bsdbox

computer science: first thoughts

<2019-05-21>

As the end of the session draws near, I came to a few realisations about my move to ECU.

Although this is session 1, it is closer to the denouement of first year Computer Science studies. I started this degree at another university, completed four units, then transferred to ECU in March of this year. Considering the previously completed units, which have been recognised in the new syllabus, I have accrued credits totalling a year of study.

This is beneficial on two fronts: my enrolment finished late, and I only gained access to course materials at the end of the second week. Second, my application for advanced standing took several weeks. In the event my request was denied, I would have terminated the transfer and remained at my previous school. As such, I maintained the course load of both schools. The cost of repeating units was not worth the opportunity. Having received High Distinction for all but one unit (where I received a Distinction), I understood the course work well, which makes the cost of repeating units unjustifiable and a waste of resources for all parties.

I transferred for the majors offered at ECU; namely, Cyber Security. Incidentally, my focus since shifted and I selected Software Engineering. Neither of these were previously available. As it happens, transferring yielded further benefits that I had not anticipated. In addition, I have enjoyed a 200% increase in content delivered by the professor, with 3 hours of lectures and tutorials per unit each week–previously, 1-hour lectures were delivered once a week. More importantly, the language for our Object-Oriented Programming course and other software projects is C++, which I consider to be a huge advantage over Java, which was the language at my last school.

More advantages have been gained–some trivial, some not–such as a Microsoft Azure DevOps account and guest lectures from industry folk, which provide invaluable insight.

Suffice to say, I am indeed pleased with my decision to study at ECU!

Tags: compsci
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