Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

alexanderell.is

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 167 posts

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

#141

Post by juanuys »

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…

There's nothing like having kids and other commitments to sharpen one's focus and make timekeeping a thing of perfection.

I note the older students (40+/50+-year-olds, with families, etc) getting their work in way ahead of schedule whilst actively participating in discourse, moreso (dare I say) than the significantly younger ones in our cohort.

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

#142

Post by tnel77 »

leros wrote: post #136

I completed an MS in software engineering while I was working. I ultimately consider it to have been a waste of time and money. I think it gave my resume a slight boost early in my career but I don't think it matters much now.

My employer paid for mine. It was an excellent boost early in my career, but it doesn’t matter at all right now. I don’t regret getting it, but I’m more hesitant to suggest a masters to fellow software engineers.

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

#143

Post by milesvp »

whyage wrote: post #137
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 54 and my brain is as effective as in my twenties, if not more. Where's the evidence that the human brain "slows down by a factor of at least 2"?

slows down may be the wrong way to think about it. Myelination is a very real thing though. By 24 the majority of the brain is grey matter, as opposed to pink matter. Grey matter is super fast at signal speed due to myelin sheaths around highly used neurons. The amount of pink matter continues to shrink as you get older. This seems to have measurable effects with knowledge, the main one being whatever you learned when you were younger is much easier to access and riff on when you’re older. It is believed that this contributes to it being more difficult to learn “new” things, particularly if they are unrelated to your current knowledge as you get older. (There is some evidence however that learning “new” related topics is even easier as people age)

So if someone says their brain is slower, they may be talking about how much harder it seems to be at learning new topics. I’d bet dollars to donuts they’re as fast a thinker on things they’ve been doing for 30 years as ever.

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

#144

Post by mbot5324 »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #138
leros wrote: post #136

I completed an MS in software engineering while I was working. I ultimately consider it to have been a waste of time and money. I think it gave my resume a slight boost early in my career but I don't think it matters much now.

I'm sorry. My experience is that my MSSE made me look at software development in a different way and definitely gave me a much wider view of what was in front of me. Then again, my only out of pocket cost was parking, since my employer reimbursed everything except that. Stuff like Project Management, Quality Control and even formal real-time system analysis are probably not concepts I would have learned on my own. Co…

> Project Management, Quality Control and even formal real-time system analysis

While powerful and topics that need to be taught somewhere, that's not the takeaways I would've expected from a masters in computer science. I suppose we're talking about a masters of software engineering, which makes those topics feel more relevant. Perhaps that shows the importance of program selection and concentration.

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

#145

Post by chdlr »

wiz21c wrote: post #94
ubercore wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 :-))

“Oh I didn’t study at all for this test” - heard a thousand times, never true in my opinion. Maybe you are just more honest with yourself.

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

#146

Post by fjeifisjf »

Communitivity wrote: post #103
officehero wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your brain has slowed down by a factor of at least 2 I've made it into a mantra to never accept this kind of sentiment (even if it were to be scientifically proven some day). It's dangerous and only serves to undermine motivation. Sure there is an overrepresentation of old people who are tired., but that doesn't mean you have to be.

> Your brain has slowed down by a factor of at least 2 This is only if you let it. The human brain has something called neuroplasticity. If you exercise your brain, regularly and with variety, you can slow/prevent a degradation of neuroplasticity. Some example activities include doing coding in new programming language, learning a new spoken language, doing sudoku and other puzzles, doing painting if you are right br…

No post body was provided.

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

#147

Post by leros »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #138
leros wrote: post #136

I completed an MS in software engineering while I was working. I ultimately consider it to have been a waste of time and money. I think it gave my resume a slight boost early in my career but I don't think it matters much now.

I'm sorry. My experience is that my MSSE made me look at software development in a different way and definitely gave me a much wider view of what was in front of me. Then again, my only out of pocket cost was parking, since my employer reimbursed everything except that. Stuff like Project Management, Quality Control and even formal real-time system analysis are probably not concepts I would have learned on my own. Co…

I feel like I was able to learn those things on the job as needed. I'm sure my MS program gave me some knowledge that helped, but I don't personally think the ROI was there. I also had an EE background.

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

#148

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

mbot5324 wrote: post #144
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry. My experience is that my MSSE made me look at software development in a different way and definitely gave me a much wider view of what was in front of me. Then again, my only out of pocket cost was parking, since my employer reimbursed everything except that. Stuff like Project Management, Quality Control and even formal real-time system analysis are probably not concepts I would have learned on my own. Co…

> Project Management, Quality Control and even formal real-time system analysis While powerful and topics that need to be taught somewhere, that's not the takeaways I would've expected from a masters in computer science. I suppose we're talking about a masters of software engineering, which makes those topics feel more relevant. Perhaps that shows the importance of program selection and concentration.

Correct. I specifically did not want an MSCS since I didn't think it would be very relevant for me.

TBH, I didn't intend to get a degree when I started. I took a couple of interesting courses, but then all the other ones that looked good (like real time systems analysis) had required prerequisites. Once you've taken those prerequisites, you might as well just take all the credits required for the degree.

Software Project Management was one of the required classes and it turned out to be one of the most interesting ones of all!

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

#149

Post by pbrb »

sdave wrote: post #45
shepherdjerred wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did it feel worthwhile? Did you learn as much as you'd expected to?

(Not the person u asked :-) ) Short answer = Yes. Learned a lot and some more. (but of course depends on what courses you end up taking). In fact, its quite common to see alumni taking courses after they have graduated (case in point: many folks from my batch enrolled in the newly started DL class, just for the sake of learning).

Interesting - is there any way to audit these courses if you're not an alum?

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

#150

Post by jackdawed »

felipemnoa wrote: post #89
jackdawed wrote: post #41

I was in the same research lab as the author, but from a different school (BU). When I found out that most of my peers were also doing their master's part time while working, I wished I could do that. But as an international student, there are a lot of restrictions. I had to do it full time (3-4 classes per semester), and I could only work 20 hours part time on campus, usually as a TA and/or research assistant. I did…

>> $117,889 This is just an insane amount of money for a a masters degree. I had no idea it was that expensive. And why did it take you 2 years if it was only a masters? It is only supposed to be 30 credits. I guess spending a year working on just the thesis could explain that.

Keep in mind this is for an international student paying out of state tuition with no aid. The 50-60k number is more reasonable for US citizens, <30k if you're coming in with a scholarship. 2 years is the average amount of time for a masters degree. It's typically like 2-3 semesters of classes, then thesis or project. As for credits, my masters segment was 36 credits, while my catch up undergrad segment was 28 credits.
Post reply on HN