So I'm in year 10 and exams and all kinds of stuff is coming up and I need to decide what I'm going to do for my future. I'm super interested in I.T and want that to be my future career.
I can stay at school and do a tafe course (Cert 2/3 In I.T) if I'm lucky and get accepted into a Vet course. My other choice is too leave at the end of this year get a part time job in I.T (again If I'm lucky) and study and hopefully end up with two years experience In an I.T job and a certificate 3 and 4 from a Tafe by the time I would have finished school.
I live in Western Australia and I may not be the smartest kid in my year and I feel like the second option is something that I would like to pursue more but I need trusty ozbargain to help me in my situation. Thanks everyone in advance!
Edit: Thanks everyone! The help that you have given me has helped me to decide to stay in school and decide if IT Is something I would love to do forever. Special thanks to this legend for recommending The Big Picture education which is something of huge interest. Once again thanks Ozbargain community this shows we aren't all about bargains :)
I'm in Year 10 and Need to Decide My Future Any Advice Would Be Welcome.
Last edited 16/05/2018 - 09:24 by 1 other user
Poll Options
- 433Stay in school do a VET course and do general course's.
- 15Leave school at the end of this year (Year 10) Part time Study and Part time work.
Comments
No.
Think long term. You won't be able to climb very far in IT with Year 10 and a few VET courses. Take the longer route and you'll be better prepared for a future in tech.
@Ryanek:
I can confirm. I've got heaps of experience, and lots of qualifications accumulated over the years, but no degree, and it's now a show stopper. I made a huge mistake not getting a degree.
Even though I have more than the equivalent, I'm not getting the opportunity to reason my case.It is too easy for the first step in the selection process to be discard anyone without a degree.
@SlickMick:
Yeah I can second that. A mate of mine works in IT, and despite being very smart and very capable, has found being a highschool dropout with no tertiary education to be a huge obstacle for career development.It's not necessarily that the education makes you better at your job (though I suppose it can). Instead, the lack of education makes it easy to toss your application aside. I think it's unfortunate, but that's just how it works.
(Disclaimer: I myself haven't worked in IT in a long time, so can't really provide any real advice.)
@SlickMick:
Agree. I did a degree in an irrelevant discipline, and went to TAFE to do IT/electronics. Even as far back as 1999 when I was looking for my second IT job, the employer was mentioning they would like me to study part time for a second degree in comp sci. Screw that. This was after I already had 2 years of actual solid commercial programming experience.Luckily for me the y2k bug was in full swing so I went to London where I was falling over job offers. That only lasted 6 months though but I have been working in IT ever since at the same company. If I was to have to apply for another job now, I may get away with not having a comp sci degree, but that is with 20 years experience now.
Stay in school if IT is what you really want to do.
@Ryanek: And would be looked over for many promotions and development options. For example, the company might want to move you up, and pay for additional training and higher education, but the development and further training option will require you to have completed yr 12 certificate.
Yr 10 dropouts have very little opportunity these days. The minimum education for almost anything is yr 12 certificate.the lack of education makes it easy to toss your application aside.
Its understandable, yet unfortunate for those without education. If there are many people applying for a position, they can just pass over the ones without education. It would be too much hassle for prospective employer to ascertain whether a person is worthy or not. Although some companies are now doing psych evaluations and aptitude testing etc.
The only exception might be if you are prepared (and capable) of doing everything yourself, like starting own company from nothing. But for most people that is not a good option. I just hate working for other people personally, lol :) .@Ryanek: most companies accept dodgy overseas degrees from unknown indian or filo universities that you never heard of. They could have just bought those degrees and claim to be a programmer with 10 years exp.
@nsuinteger: IT boom is over? It's still the fastest growing industry in the world. And he been for over 20 years.
I work in IT and more specifically in cyber security. There's an enormous demand with minimum pay staying around 90k to 150k for techs. You can add 20k to 30k to that of you live in Melbourne or Sydney.
