• Question: im taking history, spanish and music and media studies for gcse. is it possible to be a cscientist?

    Asked by dows535eaux28 to Steve, SamG, sallyk, katiebarnes, JoB, Caroline, aureliabrzezowska on 7 Feb 2026.
    • Photo: Aurelia Brzezowska

      Aurelia Brzezowska answered on 7 Feb 2026:

      Your GCSEs don’t define you. Most students careers start after A-levels/T-level/O-levels or similar when they start University or apprenticeships. Many change routes completely. Your combination of GCSEs is interesting and the skills you learn are transferable.

      Ability to pick up languages can transfer into coding.
      Media Studies allows you to learn media literacy.
      History allows you to learn analysis and dive into history of computing.

      You can become a computer scientist any time you want, all it takes it drive and continuous learning! For my GCSEs I took German, History, Product Design and Computer Science.

    • Photo: Steve Bowes-Phipps

      Steve Bowes-Phipps answered on 9 Feb 2026:

      Of course! Getting into STEM-related fields for a career, just requires you to be curious and eager to learn.

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 9 Feb 2026:

      Yes, your GCSEs/A Levels are just a subjects you have decided to do exams in. They make it easier to get into university/college when you have certain subjects but they are not always required.
      All you really need is an aptitude for computer science and a willingness to learn new things.
      Your language and music skills will probably give you an edge over other computer scientists, as you are already improving your literacy skills for non-standard text (I know reading music for me takes alot of effort).

    • Photo: Jo Brodie

      Jo Brodie answered on 10 Feb 2026:

      Of course 🙂 Here at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) we have a Centre for Digital Music which is full of musicians and other creative people who work in computer science, I’ve just been working on a project with some of them (for young children) on Music and AI – https://cs4fn.blog/bitof6/

      Historians have been using computer software to knit together lots of photographs taken at different angles to create a 3D image of something (‘photogrammetry’), so that other people can view and analyse delicate items without handling them.

      QMUL has also just launched (as of January 2026) a new Masters level degree in Artificial Intelligence for students who already have a degree but one that’s not in computer science, or even any science. It’s a ‘conversion course’ which will produce people who are qualified in AI skills and whatever their current qualification(s) is/are in https://www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/coursefinder/courses/artificial-intelligence-conversion-msc/

      While looking for that link I discovered that we have another Masters level course starting this September in Data Science & AI, again for people without a background in computing https://www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/coursefinder/courses/data-science-and-artificial-intelligence-conversion-programme-msc/

      It’s also not essential to go to university to work as a computer scientist, you might learn on the job perhaps through an apprenticeship scheme, or just do some courses online (many are free).

Comments

  • Photo: Abby M

    Abby M commented on :

    A lot of sixth form colleges will let you take A-Level computer science (CS) without the GCSE so I would really encourage you to do that! But, most universities don’t even require you to have studied CS A-Level to do a CS degree 🙂

    (p.s. you could be like me and not do any computer science qualifications and still end up in the field, but if you know its something you want to do its easier to take the subject as early as possible so you can learn the things you want to now!)