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Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

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Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#31

Post by alexcnwy »

Do it if you are so passionate about the topic that you’re teaching yourself anyway but need to set aside a chunk of time to really get the momentum you want. Don’t do it if you’re hoping it will pull you out of a rut (there will be lots of boring courses and admin).

Personally I found doing a MSc in Statistics after 3 years of working to be incredibly valuable. I think part of it was it gave me permission to view myself as an expert (although you don’t really need a MSc to do that as you can tell by switching on the news lol)

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#33

Post by sethryclaus »

sethryclaus wrote: post #30

Surely "exponential personal growth" would be an artifact of the method of measurement? Your first task could be to hack that method to get an arbitrary conclusion of your choosing. I am totally serious. Bigly lesson, that one :) Remember how, as a kid, doing the wrong thing was thrilling? For me, that's what enjoying learning is like and it does often start from a willingness to be wrong or fail (ever ridden a bike…

If you really wanted to burn your eyebrows off, you could also use a no-serialization tool like Capnproto and implement it in Rust using ArrayBuffers (fixed in Chrome) to share state between background workers and the main thread.

I think I read something about Rust having Capnproto and Emscripten compilation to web assembly these days.

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#34

Post by xs83 »

Personally I would say no. For me a CS degree is too general as post graduate study, You don't need to prove that you are capable of coding as (I assume) you have a decent online portfolio of your work / what you are capable of. You already have an engineering degree - If you are set on doing a Masters I would do it in something you are interested in, that is more specialised, has longevity and is related to your ideal future job (e.g. Data Science, Big Data, Distributed / HPC).

I have recently taken on a Computer Science graduate who is doing a Masters in Data Science because we needed a good "All Rounder" with a focus on Data Science and Engineering.

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#35

Post by wmil »

throwawaymath wrote: post #28
xfitm3 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you suggest to someone who doesn’t have a BS? Or a HS diploma?

How are you going to be admitted to a graduate program without an undergraduate degree? The cases I'm aware of where that's happened are so rare and unique they may as well have never happened. Even in those instances, I don't think any of them happened in the last decade or two. If anything it's probably more difficult than ever to e.g. impress the right faculty member and thus bypass graduate admissions these days…

An MS program won't take someone like that, but MBA programs quite commonly take in people without undergrad degrees who have an impressive enough resume.

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#36

Post by CyberFonic »

Been there, done that (well actually a PhD after 20+ years experience).

It depends on your motivation, is it to learn a lot about something you are interested in or is it to earn more money?

To clarify, masters degrees are about advanced learning about a specialised topic. Typically there is a capstone project which requires some research and a thesis. But for extensive research into a topic you pursue a PhD. The criteria being that you make a contribution to the existing body of knowledge. Whilst with a masters you learn the body of knowledge as it stands at that time of your studies.

If you expect to earn more, then you would first need to research the jobs in your area of interest and see if any require a masters degree. Some companies prefer industry experience over academic credentials and others are the other way around. It wouldn't hurt to apply for some jobs in your area of interest and see what the feedback is.

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#37

Post by CyberFonic »

xemdetia wrote: post #15

I'm someone who went back to school and what I suggest is that you take advantage of the knowledge you have learned. I would recommend looking at programs and see which universities have courses/expertise in things you actually want to accelerate your own learning. Going to a B university to take courses/be around students that are learning from an expert in a subfield is just worth it more than going to an A univers…

With considerable real-world-experience there are opportunities to be an adjunct lecturer in your area of expertise whilst studying in a new area. In my experience you learn so much more about what you thought you already knew well by teaching it.

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#38

Post by steveklabnik »

sethryclaus wrote: post #33
sethryclaus wrote: post #30

Surely "exponential personal growth" would be an artifact of the method of measurement? Your first task could be to hack that method to get an arbitrary conclusion of your choosing. I am totally serious. Bigly lesson, that one :) Remember how, as a kid, doing the wrong thing was thrilling? For me, that's what enjoying learning is like and it does often start from a willingness to be wrong or fail (ever ridden a bike…

If you really wanted to burn your eyebrows off, you could also use a no-serialization tool like Capnproto and implement it in Rust using ArrayBuffers (fixed in Chrome) to share state between background workers and the main thread. I think I read something about Rust having Capnproto and Emscripten compilation to web assembly these days.

Rust does have both of those things, though Emscripten has fallen out of favor. There's a native LLVM target these days.

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#39

Post by Spooky23 »

IMO, it's a waste of time unless:

- You have a bunch of money sitting around and want a structured environment to pursue your knowledge goals.

- Your employer will reimburse expenses and is supportive you pursuing this for a few years.

My wife was able to do the second option in her field and enjoyed the experience immensely -- she found school much more rewarding after having the experience of working and the wisdom of not being 18-22. :) But having a 75% reimbursement is what made it possible, there was no ROI to justify a huge financial outlay.

Re: Ask HN: Makes sense to do Masters in Computer Science after 13 years experience?

#40

Post by samblr »

With the wealth of courses available these days on internet. I highly recommend taking them.

And for exponential growth == Start medium level side project and dedicate yourself to grow number of users for it.

There will be tonnes to learn from a regular job.

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