About choosing an IT university and specialty

There are many quotes, sayings and instructions that for some reason are cut off and as a result their meaning is lost or distorted. “There is safety in numbers, and the traveler“, “Repetition is the mother of learning and consolation for fools“, “In a healthy body healthy mind – a rare event” are examples of such abbreviations, according to some sources.

In the same way, much of the meaning of the statement “If you want to succeed in life, then you definitely need a higher education” is lost. (well, and similar to it). In fact, before the period there should be an addition in the style of “which you yourself will wisely choose and for which you will try to obtain.”

There are so many people around me and around my friends who are spoiling or have already ruined their lives by going to study at a university or simply taking the wrong specialty at the wrong university, and how many people will still manage to spoil themselves with this in the future. Especially those who went or will go to study on a budget and who need to work for 2 years in their specialty (greetings from the Republic of Belarus).

Let's take for example my friend Igor (name changed). Igor is an athlete, master of sports in wrestling (the sport has been changed), winner of a bunch of championships with a mountain of medals and cups; he loves sports and everything connected with it. But after 11th grade, Igor, for some unknown reason, decided to go to study at a university to become a business analyst, although he could have gone to a physical education university and become a coach. How did he choose this specialty? By name (not even by order of parents or advice from coach and friends). Before enrolling, the person was not interested in the subject plan, career opportunities, composition of teachers and the general state of the university. He simply chose what he liked the sound of. What is Igor's outcome for his graduation? He doesn't know a single concept from the subject area, he still doesn't know what job he'll be in, and he spent about $4,000 to get this test, which no teacher on the examination and diploma committee would want to give.

Don't be the one who goes into IT, consulting or finance just because it sounds cool and they look cool in movies or TikTok. Those who do what they like look cool, while the rest go to a psychologist or drop everything and go drive a taxi.

In my stream there are about 80-90% of such (well, perhaps not so bright) examples, similarly in most other humanitarian, as well as technical tier-2 specialties in my and other universities of the Republic of Belarus. What’s even worse is that a significant proportion of these people will have to work for 2 years (and in the near future will be 5 years) in such professions as a lawyer, doctor, nurse, architect, construction engineer, accountant, HR manager (the same recruiters), etc. d.

Yes, it is clear that not everyone immediately understands what they want from life, besides working as a millionaire remotely from the beach of the Maldives, drinking chocolate iced latte frappuccino. That is why I propose to go from the opposite – gradually remove what you DO NOT like.

How not to fall into this trap and not lose money and 4-9 years of your life on getting an education, which is expressed only in the material form of a small book called “Diploma”? I will not give advice from career guidance tests in the style of:
— Do you like to disassemble and assemble teapots?

– Yes

– Then try to become an engineer!

Next, I will point out what most advisers on choosing a university do not say (well, I will make additions to what they say). I warn you that you will have to spend some time studying the issue. But believe me, it’s better to get your hands dirty now than later, with tears in your eyes, to build UML models and write technical specifications for a warehouse management system, although, as it turns out, you would prefer to draw an advertising layout for a clothing brand.

Prepare options to explore

First, go through the specialties of all universities that you are ready to consider (based on financial or other objective indicators). If you know for sure that you don’t want to treat people, build bridges, test software, or calculate the economics of products, then remove the relevant medical/technical/economic specialties from your field of consideration.

Make a sign with the specialties that initially seem not uninteresting and for which, before entering, you made a short Google check with a description of what people working in this specialty do (sometimes you will have to open the description that the university offers with a list of possible positions, since nothing is clear from the name) and enter only those which suit you.

Conduct a short survey

After you have this plate, try to find more information on these specialties on the Internet resources of these universities and their faculties.

Add a Disciplines column. Often there is at least a short list of disciplines. Take a look and rate how bad or good this list sounds to you. If you are looking at the “cool-sounding” specialty “economic cybernetics”, and in terms of subjects there are 90% of higher mathematics, although you are disgusted even by the school mother, then feel free to remove this line from the table, because for 4 years you will develop neuroses, depression and you will lose the desire to live at all. Likewise, if you see a lot of topics that are interesting to you, such as “design of economic information systems”, “IT project management”, “IT entrepreneurship”, etc., then put a rating in this box from 1 to 5. If you you see that the topic you are interested in is studied only at this university in this specialty (for example, SAP ERP is studied only in my specialty, and in the neighboring specialty SPSS Statistics), then this is already a green flag for you. How many poor students could be saved if they just looked at what they have to study for 4 years.

Add a Social Life column. The point of social networks of universities is to show news and events that are held for students. Look at what the university does besides teaching. If 95% of posts on social networks of faculties, student organizations and the entire university (it’s best to look at student unions’ Instagrams and the like) are clean-up days, lectures on the dangers of smoking, or meetings with the Deputy Deputy Minister of Education, then you can also cross out this line from the table. There is a certain correlation (according to my own observations, there is hardly any scientific research) between the quality of events for students and the quality of education at the university. A good sign is a large number of lectures with invited speakers from the subject area (programmers, data analysts, TOP managers of large companies), hackathons and meet-ups, quick interviews for internships, invitations to specialized exhibitions, excursions to offices and simply entertaining events and speeches faculty/university scale. Please rate this box from 1 to 5.

