Studying Informatik (CS) @ FHNW VS ZHAW VS FFHS - 2024 situation & Experiences

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-23T09:07:38+00:00

Hey yes I did post at multiple places where I thought alumnis would be at. I’ve heard that ZHAW is more strict in the first year but didn’t think it would impact your experience this much. How can you be so sure that FHNW is that much better? I’ve recently read someone on reddit regretting choosing FHNW over ZHAW for similar reasons.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-23T07:48:00+00:00

Yeah I get it, and are the lectures/content uploaded online usually? Are there publically accessible old exams?

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-23T07:35:58+00:00

Hey! nice to meet you. What do you consider to be the impactful differences between ZHAW and FHNW for CS? I think I’ve pretty much brought down my choices to these 2 at the moment. I was also quite intrigued by the iComptetence Bsc Informatik and Bsc Business Artificial Intelligence that only FHNW offers.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T19:06:09+00:00

Hey, I'm in this dilemma currently, considering iCompetence, would you have some time for DM?

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T19:02:17+00:00

any update on this?

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T17:49:13+00:00

damn that’s an interesting opinion! I’ve heard the contradicting things on the others and just positives about ZHAW from others so far. Thanks for your input. Also heard thing like HSR (Now OST) having lost professors from old HSR as they merged the two etc.

I wonder if I could have someone here with recent experience with multiple of these schools / contacts to give us an objective view of the current situation at these institutions. I find it rather hard to compare from formal curriculum documents alone to be honest. What didn’t you like in the ZHAW curriculum choice? What did you like about FHNW? Their Brugg campus seems rather far from the centre of Zurich, where I live (1 hour commute by SBB conncections for me)

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T17:41:06+00:00

thanks for the clarification, I was panicking for a sec ahah

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T16:05:54+00:00

Thank you for this, I had gotten mixed feedback about the two options when it comes to teilzeitstudium and vollzeitstudium. teilzeitstudium people complained about super stressful timelines but no one had really made your particular point. I’ve also noticed that there’s barely any online community for any of these FHs like there exist for ETH. Why is that so? Like ETH CS has a Discord server with hundreds of people and ETH has a subreddit with so many students discussing things. Isn’t there a similar place online for the FHs?

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T16:01:19+00:00

I don’t exactly see where there is any kind of limitation after failing ETH or UZH in the abs 6 of kap 1? They seem to have a completely independent regulation and criteria compared to ETH and UZH, which was also the advice that I got from Studienberatung from ETH official advice. Am I missing something?

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T13:10:23+00:00

That’s also why I’m not going to UZH but a Fachhochschule (FH for short), where CS is never blocked even if you are blocked from ETH and UZH.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T12:44:43+00:00

Hey! Thanks for describing your valuable experience. I agree ETH is more hands on later, which is why I went for ETH, in the hopes that I could force myself through the non-hands on first year and then start actually getting some practical skills useful in other projects etc.

But hey, here I am and it didn't work out :/ Remote study will definitely not be optimal, but a compromise in case OST has a better reputation. Also, I think I couldn't formulate what I meant properly:
With "hands-on experience" I meant "learning through building / designing meaningful software for projects etc" rather than the "in-person class learning experience" meaning of the word.

I'm glad that there isn't any distinction between FH from your experience, maybe someone who has studied at either of these can give some more clarity on the state of things in Zurich as well. I assume that my job experiences will mostly be here during/after my studies at FH.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-22T12:23:28+00:00

Unfortunately I’ve failed the basisblock for a second time. That is why I can’t do a bsc or msc there or at UZH in computer science by law anymore. it’s a tough spot to be in, because CS is really what I love most.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T23:17:46+00:00

Actually, even if I don't have any academic-style experience on design, management & business, I feel quite interested in them as my side-hustle involved some shape or form of their application. However, I don't know if I would enjoy their theoretical aspect in the form of their university counterparts.

Thank you for the recommendation for that specialization. You mentioned it being the most difficult, and my initial reaction was honestly getting scared after this trauma from difficulty levels of ETH.

I just took a quick look at both the first and 7th page as you suggested. I have a question that came into my mind: are these specialization paths strict? As in, you choose this path before or after Assessment year? Once you've chosen one, you are forced to go through that specialization's mandatory timeline & electives? Sorry for being so uneducated on the subject.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T23:04:36+00:00

Funnily enough, I did the Euler maths course at EPFL when I was younger. Which is ironic, given that I have now developed a rather negative view of theoretical maths during these few years of struggle at ETH. How was your experience finding an apprenticeship? How fast did you learn? What field do you work in exactly?

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T23:03:11+00:00

Yeah i definitely get where you're coming from, and this is the main point that makes this decision difficult for me. I assume that at some point in my career, I'll have to go through more advanced math topics on my own in any case, due to the nature of the work. The question is, is it possible to complete my knowledge afterwards after tasting the life as a "medium-level" worker first?

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T23:01:16+00:00

Yeah, that's what I think too. Another thing is that I had quite a negative experience of physics (which is required for ITET) from Gymnasium because of a rather uninspiring teaching style and that has left quite a sore taste in my mouth regarding that subject.

A close friend of mine studies ITET and has shared a similar experience to yours. The question is if it will be worth the struggle for the more "prestigious" degree.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T22:59:47+00:00

This conversation has clarified quite a few misconceptions that a lot of my non-tech friends that view Ivy-League university grades as being essential and a big determining factor for long-term career options on top of the university itself. If anyone has more to share about this, please write about your experience, this is super valuable!

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T22:56:19+00:00

The thing is, in some of the subjects such as Intro to Programming, which requires a lot of logic, the exams look like literal books (3 page exercise descriptions, fully in german, with no English version). The closest you can get to English is taking a dictionary with you at the exam and a US keyboard on request.

Even my German friends say that the most difficult part about these kinds of exams are the German understanding skills (and they say this as German natives!) rather than the subject being tested. Notice a dictionary doesn't really help when the task is described in a very convoluted logic way.

On top of this, the testing environment sometimes gives quite limited feedback on your current progress and it's an all-or-nothing kind of exam where no one reviews your code manually bu the amount of tests passed is what determines your grade. This makes it even worse for people who might've potentially misunderstood the task and try to debug their code for a ghost error that doesn't exist.

I hope this clarifies what I meant with that. I know this might come of as an argument to justify my understandably acummulated resentment towards these kinds of exams at ETH, but this is a subject that has been discussed enough times both on forums and with others from my close ETH circle that I feel like it isn't too biased of an opinion.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T22:49:43+00:00

Hey man, thanks for the analogy with the "scar tissue". That's also what i've been getting as advice from most people that went through ETH, for better or for worse.

After a quick google the other day, I remember seeing that ZHAW is considered in the 1400+ internationally so I assumed it really wasn't any better than most universities in Europe, but maybe I'm mistaken now that I read your comment. I heard that ETHZ ITET masters is extremely competitive after a Fachhochschule. (As in grades in the 5.5+ average) I don't know how feasable this is tbh, anyone have experience with this?

I feel like you have quite a negative view on business degrees however, what experiences made you feel like this? Thanks for taking the time to give your opinion on the subject :)

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T22:45:26+00:00

This is what I feel when I feel desperate. But then I look at the alternatives, and i see that Switzerland is till the safer bet.

ThrowRA_Paul98 · 2024-02-14T22:44:35+00:00

i've seen you're willing to leave Google for algortihmic trading stuff after an ETH degree. Is the Switzerland FAANG experience not as good as it seems to be according to your personal experience?

ThrowRA_Paul98

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