Hi,

I just wondered if anyone knew of the best path to get onto a postgraduate IT course like software engineering without a computer science related degree.

I have a 2:2 BSc from a good university. I also have A Levels in Maths, Physics and Geography grades CCC but taken about 15 years ago.

I already have a reasonable amount of student debt because whilst I was an undergraduate I developed a serious mental illness and unfortunately had to repeat several academic years and take time away from my studies.

At the moment my housing/financial situation is quite stable although I can't really afford to pay £9k/year in fees and I don't think I would be able to study full time.

I've been teaching myself how to code but I think I need to gain a professional qualification. I haven't worked in industry but I know this is what I'd like to do.

If I had the relevant work experience a university may be willing to consider my application for a part time MSc in a computer related course however that would take a long time to get. It's a bit of a chicken and the egg type situation.

I've thought about maybe going back to college but the only courses I can see round here are apprenticeships and I'm not sure how doable that would be as I already work part time. There used to be Access to Higher Education courses which would at least provide some relevant content even if it was just up to an A Level standard, it's better than nothing. Or perhaps the first year of a Foundation degree?

There doesn't seem to be any courses that prepare people for a masters degree in a subject they didn't do at undergraduate level.

More attractive than four years full time at undergraduate level (again and potentially 8 years part time) for £36k....

Even thought about leaving the country but would be quite stresfull.

First hits of google page:

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/taught/computer-science/computer-science.aspx#CourseDetailsTab

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/courses/computer-science/computer-science-msc.aspx[

https://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/teaching/pg/courses/msc-compsci/

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/2016/postgraduate/programmes/TMSCOSCI_C/

Those are masters degrees you can do with your degree, there's loads more as well, and some are part-time/evenings. Of course, you might need to be able to find something near to where you live, I'm just showing you that you have lots of options.

http://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/qualifications/f66#entry-requirements

That is also a possibility and you can do it part time. Look at the modular certificate thingy as well, might be useful.

There's no getting around the time it will take - it's gonna be 1 year full-time and at least 2 years part-time - you have to be prepared to commit to this. There are no quick fix answers.

Of course, you are also looking at fees of £7-9k and would have to think about you would pay this.

Is it an IT course you want, or computer science? There are some differences. What are you ultimately aiming to get out of the qualification? 'Working in industry' is a broad concept and it would be worth researching what kind of course might be most valuable to the kind of employers that you're thinking of.

In addition to the above suggestions, you could also try Manchester (http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/courses/computer-science-foundation-route/oute/[/url] or UCL (http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/degrees/msc_cs/).

Sorry, this is the Manchester one again with a working link: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/courses/computer-science-foundation-route/