Find people who enjoy studying there

It would be a big mistake to try to get truthful feedback from the first student you meet in this specialty. Better try through the first people you meet find classmates in their circle, who they know enjoy studying there. Get their contact and discuss the following things with them:

• Professionalism and adequacy of teachers. A very important thing, because you hardly want to endure bullying, sexism, snobbery, or the insanity of elderly grandfathers for 4 years. It is possible for teachers to be uncritically demanding, accompanied by extremely deep knowledge of the subject being studied (which he, of course, shares), but not vice versa. Well, at the same time, find out what is hidden behind the names of the items that you liked by name. Not all that glitters is gold.

• Actions of the dean's office in relation to students. If for the slightest offense the dean’s office is ready to expel you right and left, never helps in resolving issues, every day demands that 100 people gather for a community cleanup or an optional lecture on corruption, then this is an alarming call.

• Work-life balance of students. How much free time does this man and hard workers like him have left after studying? If he tells you that for 3 years now he has been sleeping 4 hours a day and sees daylight only on the way to/from the university not of his own free will, then this may be bad (although someone is ready). Again about the events. It's easier to expand your network if there are groups with your interests, such as “What? Where? When?” or AI labs where you want and can go.

• Prospects after university. If you are communicating with a graduate/pre-graduate (it is better to seek information from them), ask what they hear about work during/after university. Find out what the role of the university itself is in this. If you are told that according to the previous points everything is great, but with work everything is very difficult, the university does not help in any way, the knowledge turned out to be completely irrelevant, no companies hire students from this university for positions that interest you, then cross out this line from the table. If the university did not in any way help the self-realization of a person who got a thrill from studying, then what are we talking about?

  Add a “General Review” column or 4 columns for the names of the previous paragraphs. Based on the data received, decide what rating you will give to this specialty; you can give it overall or for each column.

Study the labor market

Yes, this point is only in 4th place, since not everyone needs to work in their specialty, someone just wants to study philosophy or acting for themselves.

Once you have a certain number of specialties left, browse hh.ru/rabota.by or similar resources to obtain information about the volume of demand, salaries and requirements for applicants for this profession. If the entire country needs 10 such specialists, while 5 years of experience are needed and employers themselves do not come for graduates, or you are categorically not satisfied with the size of the salary for such specialists with 1+ years of experience, then most likely you need to cross out this specialty (if more there are no positions left in the corresponding cell) from the table.

I also recommend asking ChatGPT or another chatbot what the prospects for this profession are in 5 years. How easy will it be to replace you with a neuron? If such specialists are not needed in 5 years, is it worth it? But still be realistic, the chatbot may be embellishing things a bit. Add a “Labor Market” column, decide what grade you will give to this specialty, taking into account information about the work from that student.

Analyze the results

If you still have some specialties left in the table, then sum up the values ​​by row and sort from largest to smallest. Now, if you still have a choice, then think about which of all the offers you like best. What are you willing to close your eyes to, and what do you think is of paramount importance? Perhaps the option with the most points no longer seems so interesting to you.

Watch videos on YouTube with interviews with experts in this field. Do you like what they say? Put their shoes on and try to imagine your life in this profession for a year (or at least a week), taking into account all the pleasant and unpleasant things that accompany this work. If you still have a specialty after which everyone goes to Ddata Science, try to imagine how you would feel working 8+ hours a day teaching a model to recognize faces from a video camera. If you feel something wrong in the abdominal area in relation to all positions from the corresponding cell, then cross out this specialty.

If you still have >2 lines left, then evaluate the following:

From the important: passing scores, required subjects for admission (once again the same objective criteria from 1 point)

From the not particularly important: quality of dormitories / distance to the university, prestige / status.

If at some point there is nothing left

It may be unacceptable for you and your parents to hear this, but it is still possible that you do not need this higher education. Is it possible that you can succeed without it?

If there is still pressure, then return to the last step, where there was a choice (hopefully, this is the second step or later). Try to take steps 2-5, but with less rigidity, now talk to the first person you meet, he will tell you other things about studying.

There may be something out there that will at least give you time to think and decide what you want to do. Let it be the most free option of all, that is, one that will not burden you, where you suspect that you may eventually get the hang of it, or where there is the longest list of possible employment options, or where you can easily transfer to another place.
Most likely, the best one for you now will be the one that offers at least a preponderance of interesting items over uninteresting ones. Then, even if you don’t go to work in your specialty, during these 4 years you will get some pleasure from immersing yourself in exciting topics.

Why is this higher education needed at all, especially in IT?

Gone are the years when in IT, and in general in professions related to the work of IT companies, everyone was hired, with or without education, with or without courses, adults and young people. Now, if they hire interns and juniors, then only those who study/studied at the “right” universities and in the “right” specialties, where a communication system has been built with teachers and deans’ offices, where companies even sometimes themselves influence students’ training plans, etc. ., similarly with consulting companies, banks, manufacturing enterprises and marketing agencies.

Yes, you will probably meet 80-year-old PhDs who conduct WEB design and who were already at retirement age when websites became popular. But you can also meet those who, before moving into teaching, managed the work of an entire company, had a hand in creating the 1C platform, or simply adore their work so much that they make everyone fall in love with their disciplines and open up to students those foggy areas that no one else can reach. one is self-taught.

In addition to subjects and teachers, it is at a university that you can find like-minded people with whom you will work in the future, make your first startup, or through whom you will learn about the ideal vacancy for you from LinkedIn.