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Consider applying for grad school

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Re: Consider applying for grad school

#51

Post by monocasa »

arenaninja wrote: post #39
ransom1538 wrote: post #32

I know this isn't popular. But I will say it - since I know it goes unspoken in the industry. When I see a CS MS degree I assume the person is terrible. I am always proved correct. I can count on one hand resumes of people that gets a CS BS degree THEN a MS degree in CS [15 years of looking at resumes]. In the US, if you get a BS in CS you usually take off doing cool stuff. CS Master degrees are full of people not ma…

This is discouraging. As someone with a BS in something other than CS I don't feel that I get the benefit of the doubt during interviews. My CS fundamentals are weak because I never learned them and they very rarely come up in building things and I have been thinking of going back for a CS Masters

Pick up Discrete Mathematics by Knuth, Foundations of Mathematics by Sibley, Modern Operating Systems by Tanenbaum, and Computer Organization and Design by Patterson and Hennessy.

You internalize those, combined with your experience, and you'll be better off than a lot of CS grads.

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#52

Post by Nimitz14 »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #9
3minus1 wrote: post #5

I was expecting reasons why now is a better climate to apply then in previous years. That would be interesting, but instead it's a list of generic reasons to apply for a phd. Yes, I know that phd's can open doors.

I read the whole article, including the "why not to get a PhD part." I still thought it was way too kind to the "get a PhD" side of the equation. PhDs represent a tremendous opportunity cost, and I have not seen good evidence that they causally improve outcomes in the vast majority of cases.

This may shock you, but some people prefer doing research to working a normal job and earning lots of money. Those are the types of people that should and will do PhDs (there are unfortunately a lot who think like you and still try and do a PhD for god knows what reason).

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#53

Post by doughj3 »

ransom1538 wrote: post #32

I know this isn't popular. But I will say it - since I know it goes unspoken in the industry. When I see a CS MS degree I assume the person is terrible. I am always proved correct. I can count on one hand resumes of people that gets a CS BS degree THEN a MS degree in CS [15 years of looking at resumes]. In the US, if you get a BS in CS you usually take off doing cool stuff. CS Master degrees are full of people not ma…

You make it sound like this is some elephant in the room across the industry. I'm curious if others here have found the same conclusions you have.

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#54

Post by monocasa »

doughj3 wrote: post #53
ransom1538 wrote: post #32

I know this isn't popular. But I will say it - since I know it goes unspoken in the industry. When I see a CS MS degree I assume the person is terrible. I am always proved correct. I can count on one hand resumes of people that gets a CS BS degree THEN a MS degree in CS [15 years of looking at resumes]. In the US, if you get a BS in CS you usually take off doing cool stuff. CS Master degrees are full of people not ma…

You make it sound like this is some elephant in the room across the industry. I'm curious if others here have found the same conclusions you have.

I've seen it among many managers from several companies. After I got involved in the hiring process I saw why. Like unable to fizzbuzz more than half the time.

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#55

Post by vokep »

late2part wrote: post #43
dwaltrip wrote: post #34

One point jumped out at me, which I haven't seen anyone respond to: > We are concerned about untrained amateurs going directly into trying to solve very difficult global problems. They can then cause harm overall, by lowering the average quality of analysis or launching ill-considered projects due to a lack of experience or understanding. A PhD reduces the risk you’ll accidentally do this. This point is operating off…

Quite often, these untrained amateurs create great solutions!

Not really. As an untrained amateur myself hoping to create great solutions. Thing is its the exception, not the rule.

Also with highly complex things (large scale - global problems) often it is possible for an untrained amateur to create a solution that is easy to communicate why it should be good, and it works in the short term. However awhile later, it is found that long term failure occurs

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#56

Post by sebleon »

dwaltrip wrote: post #34

One point jumped out at me, which I haven't seen anyone respond to: > We are concerned about untrained amateurs going directly into trying to solve very difficult global problems. They can then cause harm overall, by lowering the average quality of analysis or launching ill-considered projects due to a lack of experience or understanding. A PhD reduces the risk you’ll accidentally do this. This point is operating off…

It's not an unreasonable opinion, but I doubt a PhD can make up for lack of real-world experience. Likely, the best way to get better at solving global problems is by doing just that for years, preferably alongside others with more experience.

IMO learn to swim in the pool.

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#57

Post by dm8 »

Looks like author is focusing on grad school as in PhD only. PhD highly depends on the field. For example in hardcore sciences, to accelerate career PhD is often helpful. However, in applied fields it depends on industry to industry.

I was doing my masters with focus on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). I was considering PhD but after talking with academic advisor, I realized having PhD will limit my options to either research labs or academia, for which jobs are few and far between. For industry jobs, I felt I didn't need PhD. Yes, you might be few steps below in the ladder but you can quickly catch-up as you climb.

So everyone should seriously consider where they want to end up. If research is something they fancy and their field has ample research opportunities or can be leg up in the industry with PhD then PhD is a great option given the opportunity costs.

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#59

Post by dwaltrip »

sebleon wrote: post #56
dwaltrip wrote: post #34

One point jumped out at me, which I haven't seen anyone respond to: > We are concerned about untrained amateurs going directly into trying to solve very difficult global problems. They can then cause harm overall, by lowering the average quality of analysis or launching ill-considered projects due to a lack of experience or understanding. A PhD reduces the risk you’ll accidentally do this. This point is operating off…

It's not an unreasonable opinion, but I doubt a PhD can make up for lack of real-world experience. Likely, the best way to get better at solving global problems is by doing just that for years, preferably alongside others with more experience. IMO learn to swim in the pool.

I've wondered if working for 10 or so years and then getting a PhD could be a good strategy.

Re: Consider applying for grad school

#60

Post by gravypod »

azhenley wrote: post #26

If anyone wants a PhD by studying how to make software engineers more productive, my website is in my profile.

What do you study and how does a citizen with practical experience in the field help? A lot of things I have read about software engineering isn't really well tested. How does your research stack up? Is that something people on HN could help improve on?
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