Reconsideration of University Courses
So just a few weeks ago I went into a frenzy to find out about other university courses. I’m not exactly sure what started it off. The main reason why I did it is because I had a sudden irrational fear that I wouldn’t be able to pick up programming easily.
It’s a really silly fear, that’s why I called it irrational. After all, we are all going into a university course without knowing what we’ll expect. I’m pretty sure most JC students have never did anything related to business or accountancy, and the only thing remotely close to it is Economics. Similarly, medicine, law and dentistry isn’t a walk in the park.
Furthermore, I read that it’s perfectly fine to get into Computer Science without any foreknowledge of it at all. In fact, some of those who enter without any knowledge can end up doing better than those who do.
Explanations of the irrationality aside, here’s what I thought of the courses I decided to look into. I didn’t make a blog post about this did I? So here it is.
I first looked into accountancy. I looked into it first because I have two good friends going into accountancy (although it’s for two different universities), and accountants seem to have a good life (albeit a boring one). They make lots of money, they’re heavily sought after, and the only time they seem to be busy is when they are fresh and green, and when it’s time to do their accounting stuff (as in, “that time” of the year). But seriously, all those numbers and finance stuff, it confuses me to the ends of the Earth. And yep, it’s boring.
I looked at Science next. Seems useless. It’s like a really general degree. Honestly, I didn’t research much about it.
Engineering was next. Since I was young, I always had this perception of engineers: people who carry spanners, going around fixing stuff. Blame games like Command & Conquer and Red Alert. I’m not too sure if this perception is too far off, but I do think that engineers do go around fixing things, whether is it a machine, or some sort of chemical or nuclear plant. Basically, I don’t have a good impression of engineers. Too many guys anyway.
I like Geography. It’s my favourite subject when I was in JC. Physics was a very close second, possibly even tied for top. But the future of a geographer in Singapore seems really risky. Sure, there are things like Marina Barrage which needs the help of a geologist, but I bet I’ll just end up being a geography teacher or something of the sort.
What’s left is Computer Science. I have plans to learn programming before the next university application date, so I can see whether it’s for me. So far, either the books for programming are loaned out from the library, or it’s not suitable for me. iPhone application development hit a roadblock when I needed a Mac. The Blackberry application development for Dummies book assumed I had knowledge in Java. The Android application development books are loaned out. I might try C++, but the books are loaned out too.
Anyway, I am comfortable with a computer (like duh, I can use it all day long), and the future is IT. Smartphones are growing exponentially, hackers are happily hacking companies, and even viruses are being developed for warfare. In the future, the people who know how to make products out of blocks of text will be powerful people. So yeah, I do want to be in Computer Science. I’m just scared. A very irrational fear. And I don’t want 50% foreigners in my course, who are most likely stereotypical Indians.
