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Computer Science Graduates are the Least Employable in the UK

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Re: Computer Science Graduates are the Least Employable in the UK

#51

Post by Alan01252 »

crntaylor wrote: post #46
Alan01252 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this figure hard to accept. £100k+ a year for a developer with no experience? I've been doing software development for a while now, and know more than a few developers, and I guarantee you not one of them started on anywhere near £100k a year. £100k a year is around what I know experienced contractual developers earn working for big Canary Wharf banks. If this is true, then please let me know the name of the c…

That number includes bonus - but it's certainly accurate. These guys might have no commercial experience, but they certainly have plenty of programming experience (and are typically top 1 or 2 in their year at university). I've emailed you the name of the company using the contact form on your website. We look forward to your application!

Well you've successfully called my bluff....

Unfortunately I have no particular interest in that industry, and more importantly, if I'm honest, wouldn't have a chance of getting through the application stage.

Re: Computer Science Graduates are the Least Employable in the UK

#52

Post by antihero »

mvc wrote: post #20

The problem for UK devs is that everything is so London centric. I bet there's lots of open positions there and lots of talented but unemployed (or underpaid) developers in Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow. I used to be one of them until I moved. I've seen attempts to try and create a UK equivalent of "Silicon Valley". Where do they put it? London!!

Brighton is also fantastic for new media and I see lots of emerging companies all the time. The culture for growing talent and laid-back attitudes is definitely very strong here. We also have excellent places like The Skiff which are mixing pots for talent, and events like Farm which get talented people together with people that need it.

So yeah, we have a great freelancer culture and small agency culture, it's about whether we want to also foster the start-up culture too.

It's definitely not as bro-centric as Silicon Valley seems. We have great events like Bar Camp, but it's much less "in your face" seeming.

Brighton is also a lot smaller than London - so we have all the right things, and moreso than most cities, but it's less foreboding and intimidating than places like London. I'm also not sure how many people would be happy with risking becoming like those places. Things are really tight, and people still have their passion for coding. I hate to think of that being pillaged by greedy capitalists.

Re: Computer Science Graduates are the Least Employable in the UK

#53

Post by Argentevenin »

dr_doom wrote: post #47
Argentevenin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ECs are Formula Student (Mostly embedded systems stuff, also did a lot of sponsorship getting organisation type stuff last year), Cyber Security Challenge UK (Got invited to a conference, have been told to keep the dates of two more face to faces clear...) and general member for one of the uni's bigger societies.

I don't know what any of those academic terms mean but what have you coded and are most proud of?

At the moment me and two fourth years are basically writing all the code for a single seater formula style electric race car. This means Motor controller, battery controller, HUD, sensors, telemetry and getting it all to communicate. (on the way having to learn a lot about control, signal processing and learning a new platform) Its by far the most complex system I've ever worked on and coming together really well - the guys I'm working with really know there shit.

Re: Computer Science Graduates are the Least Employable in the UK

#54

Post by rorrr »

kleiba wrote: post #36
Aaronneyer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts exactly. Most schools teach Computer Science, very few schools teach you how to actually program. People have to learn that on their own, and many people don't, and as a result, aren't able to actually program.

That's because Computer Science != Programming.

I'd say computer science should contain programming. Pure theory is for mathematicians.

Re: Computer Science Graduates are the Least Employable in the UK

#55

Post by mickeyp »

crntaylor wrote: post #50
mickeyp wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other issue with Cambridge is that they think they can get away with paying people -- senior people -- £35,000 a year\ . Even if you hate London you're better off contracting in the midlands where you can probably get £350/day if you're not completely hopeless. \ based roughly on my experience investigating the job market there a few years ago.

I know developers with 3-5 years experience in Cambridge earning significantly more than that. Redgate Software, for example, pays its junior (i.e. zero experience) engineers £35k / year.

Really? That's good to know. Glad to know the salaries are higher.

Re: Computer Science Graduates are the Least Employable in the UK

#57

Post by tokenadult »

Eliezer wrote: post #13

I wonder if this is due to graduating people who can't code Fizzbuzz.

I wonder if this is due to graduating people who can't code Fizzbuzz.

Eliezer, so far not many people on HN have believed my little anecdote about this, but there appear to be graduates with master's degrees in computer science from reasonably decent universities in the United States who can't pass "Write a program using a for loop to print the integers from 1 to 100" as an initial interview screen!

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4603414

There may be some people with accredited degrees in computer science who are very lacking indeed in the most elementary programming skills.

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