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Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

alexanderell.is

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Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#91

Post by wiz21c »

bennysomething wrote: post #82
wiz21c wrote: post #59

I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly…

This sounds like me a bit. I'm 40. I've worked as a programmer for 15 years, but I've always known my lack of maths is holding me back abd adds to my imposter syndrome. I've decided the new programming language I'm learning is, well maths. I'm just working through khan academy. I'll give myself this year's free(ish) time. I've got a family and a job, but I need to feel some sense of progression. I ll see what happens…

I like maths but I'm a CompSci first. Going to full-math mode is not easy after years without practicing. For example, the first 6 months, I spent a lot of time bringing back memories of basic stuff. In my case : probability calculus (the very basic stuff, expecations, conditional probabilities, etc.), Bayes theorem, least square derivations, Lagrangian, linear algebra, simplex method. Be sure to reach a teacher at some point because these "simple" things are actually quite fundamental and thus sometimes hard to grab.

After that I can understand more complex stuff: GAN's, GLM's, SVM's, PCA, you name it... Things that were totally alien to me 1.5 years ago.

But well, just do it, in any case you'll be better! And proud of yourself!

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#92

Post by wiz21c »

monkeycantype wrote: post #65
andy_ppp wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that cutting out sugar and eating more fat (especially EPA+DHA) has made my brain feel a lot sharper. Also strictness with bedtimes and getting natural light and exercise in the early morning get's ever more important with age. However, I agree ageing and family are definitely terrible for you :-)

I’ve found the exact opposite, age has given me greater focus, at 50 I’ve been able to study while working and raising four kids, I was not capable of the same in my 20s

How was memorizing going ? For me it's real bad. Things just don't stick in my mind (I've never experienced that before).

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#93

Post by ybalkind »

wiz21c wrote: post #59

I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly…

When did you start noticing this? I'm 39 and dont feel this at all. I have less motivation and energy for lots of things. But that stems from a jadedness and pickiness. It's different to what you describe. I feel my mental faculties are as strong as ever, and my gut feel is that they're not declining anytime soon.

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#94

Post by wiz21c »

ubercore wrote: post #83
wiz21c wrote: post #59

I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly…

> slowed down by a factor of at least 2 How do you even quantify that?

By watching student's 25 years younger passing exams without actually studying them (if I'd do that, I'd bascally failed; I've tested that approach :-))

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#95

Post by lbriner »

hankman86 wrote: post #77

Assuming that you could have landed the job at Google without studying part-time (could you?), I’m a bit baffled by your experience. Unless your degree really propels you in your career (read: your employer values academic degrees over experience), couldn’t you have learned those skills without putting up with the cost and timely investment of formally enrolling for a master’s degree? I’d even go as far as to say: in…

That's my question too. I expect that the larger companies can afford to require qualifications for entry or promotion but for most of us, there is an insane demand for developers and I can choose to learn more about things that I find difficult.

I thought about a master (my UG degree was electrical engineering) but I was wondering if it was just an ego thing that would take loads of time, cost loads of money and not really make any difference.

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#96

Post by Mike_Jordan »

Borrible wrote: post #68
zd123 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind sharing the uni name? I am looking at doing something similar

Sure, have look at my reply above and as a general note perhaps here: https://www.zfh.de/ https://www.fernuni-hagen.de/mi/studium/index.shtml Sorry, both websites apparently just in German.

Do universities in Germany offer MS only in German language? I am looking for online masters in English.

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#97

Post by g051051 »

wiz21c wrote: post #59

I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly…

> I'm almost 50 years old.

I started my master's at 50 and finished it 2 1/2 years later.

> Your brain has slowed down by a factor of at least 2.

My brain has never been better. I had decades of experience to lean on, and was an unofficial TA in most classes. It was fun and challenging, and only one course gave me any problems due to my lifelong math disability (I love it, it hates me).

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#98

Post by throwaway6734 »

>When I got my first real programming job at the small startup, they hired me as an inexperienced junior frontend engineer who would be willing to learn fast, and the classes helped show that I was serious about learning more. This helped me transition away from doing some development work at the tiny non-tech company to being a Real Engineer at a real (albeit small) tech company.

How does someone go from junior experience to a job at Google? Are they really hiring "normal" devs that haven't gone to the big schools?

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#99

Post by Beldin »

hankman86 wrote: post #77

Assuming that you could have landed the job at Google without studying part-time (could you?), I’m a bit baffled by your experience. Unless your degree really propels you in your career (read: your employer values academic degrees over experience), couldn’t you have learned those skills without putting up with the cost and timely investment of formally enrolling for a master’s degree? I’d even go as far as to say: in…

On-the-job training would typically improve skills needed in your day-to-day work. A master's programme should improve academic skills (things like abstraction, reflection, generalisation, communication). The first makes you better at your current job, the latter makes you more flexible and versatile for any job.

Both are valuable, but for different reasons. Whether pursuing a master's degree is worth it depends on your individual circumstances.

Re: Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working

#100

Post by 10x-dev »

hankman86 wrote: post #77

Assuming that you could have landed the job at Google without studying part-time (could you?), I’m a bit baffled by your experience. Unless your degree really propels you in your career (read: your employer values academic degrees over experience), couldn’t you have learned those skills without putting up with the cost and timely investment of formally enrolling for a master’s degree? I’d even go as far as to say: in…

Some context: during my part-time masters degree, which took 3 years to complete, I wrote the following from scratch: a MIPS and ARMv4 CPU in FPGA, an emulator for ARMv4, an assembler for it, a compiler for C89, an OS kernel with a shell, a 3d game, and several websites, webapps and mobile apps.

A job at Google won't bring you even close to be able to learn all of that on the job. The real world version of most of such projects are orders of magnitude more complicated, take years to develop and have tens to hundreds of people working on them.

Since you lack both the theoretical and practical knowledge of writing a kernel, for example, you will not be designing the solution for it at Google. At best you will learn to implement a piece of it, and it will take years (think of working on Fuchsia with no prior kernel experience).

A (master's) degree isn't an automatic ticket to becoming the lead developer on Fuchsia, but it gives you the chance to learn the theoretical portion of the domain and apply it in a controlled environment, at an accelerated pace, under the guidance of a person who specializes in teaching (not jaded Joe who's waiting for his RSUs to vest), so you have a large foundation on which to build the real world practical skills on the job.

Even if you switch teams every half, you will still not be able to cover the breadth of the material in a master's program on the job, not to mention having to perform to get a good enough rating to stay employed, while having essentially no prior knowledge of the topic.

You could supplement by taking some courses or reading books after work, but this would essentially be a diy masters without access to experienced professors, that would take much longer and be several times more stressful and inefficient.

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