I'm at THE crossroads right now (STPM 2005, results coming out soon), and need some help deciding. Yeah, the two choices seem very far apart, I know. But I hope those of you who have taken either one of those courses can help me answer these questions, to decide which I want to do..

1. What exactly do you do for the most part of the course? Pharmacy I heard there is a lot of Organic Chemistry.. lotsa lab work too. Software Engineering.. a lot of maths and programming languages?

2. What type of jobs can you get after you graduate? And how easy is it to find a job?

3. How satisfying the job is to you -- pay, hours, degree of interest, etc?

Ty ahead for the help.

My advice to you is to take pharmacy... coz the trend nowadays its kinda hard for software engineering to get good jobs... trust me on this i got bundle of friends who is facing this prob... i think we need more pharmacist....

1. software engineering need you to always update urself with newer trend of programming skills... u need to learn more than what u learn during ur studies...

2. Type of job u can get is : programmer, system analyst and so on... n it's not that easy, lots of competition..

3. My friend is an senior programmer workin from 9.30am to 7pm his pay is about rm2300/month n no extra allowance what so ever...

imho,

these are 2 distinctly different jobs.

software engineeering is more IT by nature. ya, it is about computers and programming and analysis. career prospects and wprk nature depends on the company that you are working for. benefits too.

pharmacy? most likely you need to open a kedai to ahve your own business. i see lesser opportunity for establishment of professionalism here.

good luck.

Pharmacist is the way to go.
Software Engineering, you know how hard is it to be a good software engineer ? When you rush your project you'll work 24/7. Can you stand working 24 hours for a few days straight ?

But pharmacist is harder to study i think. Almost medical stuff.

Good luck to you

What's your interest by the way???
Write it down on a piece of paper....
Draw a matrix, software eng. & pharma vs pros & cons...
Fill up the pros and cons....calculate number of pros...
The one(soft eng or pharma) with the most pros wins....

If your are still blur, ask your frens & teachers for advise.
When you go buy panadols at pharmacy, ask and talk to the them.
Observe examples in front of your eyes.
At the end map it back to your interest.

After you have determined what you want...plz make sure the path towards your goal is clear.

E.g. If you want be pharmacist, you have obtain a very good result to enter local university. Honestly, I have never known someone who achieved lower than 3As(STPM), studying pharmacy course in USM.
Another option in to study in college(e.g Sedaya) or oversea universities.

We wishes you best of luck.

Hehe, ty so much, guys.

Yeah, they are two distinctly different courses. But frankly speaking, programming is much more interesting to me than organic chemistry and labwork... although I also do realize that pharmacists are able to be their own boss (aka open own kedai). But how many self-businesses fail? There is also a risk there..

Wow, work in IT industry sounds hard. How about the opportunities for lecturing?

well, are u guys very sure about this? they are a lot of local pharmacist.
and now many people taking biotech due to large amount of students taking pharmacist.

i think you should think , where do you wanna work in future

Biotech will have a better prospect. If I were you, I'll go for Biotech.

Ohana Means Family

Well, everything u study need to update n upgrade into a better knowledgable person.
biotech, pharmacist, IT professionalist, bla bla bla all need to update yaself what ! so now is depend on ya interest lor...

Cheers!

i agree. if you take up pharmacy, it's much better to work in singapore as eli lilly ( a world class pharmaceutical company ) is based there. in malaysia, the chances are not varied.... if you wanna work in malaysia, i would say biotech is better.

Hmmm.. has anyone actually SEEN jobs for biotech grads in Malaysia? Advertised in newspaper or anything? I actually considering biotech also, but it's such a popular course... and there don't appear to be any biotech vacancies popping up!

Work ah.. Malaysia, I guess. Singapore very stressful place to work, I heard. >_> Malaysia also needs less pharmacies cuz we still dont give sole dispensing rights to pharmacies..

This post has been edited by misao: Mar 2 2006, 02:02 PM

Have you heard of biopolis?

Yeah, but doesn't change the fact that life in S'pore is stressful. >_> Plus Singaporean youths themselves are taking advantage of the opportunity and many of THEM are taking biotech/biomedical science..

coz its still new course and strongly supported by the govemnent now...

ever heard of singaporiens are kia su?