IT Management positions pay up to $300k.
IT solution architects pay $130k+.
It's far from over, but it is the fastest moving industry. So it's additional work to stay up to date with me technology.
It's great while you're young. I know a lot in their early 40s to mid 50s that are on the virtual scrap heap. And a lot of hard earned skill that was once sought after is now off shore.
@frazel: i fail to understand how your reply help address the OP’s original concerns/ questions. ?
If it wasn’t clear enough my comment was to elaborate, “get proper education without shortcut methods to land on a IT job”
@Ryanek: yep, i work in IT ….. they expect tertiary now …. do,tertiary and do summer school so,you finish course in 3 years instead of 4 …… market is more towards cloud, security, and BI … stay away from hardware …that market pays very little now …… we call them tin monkeys ……
@nsuinteger: yep if enterprise architect need togaf now, if IT security then cism , etc…..
AWS skills are in high demand and their test are cheap but getting course notes is tricker. tertiary courses from govt unis and college should cover those ….avoid the private colleges …. they charge a lot for worthless qualifications.
Study hard kid and become a software engineer. Don't waste your time with IT.
Do well in maths, english and science (optional, you can choose whatever you enjoy) and you're set.
I may be a snob, but I thought the days of kids leaving school after year 10 were behind us (unless you were going into a manual-type apprenticeship like hairdressing or bricklaying). And I cannot fathom what IT company would employ a 16 year old without a high school certificate.
For knowledge based jobs, you need good well-rounded literacy and numeracy skills (ie do high school English and maths). You’ll be facing competition from hundreds of millions of well educated workers in Asia, plus AI. If you want to be competitive in this environment, you need to invest in your human capital.
Also, you’re young. Enjoy your time in school with your mates. You’ll have plenty of time to work.
There are still plenty of kids from less than ideal homes, and many who aren't suited to or don't enjoy study. Yes you are a snob. Unfortunately snobs rule the world now.
+1 to being a snob.
I left after year 10 and did study and worked in IT, best thing I've done with no regrets
Depends on the type of IT work. When I was 17, I got the opportunity to become an IT system administrator for a Kindergarten in Vic. My role included setting up a Firewall, AD server with users and group policy set, OS Deployment, Print sharing, Fileserver/NextCloud and CCTV.
Kindergarten, you're moving up the ladder there 😂😂
I've been on graduate hiring panels for an organisation you'd have heard of.
That's the sort of thing we look for people doing in their spare time in addition to a degree, not instead of one.
The best thing you can do is learn coding out of school.
+10000000000
But wouldn't a I.T company prefer someone with more experience and more Qualifications?
Where I work, the people who don't have a university degree are kind of 'capped' at mid-level positions.
Those who have a degree have the potential to become senior.
I work with some some talented and intelligent people who work very hard and get the same kind of work done, but are stuck at mid-level titles and pay.Get through year 12 and get the highest ENTER(/whatever it's called now) possible.
Also, exercise regularly lol.
yep, i have certicate from uni and 1/2 degree and dropped out thendegree ….lack of degree has been a hinderance to get past middle management. was explained to to me by recruiters the degree it’s not just the qualification for a baseline skill set, it shows i can apply myself to take on a task and complete it …..the degree.
To be honest, you probably won't be walking off the street with a uni degree straight into a high-paying, high-level tech job regardless.
Find out what you want to do and focus on that BUT - either way, I'd stay in school. Gain some life experience, hang out with your mates and enjoy your time.
Then work your a$$ off to get where you wanna go.One thing I would say is the year 11 and 12 are actually quite interesting and enjoyable if you are technically minded. Physics, Chem and maths actually finally get interesting and you can actually start to learn something useful.
I'm doing well for myself and dropped at year 11 to do my cert 3/4/diploma in IT networking.
I'd at least do year 11 personally as you'll find you grow alot personally in that year.
