Where to go to college to study for an IT specialist? + survey

Although management, economics and jurisprudence have remained in the "top" areas of training at a university for many years, recently the prestige of IT specialties has also grown noticeably. Entrants and their parents face the question of which university to enter and which specialty?

Do I need a higher education in IT?

Даже не хочется поднимать эту тему — столько по этому вопросу сломано копий на дебатах в профессиональном сообществе. Но все-таки замечу, что есть области, где наличие «вышки» или обязательно или дает дополнительные преимущества: работа инженером (проектирование для телеком, ЦОД и т.п.), работа на гос. предприятиях, изучение Machine Learning, переезд заграницу, поступление на программу MBA и др.

С другой стороны, если зайти на SuperJob.ru62% вакансий программиста не требуют высшего образования, а на stackoverflow.com — 61%. И многие ИТ-шники имеют непрофильное образование — это факт.

Но раз уж мы здесь, будем считать, что выбран вариант поступать.

Россия или зарубеж?

Fact: Russian education is going through difficult times, and many foreign universities (for example, German, French, Scandinavian) offer free or almost free higher education in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies. There are options with learning in English. This is a real chance to move and stay to work in the “first world”.

Specific conditions vary from country to country. The main obstacles for applicants may be poor knowledge of foreign languages ​​and the inability to pay for (not cheap) accommodation.

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to study abroad. Many success stories have already been collected in the local hubs. The educational process in IT and IT emigration .

Further we will talk only about Russian realities.

Choose a university

In 2018, according to the Atlas of Yandex in Russia, 344 universities accepted applicants in the field of “Informatics and computer engineering”. But not all universities are equally useful.

First of all, you need to solve the main questions for yourself: are you ready to move to another city / region? Does the university have a dormitory? Is a “military department” necessary (since 2019 a “military training center”)? This will greatly reduce the number of options.

We study university ratings

Ratings are far from an absolute truth, because there is simply no single-valued methodology for determining the quality of education. In addition, inside the university there are always faculties and departments stronger and weaker. However, looking at the ratings is helpful.

International

Of the Russian universities, Computer Science ( QS , ARWU , THE ) ranked only Moscow State University in the top hundred in international rankings . But inclusion in the ratings itself is also not bad. They often include: St. Petersburg State University , Fizteh (MIPT) , ITMO , HSE , MEPhI , TSU , TPU , NSU - the country's leading universities.

Russian

It is very useful to familiarize yourself with the ratings for the entrance exam scores of areas of interest, for example, in the atlas of Yandex universities . The top of the rating largely coincides with the international ones, among the leading ones it is worth mentioning MSTU. Bauman , SPbGETU "LETI" , MISiS . The same universities can be found in the Interfax ranking top .

Obtaining the status of NRU and entering the 5-100 program also indicates the high status of the university.

The listed higher league universities are, as a rule, familiar to employers and their personnel officers on the good side. But to enter and study in them is difficult.

IBS study

An interesting study was conducted in 2016 by the Russian IT giant IBS: We analyze how successful employment and salary depend on the university, specialty and region . Here is an example excerpt from vo.graduate.edu.ru website data for 2015 graduates of some Moscow technical universities:


Of course, the salary shown is the "average temperature in the hospital", but the difference between universities is visible to the naked eye.

Option: “strong” university

Arguments for entering universities with a large competition:

• high standards of training: it is better to be a graduate student at Moscow State University than an excellent student in "fence construction";
• motivating environment: in a good university you have to reach a generally high level, in a bad university, on the contrary, it’s considered valor to not learn anything and somehow pass it to “satisfactory”;
• establishing useful relationships with capable guys;
• attractiveness of the diploma for the employer (in any case, when searching for the first or second job).

The arguments against:

• if we are not talking about some kind of supercomputer computing, IT subjects with due interest can be mastered independently;
• more difficult to do, you need to prepare in advance;
• you have to work a lot , otherwise it’s easy to fly out.

I would recommend to students with the ability in physics and mathematics to still try to enroll in a university harder. But it must be borne in mind that at the same MSU some children are preparing to enter from the 9th grade.

Option: “regular” university

Still, the bulk of specialists are preparing universities more easily. If the reader, like the author of the post, does not have enough stars from the sky, then our goal is to enter a decent level in an industrial university.

Why do universities hang noodles on their ears?

Fact: over the past 10 years, the number of applicants has decreased by an alarming 40%. The number of budget places in universities has also decreased, but not so much.

As a result, universities have to compete for applicants: they need to fill in budget places, otherwise these places may be cut by next year, and it would be nice to enroll payers as well. In such competitive conditions, universities you want to do not want to have to learn marketing. Therefore, it is natural that on the official website, that at the open day of the university, the praises of the university will be sung - one does not need to take everything heard at face value.

Doubtful options

Which education is less quoted?

