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Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

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Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#71

Post by snake42 »

musicale wrote: post #54
musicale wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This looks like a winner to me as well. Personally I find university courses to be motivating, and unlike other programs this doesn't seem to be designed to rip you off or put you in debt. You learn the same good material as on-campus students, and you get an MS out of it from a good engineering school. The credential is meaningful because it requires completion of courses that are difficult but also designed to teac…

The down side is that: it takes time and money, and nobody will give you a raise because you have an MSCS (though maybe it could help with changing jobs). But the actual knowledge and skills are useful if you can put them to use, and you may also find the courses to be satisfying in themselves.

At my workplace, its a hard requirement for advancement to get a MS/PhD. Comes with an automatic raise too.

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#72

Post by alwa »

jsqu99 wrote: post #33
shepherdjerred wrote: post #11

Take a look at the OMSCS. Great degree, very cheap, and you can do it while you work. https://omscs.gatech.edu/ Happy to chat about my experience with the program, feel free to email me: hn@sjer.red

I'm in my 4th week of my first class. I'm 54. I have a CS undergrad from 1996. I too caught the ML bug and...this first class is kicking my butt but I'm LOVING the experience. Quality education, very inexpensive, and I can quit any time. I'm doing it for the love of learning and don't need to do it. It takes $100 to apply. Just go for it and try a class. I will warn you without a tech background this particular progr…

Congratulations on getting back into it! What style of class or course of study did you choose? $100 seems like an accessible price point.

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#73

Post by __loam »

chubot wrote: post #68
ggorlen wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Consider that taking 5-10 graduate courses and writing a master's level thesis or project will generally take all of your free time and a bunch of your savings over the course of two or more years. (I sure hope you're not thinking to take on debt for this!) OMSCS graduate. The program certainly ate up most of my free time for 2.5 years, but on the other hand, the whole degree was about $8k for me and required no th…

Hm what's your evaluation of the program then? What did you learn, and did you learn what you wanted to learn?

I graduated this year. Great program at an incredible price, I think it was less than $7k for me after they reduced the fee. I didn't have a CS undergrad (Other stem) but was working as a software engineer and wanted to bulk up on basic knowledge with the systems track. Learned a lot of what I wanted and got sight on some weak areas. Would highly recommend the program. Hardest part was that it's actually very rigorous if you're going for As.

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#74

Post by ponty_rick »

Unless you're doing it for ease of immigration, I generally don't recommend it - a lot of University assignments use outdated tech and you end up not using most of what you've learned. The concepts are useful of course, but you could also read about them on your own time.

If you're doing it for ease of immigration though, I 100% recommend it, not just to get a work visa, but for a foreigner coming to the USA its a great way to get accustomed to American lifestyle, make friends in a new country and create a network and support system.

edit: spelling

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#75

Post by GMoromisato »

deeptechdreamer wrote: post #15
swatcoder wrote: post #9

Consider that taking 5-10 graduate courses and writing a master's level thesis or project will generally take all of your free time and a bunch of your savings over the course of two or more years. (I sure hope you're not thinking to take on debt for this!) And while you'll absolutely learn some things and find yourself excited about some ideas in those couple years, you will forget almost all of the stuff your learn…

Yes, I want to be a PM with deep technical understanding. What are the other more efficient paths?

One other suggestion: ask SWEs on your team to explain specific issues you're discussing in technical terms. Engineers love to explain things, and as long as you're not interrupting their flow or wasting time in a meeting, I think you could learn a ton of relevant, technical areas.

This is no substitute for broader knowledge on core principles, but they will reinforce each other.

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#76

Post by analogwzrd »

If you have no experience in writing software, physics, or applying higher level math, jumping into a master's program without an engineering background will probably wreck you.

Lots of universities will let you sign up for graduate level classes as a continuing education student or certificate program. Sign up for one and see if you can keep your head above water. Even taking a Python class at a community college would help a lot.

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#77

Post by sumtechguy »

jsqu99 wrote: post #34
godzillabrennus wrote: post #16

Careful about aging out. At your age you have about 10 years before age discrimination will hit you hard at the individual contributor level if you haven’t moved into management. Maybe a dual master program to obtain the MS in computer science and an MBA simultaneously? That way you show deep knowledge of business and the technology.

Serious question...where is this happening? I've been a job-hopper all my life. I'm 54, and i've never felt i was being discriminated against. I keep hearing about agism...is it more in SV? I'm in south carolina

They just dont call back. Two spaces in your sentences? Your first job in the 90s? etc etc. Easy to filter you and you would never know it.

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#79

Post by ljbryf »

jerf wrote: post #63

This is one corner of the educational system I never dug into. I know it's possible, so, I would ask someone who has done it, how exactly does one progress from "no background in engineering" to "a Master's degree in CS"? Having done a Master's degree in CS, but with a Bachelor's in CS before it, the classes I took for my Master's degree would have been mostly impenetrable to someone without a bachelor's degree alrea…

It takes some doing. In my case (in the USA):

* Years of part time math classes. Math classes are sequential, I hadn't taken any college level math as an undergrad. I was working at a university, so I had the luxury of basically free credits, and lunch breaks where I was already on campus.

* A unicorn, no-longer-in-existence post baccalaureate program that covered the highlights of undergrad CS topics in 9 months. It was full time, and the entry bar was pretty low, but I had to take the GRE. Completion granted automatic entry to the MSCS program.

* Postbac is always an option, without a special program you'd just take undergraduate programs until you either earn the entry requirements for the MSCS program, or an actual second bachelor's degree. This can take years, because of course scheduling and sequential classes.

* I went to a state school -- sadly, many of the MSCS classes were 400/500 level, meaning there were some nominal additional assignments for the grad students, but you were otherwise basically just taking advanced undergraduate classes for special topics.

* All told, I spent a few years taking math classes one at a time, three terms full time post bac, and two terms in MSCS before landing a job. I don't see an advantage to finishing the MSCS at that school.

Re: Ask HN: Is a Masters in CS/Engineering worth it for a mid-career PM?

#80

Post by evanmoran »

I’ll try to be a bit more direct than other answers, so apologies if it is too much, but let me say that such a move would make more sense if you want to switch to a developer role. I’d say it is not a good plan for a PM role as honestly PMs don’t need the tech depth to be great and two years isn’t enough to be competitive technically with devs with 4yr degrees and 10+ years experience, etc. Instead consider taking an online data structure coding class to feel how it feels (coursera has good ones) to become technical. If you love it, you can choose to go further in that direction if you want. Hope that helps!
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