Prerequisites??? Computing: Software Development

[whatsmyname]

Hey guys,
With Software Development, my school has told me that there isn't enough interest to run a class. This has thrown a huge bomb shell my way because doing VCE Computing 1&2 now as a Year 10 and not being able to continue it to 3&4 next year is really disturbing. So I thought whether I could do distance education for this subject as my 3&4. If I wish to do Software Engineering at either Monash or ANU, is Software Development handy?? Also, is distance ed worth it??
Cheers for the help guys!!! (In advance)

[Aaron]

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for taking the time to post. Glad to have another IT person interested here!

Yeah - the 'not enough interest' thing is extremely common, so don't take it too badly. Distance ed might be your only option if you're serious about IT. To be honest with you, if you're going to do distance ed you may as well do Algorithmics (scaled up, get university credit at Monash).

Pretty much everything is taught again in the first semester of uni, so I don't think you'll be disadvantaged significantly if you don't do it. I'd argue that if you're serious about pursuing a path such as softeng, you should do Algorithmics (even though you may come across it again at uni, it's important that you understand what you're getting yourself into - because softeng or anything in the IT space is much more difficult than alot of people give it credit for).

FYI: Algorithmics has a pre requisite of Maths Methods Units 1 and 2 (its not a mandated prereq, so not having it is ok but its assumed you have that *level* of mathematical reasoning).

[MightyBeh]

Software Development is perfectly manageable doing via distance if that's something you're interested in doing. It's a class that really lends itself to independent working and obviously technology aided learning is a bit of a given. The big benefits in terms of a career in software in the future is that you get the experience of doing a fully functional, commissioned project (unfortunately for free, unless you can persuade some cash out of someone ). It's new with the new study design and imo it's a great addition because you can actually put it on your resume or whatever if you really want, and gives you a portfolio of work to show off. What you get from it that you'll have a hard time finding on the internet is pretty much all the business stuff, like writing up your SRS/designs/timelines/testing/reports/etc.. All the coding stuff you can learn on your own if you really want.

Distance Ed. gives really mixed results. You need to be really on top of all your work or you will quickly find yourself out of your depth. Some people do amazing, others not so much. I'm lucky enough to have a school that offers the class though, so if you want some better reviews on that you might have to track down someone that does SD via DE. I know of one or two people around here that do, they might come out of the woodwork and talk about it

I can't tell you if SD will help out at uni, but I'm sure someone else could. You might be interested in algorithmics though, although I doubt your school offers that if it doesn't offer software.