• correspondence / distance learning - situations in life are different, but if there is an opportunity to study in full-time, it is better to go to full-time (well, or at least in the evening);
• not accredited specialty - there is no deferment from the army + a chance to get instead of state. diploma to the diploma of diploma (upon admission, they will assure you that the program is just innovative, and accreditation will be received right away);
• the target set is not horror, but to put it mildly, not for everybody: lower pass rate, but after graduation - forced distribution to some research institute or power structures (= low salary);
• branch - as a rule, much weaker than the main university (if it is not an affiliated university, see below);
• not a technical university - just like technical universities have pared to train lawyers and economists, and vice versa - humanitarian ones are trying to prepare IT specialists; There are good exceptions, for example, the top HSE, firstly, it created the Faculty of Computer Science in partnership with Yandex, and secondly, in 2012, it “ate” a good ITEM university at MIEM;
• commercial (non-state) university - private universities generally like to teach lawyers and financiers more, so far no one has heard about strong private IT universities. Some are rumored to generally work in the mode of "come once every six months with a record and money." See the odious Moscow Institute of Technology .

Not dogmas are listed: of course, you always need to look at the situation.

University Mergers

Separately, it should be noted that in Moscow and St. Petersburg in recent years there have been several enlargement of universities. Some were rather strange - simply because of the proximity of the territories: for example, the mining Moscow State Mining University was attached to the Institute of Steel and Alloys MISiS, and the chemical MITHT was joined to the Institute of Radioelectronics and Automation (MIREA). Also part of MIREA became instrument-making MGUPI. The HSE, having absorbed the MIEM Institute of Electronics and Mathematics, received its building in the center, and MIEM left for the outskirts of the city - in Strogino.

In this case, the "sign" remains from a more "strong" university. Those. entering the Mytishchi branch of MSTU. Bauman, it is worth remembering that three years ago it was the University of Forests.

Specialty

Although in principle there is an opportunity to transfer to another specialty, it is better to immediately choose the appropriate one, otherwise you will have to hand over a bunch of “debts”.

The choice of specialty is associated with the choice of faculty and graduating department. In any university there are stronger faculties, there are weaker ones, so conscious choice is also important here.

On the other hand, the choice of a specialty does not mean the final choice of a profession - in IT everything is quite flexible and rapidly changing. A professional is appreciated, not a profession.

In Russia, there is a system of Federal State Educational Standards (Federal State Educational Standards) for each specialty, on the basis of which universities prepare educational programs. On the other hand, there are related professional standards.. I tried to match the professions to professions, but this is basically my speculation.

The specialties partially overlap, and the differences between them are difficult to understand, even if you read the GEF. At the same time, the university is free to change the variable part of the program towards some kind of bias. Somewhere more math, somewhere algorithms, somewhere more practice. Therefore, it is better to check the local features of the programs with the selection committee.

Unfortunately, I could not find a decent guide for career guidance in IT. If someone met - share.

→ Career Chart (Eng.)

Specialty or undergraduate?

Along with the new Bologna system: 4 years of undergraduate + 2 years of master's program - the Soviet specialty of 5-5.5 years continues to exist. Honestly, I won’t say which is better. When a bachelor’s program only appeared about 10 years ago, universities in a hurry prepared bachelor’s programs, squeezing old programs of specialists, often cutting them off. Now, I hope that the situation has returned to normal and you can safely go to undergraduate studies, especially since specialty is a thing of the past. The undergraduate program corresponds to the European education system, and allows you to adjust your specialty by enrolling in a Russian or foreign master's program. Undergraduate studies are divided into “academic” and “applied” - in the last less hours are allocated to a “base”, more to practice. Practice is good, but not the fact that the university will be able to provide it at the proper level, and the base can be useful for graduate studies.

Will I become a sought-after specialist after graduation ?

This is a good question to ask yourself, at least starting from the third course. Answer: it depends more on the student than on the university.

It is very desirable that you have some practical skills for graduation that you can get on additional courses and internships. Often, universities collaborate with enterprises - the employer "grows" a specialist for themselves. In the current conditions of the demographic pit, even Yandex and Mail.Ru cannot afford to “hire only seniors,” so they are looking for interns. Do not be afraid to try to get a job and do not be afraid to change your first job if you do not like it.

Separately, I will mention the importance of learning English. Sign up for English courses - and this, in turn, will open for you MOOC courses of foreign universities.

About academic performance: it’s a shame, but employers don’t look that you have a “red” diploma, but still a good GPA may be needed when entering a foreign master's program.

Go for it!

More on the topic:

• List of the best technical universities by the level of salaries of graduates of 2013—2018. from Superjob
• About university ratings: we separate the grains from the chaff
• Higher and Continuing Education in IT: Results of the My Circle Study
• Higher education and IT - current realities and prospects, opinions and experience of experts
• Freshman: University.Instruction 1.0
• Yandex has published an overview of the market of IT vacancies
• Monitoring