IT industry - undergrad degrees

[Living]

Before I start, I know the 'IT industry' is massive and diverse and so different areas might have different views on this. This is to try to get an overall feel.

DH is considering applying for a distance learning undergrad degree, mainly because in his current profession (training) he's starting to become constrained by not having a degree. He's interesting in some form of computing course to teach him the fundamentals. He's particularly interested in systems development/coding.

Just wondering whether there's anything in particular that is well thought of (or not) in the industry. Should he want to career change in the future it would be good to have something well regarded.

He's academically bright and mathematical. Strong A-levels, just dropped out of his first degree which was IT related (a very long time ago).

The course will need to be distance learning as we're not in the UK. Cost not really important.

Any thoughts appreciated!

It's a good plan to get a degree - my employer won't look at applications from non-graduates these days, despite the fact not all roles need a degree and plenty of the older employees don't have a degree, and in the more technical roles, it's their specific technical skills and experience which are crucial, more than whether they're a graduate. But anyway...

For technical roles, Computer Science is good - something with at least a module on security would also be helpful. For less technical roles, we prefer degrees with some sort of analytical skills ("Surely that would include any degree, because that's part of the point of degree-level education?" says Bearhug, when going through what to cover at careers fairs.) Popular subjects include business, economics, maths, sciences, and also languages.

If he's going for development, then check out what is currently popular - perl, python, ruby, but there's probably other stuff too.

Although cost is no object, there are quite a few coding and IT courses available as MOOCs, and it may be worth trying out some of those to see which area his interests might lie.

I agree with eBear. Maths degrees are also well thought of especially in the more analytical roles (BI, Data Analysis etc) especially in the financial sector.

Thanks both that's really helpful. He's done quite a few MOOCS already, just feels he needs to start formalising it a bit

Are you looking to do distance learning from a university in the UK? If so, you have to be careful with international fees.

I was living abroad and wanting to study, but put it off until I was once again a UK tax resident so that I wouldn't be charged the extortionate international fees for the same course.

Ignore me if this is not an issue for you.

international fees are something we just have to live with unfortunately - no getting round that (plus we dont pay tax so shouldn't be subsidised by UK govt anyway)