While I applaud your effort - that is personal story bias and likely from a different time.
The data doesn't support success using that approach. How many doctors are there with 10 years experience or less who didn't finish school? How many teachers? Sure it's achievable - but why run a marathon with no legs if you don't have to?
I left school in grade 9 and ended up with a masters, not impossible
Considering the fact that you're legally required to stay in school until the end of year 10/reach 17 years of age nowadays, I'd say what you've achieved is pretty much impossible today.
I never went to school so I am pretty much illiterate but still ended up with a Masters. True Story.
I hope its not Masters Home Improvement.. Or Masters Milk.. :)
j/k.. well done. But your achievement are very rare & highly circumstantial, so it cannot be applied as a general advise to everyone
It's too competitive out there these days to do that now. And it still may not be impossible but finishing the last two years of 12 years of school is infinitely easier than the s**t fight to get into a post-year 12 course later down the track when the OP inevitably changes their mind. They'll get so much control over their lives by staying in school. Plus the massive rite of passage of learning how to complete something.
I left school in 1975.
I scored 1590 out of 1600 on my SAT
I was a national merit scholarWho am I ?
SALE OF THE CENTURY
PS Unless you're this guy—stay in school, your future ambition may change and having a HSC degree lets you get into uni etc easier
While I was in Uni, I failed like 20 times.. Still got a graduate job
a doctor of what ? and from which institution?
you can get doctrines in basket weaving …….
i wouldn't say that. if he goes to tafe next year, he'll be able to knock out an advanced diploma by the time his cohort graduates.
then, if he ever wants to, he can proceed to uni with advanced standings. he'll end up being ahead. once you have tafe qualification (diploma), high school certificate wont mean anything.also when your under 18 tafe is cheap as chips. best to get as much qualifications during that time as you don't really want to be accumulating a crazy high HELP debt, literally up to 10x what you would've paid as a minor
i did tafe via gov college , it’s cheap and there is no lock in for enroll,ent or costs….avoid shonky private colleges …expensive …and don’t have the heritage and reputation.
@garage sale: 1000x always go to the state TAFE's. In WA Tafe has been deregulated since around 2015 so now they are on par and some cases even more than uni. If you are a minor tho you pay the old fees.
Year 12 is not the only path - especially in Communications and Information Systems & Technology.
Case in point - my youngest left at the end of Year 10. Did a TAFE Cert 4 in IT, then a TAFE Diploma (2 years) in Software Development. Then did his Bachelor's Degree in IS / Software Dev (with 1 year credit for the TAFE Courses). All that before he was 21.
He's now working as a software analyst for a small multinational.
To the OP - if you are in NSW, you need the "buy-in" of your High School Principal to 'allow' you to go to TAFE. These rules came in about 4 or 5 years ago.
So similar timeline to if he'd stayed to year 12 and then did a degree?
But by the sound of it a more focussed pathway which for some is a difference that might mean dropping out of high school and losing all interest in study, or achieving results in the field that is actual interest.
Also remember you will not be eligible for a HSC if you do not achieve band 8 or higher in the online reading, writing and numeracy exams.
You have up to five years after Year 12 to achieve these standards.wace for him
You need to add another Poll Option -
- Find bargains & post them on Ozbargain.
Hey Lockster :), I thought you were in y11 or 12.
I don't have much life experience but my recommendation would be to finish y12.
Edit: swiped life but love was entered, i use the word love to much…
Man, start by trying to figure yourself out, what you want and what you value. Study, party and travel and you can start trying to work these things out in many years to come.
it sucks being the 23year old in a class full of 18 year old at uni …. a.so do summer school and knock the course over ….. employers also look at you resume … partied, travelled didn’t know what i wanted ..doesn’t look good.
I'd stay in school but really look at alternatives to IT. The industry isn't as great as some make it out to be. It's saturated with entry level qualified jobseekers and is a hard road generally it's often is not a 9 to 5 job at higher pay grades.
