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Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#131

Post by technofire »

rosstex wrote: post #92
vikascoder wrote: post #34

Current working professional and an OMSCS student here. It highly depends on the context. Biggest pros are: 1. This is perhaps the cheapest Computer Science masters in the United States from a premier school. The degree is exactly the same as offered to the residential program and the credits acquired are all legit and transferable to other universities. I had friends who transferred from OMSCS to a regular school an…

>"This is perhaps the cheapest Computer Science masters in the United States from a premier school." Actually, there are funded ones! Princeton and Cornell both have 2 year thesis-based M.S.E CS programs which are fully funded + stipend. I'm starting Princeton's in the fall. These are small programs though, I believe there's 12 of us incoming.

The funding implies a requirement that you will work on research, which for most people would preclude working a full-time software engineering job. Assuming a full-time job would bring in more income than the tuition plus stipend, when we take opportunity cost into account, pursuing the OMSCS while working full time still is financially less expensive.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#132

Post by bulldog13 »

lemonghost wrote: post #8

I'm halfway through the OMSCS in the machine learning specialization. It has been a great experience so far and definitely worth it for me. A couple of things to consider: As you mentioned, it is more focused on Computer Science than Software Engineering/Development. There are a couple of Software Engineering/Architecture/Testing courses but I haven't taken them so I can't comment on how relevant I think they are to…

I am starting the machine learning masters this month...what order would you recommend taking the machine learning classes?

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#134

Post by jlamberts »

bulldog13 wrote: post #132
lemonghost wrote: post #8

I'm halfway through the OMSCS in the machine learning specialization. It has been a great experience so far and definitely worth it for me. A couple of things to consider: As you mentioned, it is more focused on Computer Science than Software Engineering/Development. There are a couple of Software Engineering/Architecture/Testing courses but I haven't taken them so I can't comment on how relevant I think they are to…

I am starting the machine learning masters this month...what order would you recommend taking the machine learning classes?

ML flows nicely into RL, although I've heard ML4T is a gentler intro if you have no experience in machine learning at all (I haven't taken it yet)

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#135

Post by no_flags »

closed wrote: post #117
rosstex wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"This is perhaps the cheapest Computer Science masters in the United States from a premier school." Actually, there are funded ones! Princeton and Cornell both have 2 year thesis-based M.S.E CS programs which are fully funded + stipend. I'm starting Princeton's in the fall. These are small programs though, I believe there's 12 of us incoming.

For context, I'm pretty sure all of Princeton's grad students are funded (including masters of public administration). Still cool, just wanted to put it out there in case anyone was wondering what their CS dept is up to.

That's very cool if true. Usually it's very difficult to get funding as a Master's student because prof's want the full PhD commitment.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#136

Post by isbellHFh »

jboggan wrote: post #124
throwawayaug15 wrote: post #47

Logging in as a throwaway. The program only costs $5k but it was one of the most expensive things I've done in my life. Got a job at Google directly because of this program (a few classes like CCA helped a lot with interviews). I'm aware of at least a couple dozen of us from OMS here. The program cost me dearly. It cost me my relationship with the SO and it cost me my health (staying up late nights, lots of coffee).…

As a Yellow Jacket myself I am somewhat amused that they managed to translate the stress and fatigue of the Georgia Tech experience into the online course. In a perverse way I think that means the program is as valuable as it purports to be.

We worked very hard to make that happen.

For my third course, I may create online drown proofing.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#137

Post by smartician »

uiwldiowd wrote: post #102
pc86 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly this is what gives me the most pause. I have a BA in Political Science from a liberal arts school nobody's ever heard of. Even if I could get in (which is doubtful given my academic transcript and how competitive it is), I don't think my decade of programming experience has given me nearly the theoretical foundation I'd need to do well. And I'm not going to invest the time and effort required just to graduat…

I'm kind of in a similar position. I have a PhD in a field kind of far away from CS (although that's debatable) and am thinking of transitioning more into CS. The problem is that a second bachelors, while something I'm willing to do, seems kind of problematic for various reasons. Some of the curriculum in a typical CS bachelors seems like something I could benefit from tremendously, but some of it is very remedial. I…

Oregon State has an online CS post-bacc program, but it's not cheap: http://eecs.oregonstate.edu/online-cs-students

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#138

Post by 0xffff2 »

learc83 wrote: post #38

If you haven't been working as a software developer long and you don't have a background in CS, it's going to be difficult. I'm about halfway through and many of the classes assume that you have the equivalent of an undergrad CS degree. It's not intended to replace an undergrad degree. That doesn't mean you can't do it, but your going to spend a lot of time catching up. From what I've seen, the students without a CS…

>I'm about halfway through and many of the classes assume that you have the equivalent of an undergrad CS degree. It's not intended to replace an undergrad degree.

I'm curious what you expect. I will soon have a BS in computer science. I would be awfully disappointed if I went on to get an MS in comp. sci. that didn't teach me anything new.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#139

Post by [deleted] »

orsenthil wrote: post #44

I have been doing this for 2 years now. I enjoy this program. There are many students who are taking Gatech OMSCS and also taken MOOCs from Coursera, Udacity, and EDX. The defining characteristic of good students taking this course is, they are all self-learners, independent, and they want to learn Computer Science without giving up on the current full-time job. I have been keeping notes for the all the subjects that…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#140

Post by vikascoder »

daok wrote: post #125

I have a question about the requirement to enter the program. It says is require to have 3 people to write a recommendation letters. I have finish my bachelor +10 years ago and I am not touch with any professors. Does providing managers are enough? On the website they put emphasis of not adding friends which I can understand, but I am curious about the serious about getting these letters.

I was on the same boat. My references were my previous three managers.Two of them were PhDs leading R&D teams and one was a very senior Director. So it depends on the quality of your recommendors. Anyway the recommendations are just one part of the application package. Since it is an online MS, there is an understanding that the applicant profile would lean more towards working professionals and I am sure they factor that in.
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