UTS BIT COOP Vs UNSW Computer Science (1 Viewer)

[User3048]

Hey,

I was wondering what course people would recommend taking for someone looking to become a software developer. I know that UNSW is supposed to have the best computer science course in the country but I cannot get into their COOP scheme.

I can however get into the UTS BIT COOP scheme which comes with the advantage of two guaranteed work placements and $49500.

I was wondering what will be more valuable the work experience or a more programming focused degree from a better University?

Cheers

 

[brent012]

I think it depends on what you want to get out of uni, I've worked with students and graduates across basically all of the software courses at UNSW and UTS (including the co-op programs) and they all have their pros and cons.

UNSW CompSci will give you a better theoretical grounding while UTS BIT will kickstart your career. If you pick UNSW you might want to spend time on extracurriculars or internships for networking and resume building, if you pick UTS you might want to self study certain CompSci material or pick up extracurriculars to build those skills.

The UNSW program is undoubtedly more rigorous and development oriented - the BIT program is not a comp sci degree and UTS have programs closer to that (e.g. Computing Science or Software Engineering). Most students in the BIT program are more business oriented and it's a less technical program, I would say the majority of the students end up becoming business analysts, consultants, product managers etc.

But there's definitely still students pursuing software development in the program and scope to do both of your internships in development roles. Getting paid to study, finishing in 3 years with 1 years work experience, the networking opportunities such a degree provides and finishing with effectively a job lined up (either via a sponsor, or from being surrounded by extremely conscientiousness peers that are proactive about their careers) is an attractive deal.

 

[User3048]

Hi thanks for the reply,

if you pick UTS you might want to self study certain CompSci material or pick up extracurriculars to build those skills.

When you say extracurriculars what are you referring to is it just Hackathons and the like?

 

[brent012]

When you say extracurriculars what are you referring to is it just Hackathons and the like?

Yeah, for example:

• Joining student societies, particularly getting an exec position. Ideally a technical one, but you could even join one related to a hobby and do technical things like building/maintaining their website, building discord bots etc.
• Hackathons, competitive programming (ICPC and the ANZAC contests, Google CodeJam, IEEEXtreme), capture the flags and other competitions.
• Personal projects.
• Doing research or projects with academics beyond your courses.
• Becoming a tutor or lab demonstrator.
• Summer internship or relevant part time job.

Basically anything that will help you either build skills or improve your resume for getting into your first or second job. Both are valuable, but I think the former is more important for a dev BIT and the latter more important for the average UNSW student.

There's also stuff like grinding LeetCode that can help with technical interviews, which is basically just competitive programming questions with a focus on interview prep rather than on competing.