago people started learning Java or C++ first) on an online course at Coursera www(dot)coursera(dot)org/learn/learn-to-program
I enjoyed it very much, that was when I knew that I wanted to have a career that involved programming and it was something I had some chance of success at. The other websites you can check out are Udacity, Udemy or some other programming course at coursera.org
Thirdly, consider your other options in Singapore or overseas education. If you are considering SIM, you probably, like me were not accepted into the major autonomous universities in Singapore(NUS, NTU, SMU, STUD). I have done extensive research into the public and private university degree options for CS related degrees in Singapore by reviewing their syllabuses, duration, university rankings, cost and value and quality of education. Personally speaking, SIM is the only private university I would consider(The CS degree programs at Kaplan and PSB academy are sub-par and offer low educational value for what you pay). At SIM there are CS programs at UoW and UoL(London). As of today, the programs are quite different than they were 2 years ago, both universities are solid choices with UoL inclined to theory over application and UoW being inclined to application over theory(for data science go to UoL). UoL has a very heavy emphasis on theory and under emphasis on giving students practice with software(From what I have heard) while UoW in my experience has a heavy emphasis on practical work such as DIFFICULT assignments and lots of projects with an insufficient focus on theory. UoW does have theory, but just enough for a working knowledge of the technology being taught in the module, and almost no general CS theory. They both train you in different ways to think about what you prefer. As of the time of writing, I would only recommend UoW over UoL if you want to work with big data(Data engineer, database administrator), game development or work in Cyber/digital security, the new 2020 UoL CS degrees are generally better overall but does not have as good 3rd year options as UoW for these jobs.
The other option are the SIT degrees, they seem to have to most robust education for studying software engineering, so if you certain about being a software engineer you should enroll in this programme.
What is the curriculum in SIM and what is its quality like?
There are 4 intakes a year. Every student has a different progression based on when they enroll in the university and the number of exemptions they have. UoW follows a rolling syllabus so you might be in the same class as a year 2 student if you are year 1 and vice versa. Everyone has a different schedule that is assigned by the course manager and can be changed if you make requests via email.
For the full three years of study the first 2 years are foundational university level computer science classes and the third year is your major year. There are 4 majors in this programme offered at SIM. Digital Security(most popular), Cyber security, Big data and Gaming development. The first two years of studying at SIM are identical for all majors so the classes will get smaller as you enter the third year which also symbolizes that you are learning more specialized modules relevant to the field you want to enter. There are 4 core modules for the CS degree that the BBIS degree(The sister course that focuses on Business and IT) does not include. They are:
Mathematics for Computer Science
Algorithms & Data Structures
Advanced Programming
Database Systems
If you a local polytechnic graduate with a Diploma in an IT related course you will usually be exempted from 1.5 years of foundation and will only have to take advanced programming and database systems. My recommendation for people who want to get a good education in CS and develop a good set of professional skills is to take all 4 of the core modules as well as many other foundational modules that are relevant to the career you you are working towards. Also remember to read the whole list of elective modules. Ask the course manager to reorganise your schedule such that your 3 elective modules line up with when the modules you want to take are being offered. The common foundational modules taken as electives are: Python programming, mobile app development, front end web programming. Also remember to broaden your education, I took business communications and it was one of the best modules I have taken.