And you think it is not stressful here?

most countries are still short of pharmacists. hence there'll definately be a job availability. but if u were to graduate here, you'll have to do the compulsory government service, and during that time you're paid very very little. later of course you could also choose to work in community pharmacies such as guardian or even open you own shop. there're also pharmacists which work as researchers.

it depends on ur own interest....
pharmacy in more on medical side....
good bio, chem are needed to study this course....
whereas SE, u need an interest on programming...

for a good job opportunity,
i recommend u to take pharmacy....
a great amount of pharmacists are needed in the future
not just in m'sia... and also other countries...

Omg they're both totally different thing.
How to compareleh..

I think.....

If you want an easy job, easy life, not very high pay.... unless you do business...go for pharmicist.

If you want a stressed up job and an always changing environment and exciting at the same time.... go for software programming. Nothing beats the hapiness of a completing a successful project.

Untill a month later when bugs start showing up at the worst possible times

I'm studying Software Engineering now, there's not as much to study but there is alot more to learn and understand. It can be very stressful and some concepts are just hard to grasp at the first go but in the end i think its worth it. As LokGP says, nothing beats the feeling of completing a successful project. That sense of accomplishment is something i don't think you'll see in the pharmaceutical line (unless if you do research and come up with a breakthrough).

But if we're talking about career prospects, IMO pharmacy would be easier. There should be more job availability and less stress. Though i doubt your pay can get as high as a well known software engineer.

In the end, which career path you choose doesn't really matter. As long as you have the interest and the drive to be the best you will excel no matter what you do. The reason many people can't find jobs or have a low income is because they lack the drive or interest.

it depends on you very much.. because after all you need to know what do you really like to do for the next 40 years

Take SE if you enjoy a challenging lifestyle if compare with pharmacy.

in conclusion.... if you wan a peaceful life.... or a good life.... marry a rich mah.... ^^ lolz... jk

Uhm, firstly, about moving to Singapore to work in the biotech industry, I have the following doubts:
1) From what I've heard from friends there, it IS more stressful than Malaysia. Not only working, but also studying. You need to be able to take very high stress to keep a job there.

2) Competition from all the kiasu S'pore grads who also took biotech. Not only is their NUS probably better than any university offering biotech in Malaysia, but (I might be wrong here) preference is probably given to them as well.

Ummm.. can anyone explain why there are more jobs for pharmacists than programmers? I actually would've thought the opposite, since for each pharmacy chain you need only 1 pharmacists and not all shops are effective... and there are far less pharmaceutical companies than IT-based companies. I would've thought SE had a wider variety of jobs available, from end-user companies to companies who actually churn out software. Of course, we do need to consider the fact that the IT industry is pretty much saturated... but from what I've heard the current generation is flocking towards medicine/pharmacy/biotech so it might be equally saturated by the time I grad?

Arghghghhh I don't know.. >_>

I don't see these two are related to each other but I know that pharmacy is definitely better than software engineering. You get to open your own pharmacy shop if u take pharmacy though.

i would recommend u to take pharmacy courses.. because software engineering is very hard to master/learn it and also finding job in malaysia although i'm learning some VB and C++ to prepare for my courses so that i won't miss out any basic language..

I don't know anything about software engineering. But pharmacy i'm kindda sure there's great job availability. It's frequently mentioned in pharmacy talks and there're stats shown too.

For me whatever decision you made, think about business opportunities bcoz nowadays to find good job is hard thing, otherwise if you are really good enough.

*1/10 of your income is made from business*

hehe.. i'm a 3rd yrs pharmacy student... so maybe i can answer some of your questions related to pharmacy.. but i am studying in uk.. so the stuff, syllabus or my examples will be different from other places..

1. basically over the first 3 years, you'll do lots on pharmacology, formulation science, drug design and professional and social pharmacy incorporating other smaller modules like immunology, analytical measurement etc. so, a lot on biology, chemistry and lab works. but i think its differ alot in malaysia. i heard they do on physiology and anatomy a lot.

