So why pursue a career in Information and Computing Science?
An Information or computer science course will make you computer literate. This is very important when applying for almost every job, even excluding IT sector employment.Information and Computer Sciences provides opportunities for pupils to develop the key skill of problem solving, through developing their ability to apply and adapt their knowledge for specific single and group work projects. A computing degree helps develop team-working skills. Information and Computer Sciences combine the intellectual with the practical. The business sector needs people with computing qualifications.
Prospects in the Computer Industry
Information and computing graduates are qualified for a wide range on highly paid jobs and are taught to continually revitalize their knowledge by keeping a finger on the pulse of new and improving technologies. Information and Computer Science graduates gain employment in almost every section of business worldwide.
There is normally a work placement year available that is valuable in broadening work experience, social contacts and employability. The demand for Computing expertise is growing (by 5% last year, according to Computer Weekly, one of the main Computing newspapers), and Computing graduates with a good degree are still much in demand.
Many graduates with other types of degree retrain in Computing after their first degree in order to find employment. By doing Computing as your first degree, you get a head start on them. The Numbers computer graduates from the UK are diminishing but jobs are increasing. This means new graduates have a good chance of employment.
Salaries in the Computer Industry
A survey at the University of East Anglia found that new Computing graduates were on average better paid than any other type of graduate in their university. At present (2004), starting salaries for new graduates in Computing seem to range between £15,000 (for people who choose to work for small local companies) and £30,000 for specialist skills, with the average starting salary being somewhere in the middle of that range.
Those salaries will increase as experience is gained, and £60,000 and a good company car is possible for high fliers with 5-10 years experience and marketable skills. I know several people who earn over £100,000 per year in the ICS industry. If you own your own business then the sky is the limit. Four out of the world's ten richest people made their money from ICS - Bill Gates (worth $46 billion in 2003), Paul Allen ($22 billion), Larry Ellison ($18 billion) and Michael Dell ($13 billion).
Working in the ICS Industry
The ICS industry has jobs both for those who like to work with people, and for those who prefer to hide away and write programs. My own experience of my first few years working in Computing was amazement that people would pay me for having so much fun.
Whether you like solving problems, or finding out what people need and making sure that it happens, or building something new that no-one else has ever built before, then there are jobs in the ICS industry that are appropriate for you.
Test your IT Knowledge with a list of Information Technology related games. See if you are a computer whiz kid or still have to hit the books.