any help would be much appreciated!

I have a BSc in Computer Science, and was working as a web designer- ive now had enough and need a career change badly. Im considering doing a masters, however dont have a clue what would make a good conversion course? Ive looked over the internet, different masters portals, uni course searches, prospectuses etc.

The one that sounds interesting is an MA in town planning- however ive found extremely few jobs for town planners, so there would be little point in doing this surely? Does anyone know any masters which leads to a good chance of getting a job at the end of it? Im based in the UK.

Regards

Hi Adam, you say you want a career change but you don't say what you want to do instead. You can't really choose a masters to take you in a different direction until you decide where your interests lie. What would you like to be doing, what areas of work appeal to you?

well town planning/rural studes/urban studies/countryside management, but few of these seem to lead to a good choice of employment afterwards!

Town planners etc are normally employed by Local Authorities only - given that there are major public spending cutbacks planned, significantly in the provision of local services where Council Tax is not going up then they are cutting back on this kind of thing. There may be some courses that give you work experience and you could use that as a way in, but in the short term future there will be few jobs (but lets face it, thats pretty much across the board!)

My guess is that the masters is really designed for those who are already town planners, and as already said, those jobs are not that common. I think you need to sit down with some paper and write down all the things you want out of a job, just as they come into your head, and also put down any job that you think would give you that, say for example you wanted flexibility, then you might decide that a job with deadlines, but no rigid 9-5 aspect might suit you (writing, journalism maybe?)and then you might be able to sort out what it is you want and maybe it will also have a few ideas on it too! If nothing leaps out I expect there are some career guidance things on the web where you can fill in what you need out of a job, and what you can offer and that might come up with something. Then you can look to see what qualifications/ skills are needed and perhaps find a course that will give you those skills. :-)- of course that doesn't mean there will be a job for you, but you may have found an area that suits you.