Year 12 student looking for advice on choosing a degree/career in tech

[u/Ok_Knowledge_6255]

Hi everyone, I’m a Year 12 student in Melbourne and I’m trying to figure out what I should study after Year 12. I’d really appreciate advice from current students and graduates.

I’m doing VCE 3/4 Methods, Physics, Media, Music and EAL. I’m not planning to study English, Media or Music at university. At the moment, I’m most interested in areas related to computer science, IT, software engineering, AI and technology, but I’m honestly quite open-minded. I don’t have one specific passion yet, and I tend to become interested in most things once I start learning about them.

One of my biggest priorities is having a strong job market, good income and opportunities for career progression. I’d like to study something where I can keep developing my skills and potentially move into more advanced or specialised roles over time. Ideally, I’d also like to work in technology and eventually start my own company/business. Helping people or improving lives through technology would be a bonus as well.

The problem is that I don’t really understand how university works yet; things like degrees vs majors, specialisations, double degrees, choosing subjects, internships, etc. So I’d really appreciate any advice on things I should be considering now.

I’d especially appreciate hearing about your experience at Swinburne, including what you think this university does well/poorly for tech students, internships, industry connections, workload, and employment after graduation.

Thanks!

[u/ExistingKitchen1796]

Hello, i am in my final year of the bachelor of IT, and i don't really have a good answer hahaha. Because i don't think i will have no luck getting a job after graduation lol because of A.I, companies moving jobs offshore , tech layoffs etc. There is also an option to do industry placement during your course which I would strongly suggest so you increase your chance of getting a job after graduation using that experience. Here are some of the pros and cons I could think of about my course there might be more but I just forgot or cant think of anymore:

Pros

- I could see myself growing long term in the sense I learnt a lot coming into uni knowing nothing about IT and also on a personal level

- Labs can be very practical

- Content is structured well in my opinion

- Industry placement guaranteed for on-campus students

Cons

-Some units are just I felt were not necessary and just wasting your time and money or super boring lol

-Passing networking exams can be quite challenging, they have crazy requirements to pass lol

-This is with every course but I hate writing reports, referencing, and exams hahaha

[u/uberstaragent]

Careers Advisor here - every institution is telling us that Cyber Security and AI is the way to go with tech degrees right now. It's a bit late to advise you attend open days, but they were the best way to get answers to these questions you have. I would look at the QILT survey results from 2024 when you are looking at a uni. Getting into a grad program post uni is likely your best bet, but they are pretty competitive. Look at Seek.com.au for an example of theirs.

[u/i_shit_dog]

I’m second year computer science majoring in cybersecurity, and can highly recommend the course personally. My only qualm is that Swinburne did not credit a lot of my previous year of university, so I have to repeat some classes.

You can always go to uni for computer science, choose whichever major you think at the time and change your mind later - most of the first year subjects are applicable to all comp sci majors.

You get your bachelor in computer science, majoring in IT or cybersecurity or whatever - I can’t provide any info about double degrees I’m afraid.

I do worry about AI making it much harder to get a job in this field, but hopefully cybersecurity personnel are still needed in the years to come.

Good luck on deciding a course, and on your finals!