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GCSE- IT- is it worth it???

My eldest is about to start her GCSEs and already has a IT qualification done at school.

Starting to wonder if this might be a wasted GCSE?

Any views or experiences???

Comments

  • edited June 2008
    I.T jobs seem to be going abroad mate. To India Philillipeans. With this cr*p government supporting this.

    Stay away from support developing is where its at.

    CharltonDan would know more as he is a recruitment consultant.
  • I'd say it depends on what she wants to do both in terms of further study and career.
  • Why do you need a GCSE to tell people to turn their pc off and on?
  • Further to my post above. Oldest daughter didn't do a GCSE in it but did a City & Guilds at lunchtime in school. It was compulsory for both the younger two to do IT so that may answer your question!

    Options tend to be humanities ie History, Geography or Religious Studies, PE, Drama, Music or another language besides the one they are already doing at GCSE.
  • [cite]Posted By: pete_tong1[/cite]I.T jobs seem to be going abroad mate. To India Philillipeans. With this cr*p government supporting this.

    Stay away from support developing is where its at.

    CharltonDan would know more as he is a recruitment consultant.
    First line support is. Other IT jobs either aren't going abroad, or are being brought back here because the quality abroad is so shite (places like Chennai, Bangalore etc). I've never been without work in IT - never. That said, I've also never worked first line support and am pretty ****ing good at what I do - which never hurts in an industry that is as full of timewasters, ****-takers and lazy gits as IT is :)

    I'd say the GCSE in IT is still useful - simply because, even though your daughter may never work in IT itself, she most certainly will be working with IT in any role she moves into as an adult - its a fact of life in the modern workplace.
  • edited June 2008
    [cite]Posted By: LenGlover[/cite]I'd say it depends on what she wants to do both in terms of further study and career.

    herein lies the question.

    Not really found "her thing" yet.. Interested in sound engineering/ production (her Dad's musical influence) but can't see that as the career she will take.
    She's div1 in Maths and English (and would probably carry the Maths over to A level)
    [cite]Posted By: LenGlover[/cite]Further to my post above. Oldest daughter didn't do a GCSE in it but did a City & Guilds at lunchtime in school. It was compulsory for both the younger two to do IT so that may answer your question!

    Options tend to be humanities ie History, Geography or Religious Studies, PE, Drama, Music or another language besides the one they are already doing at GCSE.

    This is my point- another humanity would add to the depth of her qualifications. She's doing RS and music.
    [cite]Posted By: Leroy Ambrose[/cite][I'd say the GCSE in IT is still useful - simply because, even though your daughter may never work in IT itself, she most certainlywillbe workingwithIT in any role she moves into as an adult - its a fact of life in the modern workplace.

    Nice point Leroy, but do you think she would learn much that she couldn't pick up just by using her computer in he course ofdoing other stuff
  • So is IT an option rather than a compulsory subject at your daughter's school?

    As I said above my youngest two both had to take IT as a compulsory subject and choose 3 options from the types of subject I mentioned.
  • Not compulsary- sorry should have made that clear.

    She did a qualification about 1 1/2 years ago.. supposed to be quite advanced.
  • [cite]Posted By: StanmoreAddick[/cite]Not compulsary- sorry should have made that clear.

    She did a qualification about 1 1/2 years ago.. supposed to be quite advanced.

    Sounds like it could be similar to my oldest daughter then.

    My advice would be to let her choose what she wants to do. Half the battle is keeping them motivated with "teenage distractions!" If they've chosen the subject themselves they are more likely to persevere with it.
  • Having done it less than two years ago, it is hideously boring. It's mainly based on cousework which involves spending 6 hours making a database, then 30 explaining how you made it. Or at least that's what my specification was like, it's probably worth enquiring how it's set up at her school.
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  • I just thought that if she is thinking of Maths at "A" level then Computing Science might complement that in which case IT GCSE could be worth doing.

    I'd still say let her choose though.
  • To be honest, i'd tell to do what she likes or what she's interested in.

    I was a little bit too forward thinking when picking my GCSE's and picked things like Business Studies and Computer Studies - lots of my mates picked Drama and PE and breezed through them with A's! They certainly didn't suffer becuase of it.

    Looking at it from a personal view as a prospective employer, i only look at the most recent qualifications anyway so providing she's not going to end her education at 16, let her choose what she wants.
  • Yes and No.

    If she wants to pursue a career in IT then she can go on to do a degree but wont need GCSE or A Levels to do so as Maths, Physics (anything numeric and analytical) is accepted by all the good Unis.

    Having said that it doesn't hurt and will perhaps give a good grounding and then she can work out whether she really likes the subject or not.

    Just to back up what Leroy said. IT support goes abroad cos by and large any numpty with half a brain can work in 1st / 2nd Line support. More complex development and analytical roles are coming back to UK because the quality is so poor. These Dev outsource companies seem to have the 1000 monkeys / 1000 typewriters mentality.
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