While 10 year veterans can be on 6 figure salaries remember it takes 10 years to get that experience Electricians get similar salaries after the apprenticeship is over and they have their papers?
Yeah. I often think I should have been a Sparkie. Harder to offshore my job and enough govt regulations and licensing thingos to maintain society's need for me.
But … I am who I am.
I like programming.Each to their own I guess I know a lot of Sparkies and they're happy to maintain and fix all the commercial electrical problems to maintain the power so your computer works and you can continue to program and keep your job
I'm actually about to embark on the mature-age sparky apprenticeship route at the young age of 36, giving up my average wage now for struggletown money for a couple of years. Thankfully the other half is on enough to support us through it.
They way I see it, I'll have my papers by 40 (earlier if possible) and with the government pushing retirement age back 30+ years to earn a decent nut and finally be doing what I was interested in doing 20yrs ago but never pursued.
The good thing with Software is that you don't have to wait to get it formally taught. There are a bazillion of tutorials online which you could start right now! But don't forget your school work too.
I'm a Software Engineer for quite a few years now. Since … 2006 when I graduated.
Although some things you learn at school and at Uni may seem pointless and irrelevant at the time; they will help you as background knowledge down the road. It is important. There are also many things you don't learn at school and uni which turn out to be quite important!
One fun lesson you'll eventually learn is to comment your code and write things in a sensible and easy to understand manner. Although uni people will try stick this on your head to remember, you won't. You'll only learn that lesson when you have to re-visit your OWN code, six months later. You'll be faced with … w..t…f. was I thinking? How does this even work?! Then .. you'll appreciate writing neat and tidy code :)
Also, as a beginner you will find you make a lot of mistakes. It's okay. As a beginner your mistakes will be often, medium-easy to find but not hard to fix. Eventually as a seasoned developer your mistakes may be even HARDER to find, less frequent, and sometimes very difficult or tedious to fix.
As a beginner you think in little chunks. How to do this loop? How to do this function? …. As a seasoned developer you'll think big picture - how does this module work with that module? How often will this bit of code/memory be accessed, how will it be used? etc.
the raspberry pi was deleveloped by cambridge university as they were concerned about people entering uni with no computing experience condensed quote “ we deleveloped the pi and handed it to candidates to see what they could with it over a year … some candiadates experience of computing at interviews was based on gaming and consumption, we were looking for creators to take into the course”
What kind of software do you create?
And what languages would you recommend to a newbie who wants to be able to code to automate office tasks? Besides VBA. I'm looking to learn Python, is that a good one? Anything else?
You wont limit your future options if you dont complete year 12. Some things may take slightly longer to do but all careers will still be open to you.
First you need to decided what career in IT you want. Software Engineer? Simple computer tech? Database management? Difficulty here is you dont actually know what the jobs entail and how they line up with your interests. Firstly i'd use the school and any contacts you have to try and line up some work experience opportunities so you can see what these careers will actually entail. Between year 12 and starting Tafe someone i knew lined up a IT placement in a government department to help open my eyes to the world of IT.
If you are going to pursue a Cert 2/3 in IT why do it through high school? You'll take longer to get the qualification and chances are you would learn less as the teaching isnt the same quality. Leave school end of year 10 and start Tafe. You can follow the Cert 3 > Cert 4 > Diploma > Bachelor at univeristy parthway anyway and you could probably get into Uni quicker than if you had done Year 12 > ATAR > University.
Also feel free to write to local government/councils, hospitals or even industries (along the Kwinana strip for example) and see if anyone is willing to take you on via a IT Traineeship. Best way to get a qualification, money (although not much) and experience).
the degree will take you through all facets of the industry, software coding, project management , bpm , etc and you can take electives in what takes your interest …..
I'm in year 10 and exams and all kinds of stuff is coming up and I need to decide what I'm going to do for my future.
