Stuck in a course I hate. What should I do?

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  BlazinPast on 20/03/2017 - 03:36

  +6

  Leave the degree ASAP. The content will get much more difficult in the latter years. If you don't like it now, there's nothing that will change that will make you enjoy it more. I was in the same position as you as I switched during my 2nd year in Civil too. You're not that deep into the degree yet and it's pretty common for people to switch degrees. If it's too late to switch to another degree for this semester, try talking to your unit coordinator to allow you to do some 'electives'. Just use this semester to try out units you think you'd enjoy and go from there.

  It's not a total waste of time either, you can internally transfer what you've already done and convert them to electives in other degrees. It works well in degrees like Commerce where you can transfer a year's worth of credits from external faculties. But you'd have to be weary of hitting the 1st year unit credit limit.

  It still may not even be too late to switch degrees now. If you really care about not wasting your time in a degree you'll hate, get a hold of the course coordinator and sort it out immediately and there may be an option for you to leave this semester. It'd be better to transfer to something like Computer Science right now and realise it's not for you than to waste another semester doing civil. I know it's really hard to throw away what you've already studied but it's extremely worth it and a massive stress relief once you switch out to something you are interested in.

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  the-mal on 20/03/2017 - 07:55

  +1

  Speak to someone at your Uni about pathways to another degree. The main thing is to act on it ASAP.

  I've considered doing computer science. For those of you in the industry how successful are CS graduates at finding work and In what sector is the most demand?

  CS is amazingly broad. Your job prospects will differ greatly on the area you specialise in. Digital, data and automation are growing massively and careers are in abundance. Infrastructure and IT Support / generalist style roles are on the decline as IaaS makes headway.

  Developers will (for the foreseeable future) always be needed, however be prepared to want to be bloody good at what you do because you'll be competing with literally millions of offshore developers who will work for 1/4 of what you will (albeit for less quality output).

  This is something a Uni careers advisor will be able to help you with. They'll also help you work out what credit can carry over from course to course so you don't have to start from scratch (Eng and CS courses both usually start with basic maths for instance) The main thing is you investigate this formally ASAP. Uni is expensive and every second you're there not doing what you want you're racking up debt you'll have to pay back once you start working. But chances are if you hate the Civil Eng classes, you'll probably hate your potential jobs too.

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  AssamLaksa on 20/03/2017 - 08:03

  +1

  As someone who completed an engineering (Not-civil) degree without any passion, I say go for it and leave it. I struggled throughout my degree because I wasn't passionate about it. All I thought of was "how can I pass my exams and get out of here" which I feel isn't exactly the whole point of the uni experience. After that, it took me a long time to secure a job too. Possibly because employers can sense my lack of passion. But anyway, it took me a couple of YEARS before I found a decent, full-time stable job (was doing a whole lot of casual roles for a long time) and I've always thought "what if I had just dropped out of my course when I started it and done something I enjoyed instead?". I mean no guarantees I would have gotten a job out of that either, but at least I would have enjoyed the ride!

  All that was in the past though. Although I'm still in the engineering field, I seem to be enjoying my current job at the moment though. So if you're anything like me, you might grow to like it eventually.

  If you think you're passionate about IT/CS, I say just do it. Even if you don't become a game developer as you originally intended to, programming is a transferrable skills. Good programmers are quite sought after and honestly is a very useful skill in this day and age where almost everything is dependant upon it. Every major company requires some programmers (for app development/cyber security/etc) and financial institutions pay top dollars for good programmers too.

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  lupiter on 20/03/2017 - 08:21

  +1

  I would drop it. I changed degrees, and then I changed majors after that, and I think it's pretty common. It's okay not to know exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life at age 18.

  If you're interested in CS, see if your uni has Software Eng, which may have more shared credits with Civ Eng. For most jobs they don't care CS or Software Eng, and it depends a bit on the Uni which one will be a better fit for you.

  I'm guessing you've probably taken some Stats and Applied Maths for Civ, did you enjoy that? There are opportunities for data scientists if you know where to look, although obviously the field isn't as broad as general CS/Software Eng.

