You... get the Google Certificate, train yourself with online resources, do the AWS/Azure certificates, whatever field you want in tech, and just get the entry job. You do know the tech field lacks enough people that even Google wants you to hurry up with their 6 month cert program vs. 4 years just to fill the IT pipelines? And, tech has always been about Skills, not Diplomas. Anyone with the Skills can get the jobs, but those with the Diplomas might not be able to or keep their jobs without solid Skills. (and not even talking elite geek hacker/maker level). ... Now, if you do go UBC, then, you'd go to all the school presentations by tech companies, do the summer internships with big tech companies, really focus on Presentable Projects you can show at interviews, really know your coding well, and that's the usual path to success. Meaning, do what all the other successful IT grads do and you'll be successful, too. .... That said, with online free training democratizing everything in IT, I could sit at home with a Google Certificates and finish in 6 months and likely get a foot in the door without much trouble at the basic level. And if you really want software programming, then it's simply a matter of how long does it take for you to learn how to program well with the systems used for the type of programming you want to do. Eg. Programming business apps that process Purchase Orders is totally different from Programming Games is totally different from Programming Mobile Apps. Toolsets, concepts used, etc differ in focus and use. If you do know exactly what you want, it's a whole lot easier to tell you what you need to start off with.