First off, no you don't. Nothing needs to be locked in or decided. Even if you finish school, do a course at uni/tafe decide it's not what you want to do, it's quite easy to change to something else.
Finish school and do a bachelor degree or an associate degree then a bachelor degree in IT or Information Systems.
I don't understand the benefits of leaving school at year 10. Fair enough not going to Uni but you need to finish Highschool to do most things. Also you need to live a bit, not just go straight into the workforce and have no childhood. all
not being able to apply yourself and finish high school signals to an employer that you can’t take on projects you might not like and completes them …. what will you do at work …. drop out also during a project ….. finishing year 12 is a basic now days to show you can tough things out …… lots of resumes are just auto scanned for key works and lack of year 12 or degree will automatically put you under the candidates that have year 12 or a degree ….some jobs get over 100 applicants and the recruiters don’t read all of them, just the ones that pass key criteria.
it’s a very inpersonal process to be short listed ….
you can try it for yourself …. apply for some entry level IT jobs with some fake personas and emails and different qualifications on seek …… see which get a call and which don’t ….. you can tell them you’ve just started a new role and are no longer looking if they respond.
If you leave school you won't find a job in IT, you'll be looking at McDonald's or night fill at a supermarket. No one would hire someone for a job that requires using the mind who can't do year 11 & 12.
Finish school, get some certificates, work a bit, extend to a diploma or degree, end up in a good career :-)
I don't suggest people do TAFE Course ( TAFE course qualification are useless…. > that's my opinion < )
Better finish year 12 & then Uni.( you will see your future will brighter ).
My son year 11 now & he will do IT course in his Uni.If he is thinking of leaving in year 10 he probably won't get into uni. His best bet is probably some certificates and then go for a degree when he is a bit older/more mature. And use the certificates as advanced standing so can skip some subjects.
I would qualify that by saying that TAFE is a good entry into university if you don't get the score in year 12. Doing a related TAFE diploma and getting good marks in it will open doors into a lot of degrees - but it's important to speak with the people running the course, they often have deals with courses to get exemptions - i.e. you can get a year of the degree exempted as recognition of prior learning based off a two year TAFE course.
Getting into uni without year 12 is manifestly harder - most TAFE diplomas require year 12 now, and certificates aren't as highly regarded.
Is that you Simon Birmingham?
i did the tafe stream …. was an early win but lack of not competing degree hit me in my late 30s as i tried to get beyond middle management …..
Get a girlfriend/boyfriend.
Haha, why?
My dear, dear boy has no one told you?
About the birds and the bees?his profile photo doesn't check out!
Are you really as a 16 year old asking why having a boyfriend / girlfriend is good ?
Has no one had the talk with you yet ? :p
I mean yes, but they cost money. I work for my my money lol.
Year 11 Student here, just a few words of advice:
Whatever you do, do not quit high school. Even though you may not be enjoying school/think it's worth it, still persevere and do it. Year 11 and 12 subjects usually help you to develop higher order thinking, and even if you think that you're "not be the smartest kid in my year", going through year 11 and 12 will help you gain critical thinking skills that will be invaluable in the future.
Going through year 11/12 doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have no experience. I had a friend who self taught himself programming in years 11+12 through reading programming/coding books and watching videos. He got hired in year 11 from a small IT company, and works while studying. If you teach yourself early on, you'll probably have a better understanding and more experience than others who graduate in the same year level as you. The IT sector in the world is rapidly expanding, due to the new systems and technologies being created. There will be an abundance of jobs, so don't feel like you have to rush yourself to gain experience so early on.
DO A VET IN SCHOOL (if you still want to stay in school). VET's are generally easier than school subjects, so they can help make your senior years a little easier. Plus they give you experience and contacts in the industry that you want to work in (if you're lucky). (I'm doing 6 subjects and no VET - really wish I had chosen a fun VET subject to do)
On a side note, I'm still searching on what I want to become. Some people just have a natural path that they gravitate to (e.g I had a friend who knew it wanted to work in health, so he went straight from school to uni and eventually to a job in medicine), but sometimes it takes a little longer to find the job that's right for you. So relax a bit, take it easy because you don't really need to know exactly what you'll be like in 2, 5 or 10 years.