2. in malaysia, i agree with you that malaysian pharmacists dont really hv the dispensing and prescribing right. i dont really see the reputation of pharmacist in malaysia. doctor will do most of the things. what job you will get? of course you'll work as a pharmacist. isnt that you will have to work with goverment for 4 years. so i guess its not that hard to get a job after graduation right? in uk, you'll have to the choose either you will work as a community, hospital or industrial pharmacist.

3. although i havent graduate, but i do have some work placement. i found out its really interesting and satisfying work. i found out that a lot of pharmacists really dedicated to their work and raising the profiles and professionalism of pharmacy. and not to mention that the pay is damm good in here..

so thats all i can tell you about pharmacy. i dont really know about software engineering but i would think that pharmacy is kinda more to the society health, own body understanding while software engineering is more to the technology. just my point of view though... however, pharmacy have narrow work choice. in contrast if u do software engineering, maybe u can work other than software engineering like computering or other associated with engineering.

maybe u shud research more what is your main interest.. what you want to go for? how to want to contribute to the society, via health or technology? or just which earns more. just my point of views though... all the best..

This post has been edited by youngkies: Mar 5 2006, 04:26 AM

IT industry is challenging la. for example, if you are to work for motorola or intel you sure will not regret!!!

ya, lecturing is great. you can express your love and passion for your professionalism, hehe. career and money wise, you shd go further to Phd. then most likely you will end up as a dean or in some forms of advisory capacity.

great idea la !!!! g luck to you.

Software Engineering is bad? What an insult yet again. I cannot understand how is it possible to compare between SENG and Pharmacy. Call me ignorant/selfish, but I truly believe they are so different (and just as good a career option) that a comparison does justification for neither. Something along the lines of Biomedical vs Pharmacy vs Pharmacology or Computer Science vs Computer Engineering vs Software Engineering is what I believe a true comparison worth talking about.

Software Engineering, in short, is concerned with the processes, method and tools for the development of high-quality software systems. Target systems may range from simple software applications to mission critical real-time systems.
While the profession has experienced a slight dent during the IT slowdown, it is expected to be one of the fastest growing area of IT as we become increasingly reliant on advanced software solutions. Financial markets and medicine are two of the biggest growing fields where software solutions are concerned. There are many areas of employability, from being analysts, database administrators through to consultancy (with lots of experience and stress). Software Engineers typically work in teams, designing and building efficient, reliable and robust systems. Those who progress beyond this end up doing a lot of management work as management skills already form a significant proportion of the degree. This is where all the money is, if 1) you love money and 2) you are good.

Yup, you've got it right. It sounds like marketing talk, but I'm giving you an idea what this course will lead you to.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Mar 6 2006, 02:50 PM

Chris, in my first post, I already stated that I know the two options are very far apart, in every way. However, they are my two aspirations, and hence I have to choose between them.

Anyone who has had trouble finding jobs for either profession wanna share your experiences?

hey pharmacy is stressful too, all right? and the pay is actually not that bad.. especially if you're a community pharmacist or if you're working for a drug company like eli lilly.

Both are quite different.

But for sure in few years time, both fields will be very saturated especially IT, for there are many, and many more are graduating, while biotech, food science, or pharmacy students are getting more popular too, because of the better prospect notion.

IT courses available in every college and uni, but pharmacy courses only available in certain colleges and unis.

And all fields required constant self-improving, because of all the latest techologies, be it medical, IT, engineering or business.

However, it boils down to what you like most and whether you can find your niche when you graduate.

A side note, but if you are qualified in medicine or medicine-related, do that, if not doctors, can be epidural specialist, anaesthetists and so on.

Just some opinions and hope they help.

I might want to take up project management course which is part of software engineering

May I ask, what program are you doing currently? I suppose you're an INTI student having seen your profile (No, I'm not stalking you!).

I'm doing Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Well I was in INTI last year but I transferred to University of Birmingham for my second year. I would say INTI is a good college for Computer studies.

Ummm just a side question here to you INTI guys, does INTI subang have Software Engineering? Their website seemed to say no, but I heard they do..

That's why I'm curious about it too.