I guess the funding issue is where I'm worried. How likely/available is funding in CompSci?

I've decided to carry on and finish off my Master's in full, which will happen mid-2017. I'm going to be working in Barcelona for a tech company whilst doing the course at distance.

If I have a master's conversion in Computer Science from Birkbeck and a master's in Computational Intelligence with Mobile Robotics from De Montford (both with distinctions), would it still be possible to get into somewhere such as Manchester or UCL or Liverpool to do a PhD in CompSci at such places or would the reputations of the unis I went to hold me back? I only did the courses at those universities because it was the only way I could afford to work and study at the same time.

Well, I've heard that CS is pretty competitive when it comes to funding.

No I have a degree in Computer Science, but it is a Master's conversion course (distinction). I am also studying a further masters degree with A.I. related modules. I plan to take this to at least postgrad diploma level. However, having done a masters already I have a dissertation under my belt. I'd rather not do another one, but instead get onto a P.h.D thesis. I wonder how that will be perceived and especially in the context of getting funding. (And I'm not even sure where my current position is regardless of this - is funding realistic in this subject area with these sorts of grades? I know for a fact it wouldn't be in the humanities, for example).

Hello all.

This is my first post here - and I suppose this thread will be the last if nothing goes my way - but I'm sort of enquiring about the prospects of getting PhD funding for Computer Science.

My educational background is a little odd. I did a History degree first at Birmingham university - an unremarkable 2:1 - I lost interest in the subject at an academic level as it was very different to the sort of history I enjoy studying - and did very little work. I then worked as a bookkeeper for a couple of years until I could afford to study at Birkbeck university on a part-time evening basis (the only way I could do this!) for 2 years. I did get a distinction from this and an average grade of 74. But this was strongly helped by a dissertation (on pushdown automata of all things) where I got a grade of 87 overall. Of my 7 modules 3 were distinctions (not including the dissertation), although one was a 69 (the Maths for CompSci module). This is probably my chief worry - I never got below 61, but I did find myself with a couple of modules in the low 60s - primarily those where the marking scheme was based around handwritten code - I'm not exactly good at first run details - rather than maths per se, but perhaps that is an excuse. I am slightly worried if this will make it hard to get funding. During this I swapped the bookkeeping job, and got a job as a tester which 18 months ago after a year of semi-technical work like load testing became a software development job.

After that I took a year off academic study. My favourite module in the first degree was Information Retrieval so I have gone back and started a masters in Computation Intelligence at De Montford - as this is entirely online and teaches the topics I am interested in, including neural networks, fuzzy logic and evolutionary algorithms.

So my two questions are - do I stand any chance of funding? The universities I went to are not great - but are largely a consequence of my having to study while working. Are my grades up to scratch? I should hope to get distinctions in my current study. Can I quit my current masters at the postgrad diploma level - because I already have a dissertation - and get cracking with a PhD within two years, or will this be looked down upon?