TLDR: Don't leave school - stay and gain invaluable skills.
Personally if you know how to buy and sell computers on gumtree and other websites you can name a killing on buy low sell high sales mentality.
Not a career
game dev
Games programming requires a lot of maths (linear algebra, calculus), if he is thinking of leaving after year 10 he probably wouldn't cope, it would be more hardware, networking kind of stuff he would end up doing.
if your goal is money and success in wealth and business go the non schooling route
Maybe if he wants to be a brickie or plumber and go the apprenticeship -> professional -> own business route, but not in I.T. You can't get anywhere in I.T. without education.
Games programming requires a lot of maths (linear algebra, calculus), if he is thinking of leaving after year 10 he probably wouldn't cope, it would be more hardware, networking kind of stuff he would end up doing.
Brother is a game developer, can 100% confirm this. Also he's always reading this bloody book "Physics for Gaming"
Hi Lockster,
I'm self-taught in computer repair (all-rounder/residential-only). I work from home and service the local area.
My son just graduated (honours) w/dual computer science/computer systems engineering and was fortunate to grab a good job immediately. But, he's always studied hard, been naturally good at maths (tutoring his mates all through school), and did well all throughout his educational years. Many of his classmates are still unemployed. A degree doesn't guarantee a job. The best thing to do is to look at what is wanted by employers and try to gain an edge on that.
While learning coding/programming would be a nice boost, I noticed when I was skimming SEEK, that there's a BIG need for people in networking. It's a very nice (& lucrative) niche field to get into. You can definitely study computer languages via tutor/Youtube, though, as you complete year 12. As I instructed my son— find jobs on SEEK which are looking for new graduates and, using a chart, find which languages seem to keep topping the list of requirements. You can't know them all, back-to-front, but you can have a dabble and try to get decent/familiar in the ones used most. There are plenty of online sites/communities which encourage new users (freecodecamp.com & codeacademy.com for starters). You should also keep an eye out for internships. Some are paid.
Stay in school, do the self-learning at home after school, and keep your eyes out for what employers are looking for. You don't have to know exactly what you want to do yet— just try to keep options open and be flexible.
Good luck!
I'm super interested in I.T and want that to be my future career.
First step is deciding which section of IT?
Software developer (which is already a massive umbrella with many languages available)
database admin
network admin
IT consultant eg implementing new sys and biz improvements
web/e-commerce developer
hardware implementation (fix PCs and laptops, visit clients to fix servers and PCs)
others i've missedthese prob won't be the dream jobs but required to start somewhere
1st level support
IT retail
IT retail warehouse/technician
operational supportDefinitely hardware implentation.
Fixing Computer's and building them. Fixing issues on computers etc.
You might be able to get a part-time job at a local computer shop, but you will never move beyond that in I.T. without a Year 12 Certificate and a Degree.
When I was your age I was in exactly the same position. I ended up doing half an IT degree at Uni before dropping out to work full-time. This worked OK for a few years, because Australia was in the middle of the mining boom and if you could string a sentence together, you got the job. However once the GFC came, the work and opportunities quickly dried up. Soon I couldn't land an interview, let alone a job, despite years of industry experience.
I ended up moving interstate and returning to Uni in my mid-twenties to complete a degree. By which time, I had a better idea of what I really wanted. Which was not to fix computers for other people, it was to use computers to make the world a better place. So I ended up studing Geospatial Science, which is a fancy way of saying geography on computers. I now have a full-time permanent role with a State Government and I could not be happier with the work and my career trajectory.
Fixing issues on computers, ie "I.T. Support" pay is very low, because there are thousands of people with similar or better qualifications.
