u/Equal-Savings1264

Hi All,

I’m currently a comp sci student (1st year), and with tech jobs being slashed left, right and centre, it appears to not be the career it once was. In all honesty, my heart wasn’t even in it I’ll admit to using AI to help me with python and other pieces which isn’t great as I can’t code on my own.

I’m 22M, living in London and I know that there is a world of opportunity here although doing this degree for 3 years (with a year placement supposedly), I think it will be mentally challenging. I’ve never been good with education from about the age of 12 and was on a downhill since despite everyone calling me “smart”. It also took me 3 years to get into university anyway and I know if I continue on this path, the future will be bleak.

I don’t have anybody around me that can help so I thought to speak to about this on this Reddit page. If you were once in my position or to anybody that has life advice, it would be incredibly beneficial to share :)

Hi All,

So I am a first year computer science student and honestly, I’ve not enjoyed it one single bit. I have a hard time coding and I don’t enjoy it as well as I thought I would. My main drive was job security although that has seemingly gone out the window too.

How much more effective would it be to switch to something like Environmental Science? To anybody that has did this degree it would be useful to hear your answers!

It does seem like something I’d be much more interested in and engaged into although I would be confused at how student finance would work as I’ve now essentially eaten into my first year.

Hi All,

So I’m currently 22M and as the title suggests, my life has been not the easiest and i have nobody to share it with and would appreciate any advice genuinely no matter how harsh it is!

To begin with, I’ve always struggled with education from year 7. I don’t know what happened but I’d say age 10/11 is when my life literally collapsed off its stilts. People around me were much smarter in high school/secondary school and i tried so hard to emulate them but I could not only not study, but also not retain anything. Parent-Teacher meetings have always been horrible. It took me 4 years to get into university and I’m still struggling now barely keeping my head above the water. This will always be my biggest burden.

Secondly I’m also gay and have known since about 10? While also being a Muslim I’ve pretty much cried once a week since i found out. Honestly I thought it would genuinely be a phase as TV from the 2000s/2010s suggested so I wasn’t too fussed about it when I was 13-17 as I am now that I enter serious “marriage talk” ages. Finding out that I’m gay has ultimately pushed me farrrr away from religion and I’m pretty much Muslim by name considering how religious I was as a kid I would avoid even music. I also take the interpretation of the verses condemning it quite literally, I’m a literal person and if one thing says no I don’t look for room to negotiate. No means no so I have to pick either one or the other.

If you haven’t guessed by the first 2 paragraphs, I’ve also struggled a lot with friendships and I couldn’t tell you the name of a friend I’ve ever had. Mostly been a floater friend but never really someone’s main pick. I don’t have much self-confidence as my life has always seemingly proven why I shouldn’t but, I feel comfortable talking to people and speaking up for myself. I have struggled with men to men friendships always. Maybe because I didn’t enjoy football and wasn’t athletic but I did enjoy and love cars. In my earlier years I was more feminine but I killed that person and it has helped me earn respect from men and basically faked it till I made it. I am happy my parents made the choice to de feminise me but it did leave me lonely when I had to cut off all of my female friends when I was age 9-12.

Honestly? I wouldn’t have minded not having a single friend until my last days here because I used to have an older brother, only one, a year older than me and he was pretty much my best friend. Basically shared everything and did help me since we were close. However he did tragically pass away 2 years ago in a very gruesome and sudden way. I have my own room now for the first time in my life but at what cost. He was my total opposite btw, he was flying through life not academic but still making a path for himself with his hands, was married, set to move abroad, very masculine never had any problem ever getting job, incredibly social naturally, you could send him to China tomorrow and he’d be fine. The ideal man in my culture and a complete 180 of what I am.

I have began working out maybe a month and a half ago and I do enjoy the process and the university money does help me afford all the food and membership and I do enjoy the agency maintenance loan has given me what with unemployment. But most of my days are spent just panicking about the next thing.

Honestly I’m at the stage whereby I feel nothing will ever work out in my life and the saxophones are getting so loud and wouldn’t mind advice from someone who has been in my shoes or anybody else with their own opinions.

I wanna hear from people that have been on all sides of an apprenticeship. The people hiring, the people who were selected and the people who have passed and secured employment within the company or elsewhere.

Was it really worth it over formal study and if someone was an average student, how difficult would it be to attain a position in tech? (from the perspective of a HM).

Hi All,

So I’m currently 22 and my life with education has been at a constant loss while the incline steepens. For one, it took me 4 years to get into uni at college after subpar GCSEs and I am currently doing a computer science course that I dread everyday.

We are currently in the final summer lessons with only 2 modules left. One of which is called object orientated programming and even though I’ve had my first lesson, I have 1 exam in June and another in July. I also had a previous unit which was an introductory to python but I genuinely didn’t get a single thing. The maths unit was also horrible and I couldn’t tell you one thing I’ve learnt this year.

My family will think I’m a failure if I drop out but I literally feel sick in my stomach thinking about the exam and I think it reinforces the lack of intelligence I generally have whereas others in my class seemingly breeze through the work on day one which was just basic sequencing, iteration and functions and others. Watching videos on YouTube don’t help me either as they all sound like they’re speaking an alien language and I don’t have great working memory. Would dropping out be the best thing to do?