Programmers in Australia, specifically NSW region. - Developers

Did you go to University? What ATAR did you get? What University did you go to? Is it necessary? I'm in Year 12 now, as of this term, first day back.... and honestly, I'm scared. I don't know what to do... I'm currently living in a rural area near Yass, I am thinking I wanna go to a Uni in Sydney... But I think I won't get in. I don't know what to do. I'm going to work my ass of this year, but, I'm afraid I'll just give up and get shitty grades. I have no motivation to study, I just can't do it. I'm scared about my future, like, this is it right here, start of year 12. My whole life depends on this.

[QUOTE=PigeonPatrol;48835257]Did you go to University? What ATAR did you get? What University did you go to? Is it necessary? I'm in Year 12 now, as of this term, first day back.... and honestly, I'm scared. I don't know what to do... I'm currently living in a rural area near Yass, I am thinking I wanna go to a Uni in Sydney... But I think I won't get in. I don't know what to do. I'm going to work my ass of this year, but, I'm afraid I'll just give up and get shitty grades. I have no motivation to study, I just can't do it. I'm scared about my future, like, this is it right here, start of year 12. My whole life depends on this.[/QUOTE] I'm originally from Newcastle, now I live in Sydney. I go to UNSW and I found that if you want to do a programming degree in Sydney, UNSW is unparalleled - it's by far the best CS degree available in Sydney, the amount of passion you get exposed to is so much. There's shit courses of course - but we're recognised to have the best operating systems in the state, and we've the best security engineering course in the country. I got an ATAR of 89.75 but I actually started at the University of Newcastle doing film production. CS had an ATAR requirement of 92 at UNSW when I decided I wanted to go, and UNSW accepted me not only on the basis of my ATAR but also on my grades in my first year of film production. I guess the thing to keep in mind is that while the HSC is really important, it's not the end of the world if you don't get the grades you require. The important thing is to GET into uni (if you want to go) - if you can, you can work your ass off to get a grade average that will allow you to move upwards in your degree. For example, one of my best friends is a really smart guy and he wanted to do a law degree at UNSW but he had problems with slow handwriting during exams, so anything he wrote was never long enough to net good marks. As a result he didn't get the ATAR required to study law. He enrolled for an arts degree instead, and netted himself good enough grades in his first year to switch his degree over to law in his second year. So provided you're willing to put in the time when you get to uni, the only thing you need an ATAR for is to get into uni in the first place. My point is not to be too terrified - plenty of people fuck up the HSC and go on to do really great things. Loads of high achievers who get 99.95 burn themselves out so heavily that when they go onto uni, they drop out. The dux of our school ended up working in a furniture store after dropping out of his degree. At the end of the day so long as you can walk out of your exams and say that you're comfortable with the amount of effort you put in, then that's all you need. 5 years down the track and the ATAR is just a number and worth nothing to anyone. Keep in mind that you're from a rural area which I believe will net you bonus points to your ATAR if you apply to a city university. So yeah. Put in the amount of effort that you're happy to put in, don't burn yourself out, stay healthy and just do your best :). Your whole life doesn't depend on this so don't panic. Study as much as you can without your head exploding, and that's all you can really do.

agreed, don't give up on the HSC because getting a good ATAR will make your life a lot smoother, but it's not the end of the world either, there's a million and one ways to get where you want to go and start saving now because living in sydney is expensive as fuck

If you want, you can get an F-1 Visa, get into a community college in the USA (2 years, and it's cheap and fucking easy to get into), then transfer to a 4 year university when you're done and you've got good enough grades. A shitton of Koreans do this at my community college. [editline]5th October 2015[/editline] Also transferring to another college, at least in my state, is stupidly easy. The local college, George Mason, requires a 2.8 GPA to get in. Idk how gpa works in australia, but 2.8 is retardedly easy.

[QUOTE=krail9;48836384]agreed, don't give up on the HSC because getting a good ATAR will make your life a lot smoother, but it's not the end of the world either, there's a million and one ways to get where you want to go and start saving now because living in sydney is expensive as fuck[/QUOTE] Yeah prepare to work 25 hour weeks on top of uni at least until you're eligible for centrelink

[QUOTE=killerteacup;48836529]Yeah prepare to work 25 hour weeks on top of uni at least until you're eligible for centrelink[/QUOTE] Yeah, I'm currently working at maccas (not many job opportunities here) and making $15/h, working average 15-20 hours a week. I don't know if I should work less to study or keep it.. I want to save as much as possible, I currently have around $2000 but still need to buy a car.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48836488]If you want, you can get an F-1 Visa, get into a community college in the USA (2 years, and it's cheap and fucking easy to get into), then transfer to a 4 year university when you're done and you've got good enough grades. A shitton of Koreans do this at my community college. [editline]5th October 2015[/editline] Also transferring to another college, at least in my state, is stupidly easy. The local college, George Mason, requires a 2.8 GPA to get in. Idk how gpa works in australia, but 2.8 is retardedly easy.[/QUOTE] In half of Australia it's the same and in the other half it works on a 7 point scale (0 for fail, 4, 5, 6, 7 for pass, credit, distinction, high distinction - to punish failing big time I assume).

[QUOTE=PigeonPatrol;48837252]Yeah, I'm currently working at maccas (not many job opportunities here) and making $15/h, working average 15-20 hours a week. I don't know if I should work less to study or keep it.. I want to save as much as possible, I currently have around $2000 but still need to buy a car.[/QUOTE] As you live in the country I don't blame you for wanting a car but you can really get by without one in Sydney. Public transport here is cheap and good for you. Try moving on from maccas to something higher paying when you get here - most retail outlets tend to pay more than maccas. Hopefully if you aren't moving for a while rent prices will go down before you get here - they certainly look like they're going to head that way. If you were moving a month ago I'd have told you to give up lol

I'm from Sydney, took a software class during my final two years at high school and went pretty well , it was my best score in the HSC. I ended up going to university studying media and communications because I thought programming would be generally boring, as getting a position at some decent game company or similar would be unlikely. After my media and comms degree I ended up working as a "social marketer" for a month and fucking hated it, then bounced between jobs until I finally decided to give programming a crack. After a bit of self study and private tuition (at those 3 month "coding bootcamps") I actually ended up landing a full time job, getting paid a great salary, and enjoying every minute of it. Depending on what you want to get in to, uni might not be necessary. I know for a fact in my field (web applications) the general consensus is that a Comp Sci degree does not automatically place you ahead of another candidate as the technology we're using changes constantly and they simply don't teach it at school. We rarely use fundamentals of computer science in day to day work. That being said, could be, and probably is, completely different if you're interested in some other area of programming, like game development or research. Regardless, there are a TON of free resources available online to learn programming in whatever direction you want to take, there is no reason to not start right now and explore to find if you're interested in it. Also, [QUOTE]I'm scared about my future, like, this is it right here, start of year 12. My whole life depends on this.[/QUOTE] I used to feel the same, especially around the start of year 12, but honestly, a decent ATAR might give you a head start at further education right after high school, but your whole life definitely does NOT depend on it.