You would be lucky to make $50-60k in an IT support role. That probably sounds like a lot of money to you, but trust me, it's not. Most graduates earn this or more in their first year out of uni.
"Hardware implementation" (not implentation) is a dying industry. Almost all corporate IT systems supply laptops for their employees, because it is now cheaper to replace a laptop then pay an IT guy to 'maybe' fix it.
With the move to cloud services even server hardware is becoming far less common. Companies don't need to maintain their IT Infrastructure anymore, they simply outsource it to a cloud service or a third world country.
My advice would be:
- Stay in school
- Get a part-time job (maybe at a local computer shop)
- Don't rush to Uni straight out of school. Take a year or 3 to experience the world and try different types of work. This is critical to determining what you really want.
- Start researching Uni degrees to work out what area of I.T. interests you (networking, databases, developing, security, cloud services, AI, machine learning, etc, etc)
- Make fixing computers your hobby (for friends/family it is very rewarding), but not your profession (there is not enough money in it)Get a job doing this part-time while you are in uni. Or even do it for free for work experience over the Xmas break.
After building 50PCs i am pretty sure you won't want to just do that for 45yrs of your working career.
computers are becoming cheaper and a throw away item ….. the laptops at work now are preconfigured from china when we buy them so no double handling at australian labour rates to add extra ram or bigger drive.
user logs into office 365 and it downloads their apps and our system admin has preconfigured their policies for what apps they get loaded and have permission to access…..we don’t pay $$$ for someone to fix PCs anymore …..check out how much MSY charges to build a system ….go into MSY and see who builds it and how much he gets paid …..
You missed the main $$$ making one security
true
definitely go Enterprise Security to feel whats it like to enforce a police state :)
Got any work experience coming up? Should consider that as it's a better chance of getting employed rather than just dropping out, also you can put that on your resume for possible extra employability rate.
Done and dusted. Gonna try and volunteer Saturdays to work at a I.T company for work experience and lead into employment.
As the Chesire Cat told Alice, if you don't know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you choose.
My advice would be to choose the path that keeps the most options open - then see if you can work out where you want to get to.
I completed year 12 and graduated, however, I gave up on the TEE exams and failed, miserably.
4-5 years later I started an undergraduate degree in Occupational Health and Safety after completing a mature age entry to get into University. Which I completed and completed a two-year graduate program.
5 years later, I'm almost finished my Master's of Commerce (Majoring in Information Systems and Technology), which is composed of the exact same units of a Graduate Diploma of Information systems and technology, and a Masters in Information Systems and Technology. Since beginning the two years Master's full-time, I've also been working full-time in a somewhat entry level role in a Medium size IT Company.
The decisions you make now will guide you, but won't define where you end up.
Finish school, spend a bit more time thinking about exactly what you want to do.
Do you like coding? Do you do any at the moment? Do you prefer roles such as networking or more hardware-based roles?
Find out what interests you, then find resources that will give you an insight into what the roles are actually like. I thought I would like safety, but it wasn't until I spent a significant time in the field that I realised I didn't like it.
Don't pressure yourself into choosing so early, otherwise, you'll run the risk of making the wrong decision.
But to answer your original question again, stay in school. That's the first +1 on your resume. Work experience can come later.
Hey mate. I've been out of school for quite a few years now but also share the same passion for IT.
I stayed until year 12 and did an IT VET course. Finished school and spent a few years working for one of the big telcos.
I never planned on going to uni because I was never someone who liked to study however as I have matured I've been able to focus a lot more.
I'm now halfway through completing my Bachelor of Information Technology and can definitely tell you that having some real world experience is invaluable. Too many people coming through courses with their head in the books but never actually got out there and given it a go.
IT is challenging but interesting and there are so many different areas you can get into and if there is something you don't like you can usually avoid it all together.
Stay in school ;)
Stay in school and finish year 12. If you don’t have your high school certificate, you’ll limit your future career and study choices.