Uni or tafe first? advice? (1 Viewer)

[hungry]

I'm not sure what I want to do in uni, I mean I have some general ideas but I realised I'm not exactly passionate about the courses I wanted to do, I just want to be a little more sure about what I want to pick.

So there is this course at TAFE for 1 year which I am sure that I want to do. It's for programming (I know I could self-learn this but trust me I am not a self-learner and I am more motivated if I do it at a school environment). So I was thinking I should do that after HSC then after hopefully I'll have figured out what I want to do in Uni, if I want to go further in relation to the TAFE course, or if I realised I want to do something different etc. And I didn't want to do the programming thing as a uni degree because its longer and it's more general. While in TAFE it's more specific like I'm learning specifically what I'm interested in whereas in Uni there's other stuff in the degree I have to do but not interested in.

However I told my dad this and he said to go to Uni because if I go TAFE I'll probably delay and just not go to Uni after. He really wants me to go uni and I do too, but I don't know what to study. So I thought to just put off uni for a year or so until I am sure? is it a bad idea?

 

[astroman]

go uni and then to specific courses that help with your job opportunities in tafe.

 

[brent012]

I know someone who did a longer software course in tafe and still went on to study software engineering at uni (no better off than any other students in the cohort, just that time meant he has a better work ethic than he did in HS) - im skeptical as to how much they can teach you in that year.

There are private colleges in the US which reportedly have success getting people programming jobs after short courses, but I dont know if it'd work over here.

 

[hungry]

Sorry for the late reply, I just remembered this as the applications for UAC opened. Thanks for the advice both of you however I am still stuck. I was told by a friend I could do a computer science course. My problem is I suck at math and while I'm willing to work on it, I'm afraid I won't do too well. The courses all assume math extension 1 or similar and I haven't done any math so I have to do a bridging course. This is also why I want to go tafe first. Plus I don't know if I'll even enjoy it, I mean it's always been something I want to learn but what if I end up changing my mind? Again another reason why I want to go Tafe first.

So if I were to do comp sci and end up not liking it and transferring, would it have been a significant waste of time, money etc? Should I just be confident in my approach... just apply, if I get accepted then do it and see what happens? I'm afraid of making mistakes but maybe I need to just do it and see for myself? Afterall I have been living in regret throughout year 11 and 12, as I wanted to pick software design and development and other computer related subjects but I didn't because I believed they'd be too hard. Now looking back I wish I just went ahead and did them. So now I'm in a similar dilemma but there is more at stake.

 

[OzKo]

Maybe see if you can get into contact with people working in the industry?

They can provide an insight into what life is like working in those types of roles, and address any reservations you might have.

 

[Thief]

The best thing you can do right now is self-learn. If you can't self-learn, going to uni will be hard because they expect you to be able to work independently. When you get to uni or tafe you'll see a lot of people who already have some programming skills from just fooling around with code during high school, and you'll be at a disadvantage. Of course, you can go in without any prior knowledge and still do great if you try hard, but it will just be a harder transition for you than it will be for other more experienced students.

That's just me speaking from my experience in my comp degree, I'm not sure what it would be like in a TAFE course.

Also if you haven't done any maths at all, and the degree you want to do requires maths, I recommend that you don't do it.

 

[enoilgam]

Maybe see if you can get into contact with people working in the industry?

They can provide an insight into what life is like working in those types of roles, and address any reservations you might have.

On this, talking to people in the industry can give you an idea of what qualifications you need for certain roles. In some fields, a TAFE qualification might be all you need, whereas it might be insufficient for others. For instance, with HR, you can get into the industry with Cert IV TAFE qualifications, but it is extremely difficult to progress beyond the most basic roles without a bachelor's degree.

Just remember that a uni degree isnt everything - if you dont need one to go places in your field, then dont bother with it. You dont want to waste tens of thousands of dollars on a piece of paper which isnt going to help you.