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  Gronk on 20/03/2017 - 10:43

  I'm just starting my 3rd year of a CS degree, studying part time, working full time.

  At the institution I'm studying at, CS degrees are becoming more concerned with computational theory than the practical / implementation side. The main difference between CS and Soft Eng is that CS places more emphasis on the process of solving a problem as efficiently as possible and proving that your solution is correct, so plenty of maths (both discrete and continuous) and proofs with just a little bit of practical programming on the side. There's a bit of hardware theory and assembly programming in there as well but it seems to be less of a focus with newer CS degrees.

  For me, there were a whole bunch of elective subjects offered but there were only 3 major streams - System Design, Business Analytics and Computational Science (for research / academics). They're now offering a 'newer' CS course, so not sure whether or not this has changed with the new syllabus.

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  MrHyde on 20/03/2017 - 12:17

  As other have said, if you are not finding your passion in civil engineering; stop it ASAP. Don't think twice about the 1 year already spent. It the grand scheme of things, 1 year is nothing.

  I was in a similar situation as you - started electrical engineering and after two years decided I didn't like it. Switched over to Computer Science and managed to get some credits transferred over and have not regretted that decision once.

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  BrewerHaHa on 20/03/2017 - 12:41

  1. I think you should leave. Doing something you hate is the worst thing you can do to yourself and you have 4 more years of this! Don't suffer like that. Other people have their input thrown in for this questions so you can use theirs.

  2. I have quite a few friends who are CS grads and they're in high demand at the moment (from what I've been told) and apparently always will be. My friend essentially said it comes down to computers being so important and front/back end development always needing to be done. Match that will a lot of start ups and they'll need people to do computer related work.

  3. I'm a science (maths) grad and I like it. I work at a small company so everything is very relaxed. My closest CS graduate friend works at a start up and says that it's very stressful. There's a lot of ad hoc work and he always has things to do. Pretty sure he ears a good amount though. He was sent over to San Fran for an interview at DropBox.

  4. I think other people have also had some options listed for this.

  TIP: If you actually end up pursuing CS, do external projects that are NOT uni coursework. Hopefully someone can attest to this as this is only what I've heard from friends.

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  Geekomatic on 20/03/2017 - 13:32

  My son is completing a CS + computer systems engineer dbl-mjr. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do when he started either- but knew he liked maths & programming. He's been selected for a paid internship at the Cisco IoE in Perth. His friend, who started with him, quit engineering after a year & went on to study nursing & loves it. You don't know until you're in it whether it's a good fit— don't stay if you're unhappy.

  Computer-related careers are some of the top currently in AU:

  https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/australias-highest-pay…

  http://www.smartcompany.com.au/technology/the-top-50-tech-co…

  What I've advised my son to do this past term, is to look at all of the jobs he thinks he'd be interested in & check which programming languages seem to be in demand, across the board, then try to spend time with each. Have a look at what's in demand & which suits you best & go for it!

  Good luck to you!

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  altomic on 21/03/2017 - 22:24

  talk to a course advisor. make sure you don't miss the census date for withdrawing from the subjects without penalty. and see if you can undertake some subjects to test the waters in the area you think you might enjoy.

  Don't worry about feeling like you have "wasted money and time" - you discovered that you definitely don't want to do your current degree very early. many people finish their degree and get a job in the field and hate that, but feel that they need to do it because that is "what they studied". it's spilt milk. also think of what you have learnt in a totally unrelated field that maybe a strength in CS (might not be obvious now, but in the future the "thinking you developed"whilst doing civil engineering may give you a different perspective/point of view in managing tasks/undertaking work/approaching problems compared to your coworkers.

  my brother completed high school and started a geology degree. he hated it and after a year changed to an arts/computing degree (this was in the late 80s). he is now the head systems tester for a large international company. I left school and did 2 years of accounting. I hated it. I'm now a qualified psychologist. doesn't hurt to change.