Reply to: Choosing the right University/Degree

[lukemg]

Forget forensics, I used to work at a forensics co, the computer side was small and most of the expertise was developed in house.
Standard tools are or will be developed to pull this data, I just don't see a long term career in this.
Uni - These are niche IT courses at small uni/ex-polys ? Very limiting in career options later and unlikely to be competitive against established workers with experience.
GO TO UNI if you want the experience, time off real life etc you will likely love it AND appreciate it tons more than those going straight from A-Levels. Career wise, I don't see you jumping into a great career from here, you can buy a lot of training courses for the money this will cost and save yourself years !!
Be aware you are on the cusp of too old to hang with 18 yr olds, you might find them puerile. The girls will be more interesting though (BUT NOT ON YOUR COURSE !!!!)
Chap on my course was 29, we called him old bald b*****d, affectionately of course.
Good luck

[DS23]

Newcastle Upon Tyne is less dull than Stoke.

failing that you could always pretend at newcastle under lyme

[DodgyAgent]

Are you implying that Newcastle Polytechnic isn't a top university???

University of Northumbria is hardly on a par with Durham, Oxbridge, Exeter, Warwick, Nottingham, Bristol is it?

[SimonMac]

My neighbour did a similar thing - worked in the police, left and set up his own company doing forensics with expertise in road traffic incidents. He's made his (few) million doing it, so maybe PC forensics is the way forward after all.

No doubt there is money in it, however its hard to get into as a new started so a degree is next to worthless when stacked up against the people who have been doing it for years

[TheFaQQer]

I did a bit of time with West Yorkshire Police, once all the DC/DS's in the High Tech crime unit retired after 30 years they set up private companies offering the same services but at full market rate instead.

My neighbour did a similar thing - worked in the police, left and set up his own company doing forensics with expertise in road traffic incidents. He's made his (few) million doing it, so maybe PC forensics is the way forward after all.

[TheFaQQer]

I thought Robotics was power electronics, which is a very hard degree to do, and one that you need to go to a top University to study

Are you implying that Newcastle Polytechnic isn't a top university???

[SimonMac]

Forensics is pretty big from what I can gather - the govt draws on a lot of specialist skills from the private sector for its investigations, and governments are starting to get pretty big on cracking down on electronic fraud and cyber crime...

So what do you do if you don't want to work for the state? I guess private company that then gets called in by the state - that's where the money might be.

Or selling your services to those that don't want to get caught.

I did a bit of time with West Yorkshire Police, once all the DC/DS's in the High Tech crime unit retired after 30 years they set up private companies offering the same services but at full market rate instead.

My advice would be that its probably too late to get in on the forensics aspect, as for whats the next big thing, if I knew that I would be a millionaire by now.

I am slightly biased in this view as I never went to Uni, I worked my way up from dropping terminals on a desk somewhere, practical experience is always better than a degree. And for the 3/4 years you will be earning (albeit it at a lower wage) you will end up in probably in a slightly better place with experience, and a lot less debt.

[DodgyAgent]

I thought Robotics was power electronics, which is a very hard degree to do, and one that you need to go to a top University to study

[SueEllen]

While I agree with that "Computer Networks and Security" sounds much more professional indeed I'm not sure that the content of this course would be that much better, both seem to be quite specialised and relatively high quality courses.

Unfortunately unless you plan on staying local to the university you are going to study at for your first job or two then you are going to find that people in the UK who do the first part of the recruitment process know f*** all about your degree subject in general and will discriminate against your degree title.

If you have seen the posts on here and in the news in the last year about Surf Science, Golf Management and Mining Engineering, you will understand where myself and other posters are coming from.

[Freamon]

So what do you do if you don't want to work for the state? I guess private company that then gets called in by the state - that's where the money might be.

Or selling your services to those that don't want to get caught.

Computer Forensics Jobs, Average Salary for Computer Forensics Skills

[TheFaQQer]

Forensics is pretty big from what I can gather - the govt draws on a lot of specialist skills from the private sector for its investigations, and governments are starting to get pretty big on cracking down on electronic fraud and cyber crime...

So what do you do if you don't want to work for the state? I guess private company that then gets called in by the state - that's where the money might be.

Or selling your services to those that don't want to get caught.

[Freamon]

Computer Forensics might lead to a more limited career choice - what do you do with it, other than work for the police or state? It sounds like it might be interesting, plus handy to know how to get rid of the evidence if you need to

Computer Networks and Security sounds more like a career option to me - there's more scope that I can think of to go with.

Forensics is pretty big from what I can gather - the govt draws on a lot of specialist skills from the private sector for its investigations, and governments are starting to get pretty big on cracking down on electronic fraud and cyber crime...

[pacharan]

ISTR Northumbria used to run a I like cherry blossom hagakure with perfume co.version course at one time with a tender on your pole

[TheFaQQer]

Computer Forensics might lead to a more limited career choice - what do you do with it, other than work for the police or state? It sounds like it might be interesting, plus handy to know how to get rid of the evidence if you need to

Computer Networks and Security sounds more like a career option to me - there's more scope that I can think of to go with.

[OwlHoot]

Hi,

I'd like to ask you for some help, I would like to choose a degree that has the highest potential. There are 2 courses that I believe I'll choose from:

Staffordshire University: Computer Networks and Security
Computer Networks and Security
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/Compu...cm44-36642.pdf

Northumbria University: Ethical Hacking for Computer Security
Ethical Hacking for Computer Security - Northumbria University, Newcastle UK

Both these courses have really interesting content. In Staffordshire I could finish my studies with a CCNP qualification which might speed up things a bit (which I feel a great need for as I'm already 25 years old) while in Northumbria one needed more UCAS points to get in and also afaik it's a more recognised university than Staff. So, from the employability perespective this is a though decision... Please help me to choose.

Anyway, there are 3 more places I have offers from but I think these would not be as good choice as the courses mentioned above so I'd like to focus on those. These courses are:

Cyber Security
http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/course/ug...ns_degree.aspx
Leeds Met - BSc (Hons) Computer Forensics & Security

Thanks for any comments or help. Tomas

I'd skip all that network security stuff and get into robotics.

Network security will be pretty much transparent and at best niche in a few years IMHO.

HTH