19M, 2nd-year SE undergrad. Dad thinks the IT market is dead and wants me to do CIMA. Should I be worried?
I'm 19 and currently in my 2nd year of a Software Engineering BSc (I started my degree early at 17). I'm based in Sri Lanka, and lately, my dad has been heavily pressuring me because he keeps hearing that "IT jobs are hard to find."
His solution is for me to do something parallel to my SE degree, specifically a commerce qualification like CIMA. The problem is, I absolutely hate commerce subjects. On the flip side, I love coding. I build software projects for fun all the time in my free time (mostly full-stack stuff using PHP, Laravel, Java, etc).
My dad's comments are starting to get in my head. I have a few questions for those already in the industry:
Should I actually be worried about landing a job with just my SE degree and a strong portfolio of personal projects?
Is it worth forcing myself to do a parallel qualification in a completely different field like commerce just for "safety"?
If I do need to diversify my skills, would it make more sense to finish my BSc first and then do an MSc in a different field, rather than burning myself out with parallel studies right now?