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Master’s Degree in Computer Science

evanp.me

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Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#221

Post by mywittyname »

galcerte wrote: post #162
advael wrote: post #147

I view university education as poor-to-useless vocational training for software engineering as well as most if not all careers that aren't explicitly research-focused, and I say that as someone who's gotten a master's degree in computer science, intended to get a PhD, and for the most part didn't for financial reasons. I really enjoy and respect academia, but it exists to train researchers, and the more advanced a de…

I'm currently in a master's degree in data science and I haven't really felt like what you said was happening; we were taught just the right amount of theory (how things like backpropagation, PCA, statistics, optimization work) but more advanced techniques were described only briefly, just so we could understand how to use them in our assignments, which makes sense given the little time there is. There was much empha…

I think a big difference here is program scope. A data science program is directly applicable to data science career because the scope of the program is very narrow. Whereas a computer science program is going to cover a good bit of material that is not directly applicable to a software engineering career.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#222

Post by BKirkpatrick »

Blackstrat wrote: post #202

I've never viewed degrees as vocational training. They were always something I did for myself. For example, I completed an MS and an MBA while in my 30s. Neither were particularly career enhancing beyond credentialism which seems pervasive here in the US. Hence, the success of the various certification programs, Microsoft, Java, et al., which as a former hiring manager, I didn't find that these certifications necessa…

As someone with a bsc in math, Do it!

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#223

Post by professoretc »

ransom1538 wrote: post #213
hn_go_brrrrr wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So teach them the importance of testing, code review, and design documents. As someone who graduated 15 years ago, I feel like the only two truly useful things I got out of my CS degree were 1) lots of practice writing code and 2) my algorithms and data structures class. The latter was useful in exactly the way you hope for, but it was the only such class.

I learned unit testing early at UCDavis. My professor would take in assignments via ssh, run them, if it failed, it would "echo F" for grade.

That's how I do it, too. I give students a script which compiles their code with the test code (which is provided to them, if they want to look at it) and then runs it inside GDB (in case it segfaults or throws an exception). All of the tests are documented and, on failure, print an error message describing what was expected, what was actually returned, and include a URL linking to a fuller description of what might be going on.

In the future I'm hoping to run their tests inside Valgrind to check for memory leaks, enable the various sanitizers, etc., and I also need to figure out a way to check for conformance with my code formatting standard, but for right now it gives students perfect knowledge of what their grade will be when they submit.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#224

Post by digisign »

Arainach wrote: post #143
digisign wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Budget was under $50k, which you can make in a few months at a tech job. Nice raise will pay for that nicely in no time. If you don't think a lot of places aren't gatekeeping on degrees, you haven't looked at many. To be more clear for folks that think it is an absolute filter, of course it is not. I remember about half of hiring pipelines ending on that point last time I was looking. Was 100% of the top companies wi…

There are places that gatekeep on degrees as in "you must have a Bachelor's degree" or even "you must have a B.S. in Computer Science", but there are almost none that are gatekeeping on graduate degrees. I've worked at several FAANG-tier corporations, have friends at all of the others, and have interacted with all sorts of smaller companies. I can count on one hand the number of people I've worked with with graduate…

Correct for IC jobs. When you want to move up thru the "glass ceiling" to make the real money, guess who they'll pick of two similar candidates? The one with the better degree.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#225

Post by yCombLinks »

evanprodromou wrote: post #216
yCombLinks wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Evan, they do have a masters in software engineering through the extension school. I'm currently working on my degree there. It's not 100% remote. I'm very happy with the school though. Anyways, here's the link for the masters program : https://extension.harvard.edu/academics/programs/software-en...

Wow, thanks! That does look really good. I don't like "Extension", but otherwise it seems solid. The price tag sounds like they consider it a valuable commodity.

Yeah, just want to clarify, I'm working on an undergrad. I don't like the extension part either. But no other "brand name" school offers undergrad (mostly) online. My company does help pay for it though. Undergrad is a little cheaper than grad, but not by a lot.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#226

Post by commandlinefan »

slotrans wrote: post #93

No way this guy earns his money back. There is no salary premium for a CS master's. Employers that want to see one are places you don't want to work. I mean, if you want to do it just for fun, knock yourself out. Just don't delude yourself about what you hope to accomplish.

I'm just one data point, but having done an MSCS (in person at UT Arlington) I agree - I have no reason to believe that I wouldn't still be in the same place now if I'd skipped it. I was fortunate that my then-employer paid for it, so it was no cost to me and I'm glad I did it, but I'm pretty sure that every job I've gotten since would have been available to me with just my Bachelor's degree. In fact, this recruiter: https://blog.alinelerner.com/how-different-is-a-b-s-in-compu... insists that Master's degree holders are less competent than BS degree holders.

OTOH, UT Arlington is no Stanford, so maybe it's worth it if you can get into one of the top 10 or so programs in the country.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#227

Post by sswezey »

evanprodromou wrote: post #189
sswezey wrote: post #177

As someone currently mid-career in UT Austin’s part time MS in Software Engineering program, avoid this program. I got my undergrad from Georgia Tech 10 years ago, and Georgia Tech is better in every regard. UT has this nice list online that they never truly offer - you have at most 3 courses to pick from each semester. And to finish in 2 years you have to take the summer course, which there is one class and no optio…

Thanks! UT is one of the schools I applied to, so this is kind of a disappointment. Do you notice it getting better, worse, or staying about the same?

It’s stayed the same despite feedback. The professors have asked for feedback and have gotten a bit defensive when people overwhelmingly have said that the course load for particular courses is too high for working professionals.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#228

Post by evanprodromou »

petesergeant wrote: post #120
evanprodromou wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! I was looking for a program at Oxford. USN&WR has it at #11 worldwide for CS. The SE program at Oxford doesn't seem to be available for 100% remote study, though. Am I missing something? I love this informal, friendly Web site, and I might be looking in the wrong places.

I can’t speak to what the current sitch is, but when I was there you had to be onsite for 11 weeks over four-five years. Quite a few Americans would fly in for it

11 weeks over 5 years is quite doable.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#229

Post by brian_cunnie »

My brother, 56, has been pursuing his Master's Degree at Columbia for over a year now, and he won't complete it until he's sixty (he's going part-time because he has a job), and the take-away is that it's a huge time investment, even as a part-time student. Sure, he cut away YouTube and Facebook, but he also had to cut away the gym. It's a sacrifice.

The other take-away is that if you don't have the math pre-reqs for a course, and you figure that's okay because you've always been pretty good at math & you'll just power through: don't. Take the pre-reqs first, unless you want to needlessly suffer.

Re: Master’s Degree in Computer Science

#230

Post by glouwbug »

hn_go_brrrrr wrote: post #200
bo1024 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with some of the premise —- university education doesn’t focus on preparation for specific vocational skills. But you could say the same about high school. It doesn’t follow that reading writing and algebra are bad vocational investments, in fact the opposite because they support many possible vocations. As a CS professor, my goal is to push students to rewire their brains in ways that are better and more eff…

So teach them the importance of testing, code review, and design documents. As someone who graduated 15 years ago, I feel like the only two truly useful things I got out of my CS degree were 1) lots of practice writing code and 2) my algorithms and data structures class. The latter was useful in exactly the way you hope for, but it was the only such class.

I often find it fascinating how worthless new grads view their university educations. We'd be vastly more underequipped to analyze and solve even the most basic problems without the rigid time pressure allowances university grants us. As a corollary, (and albeit rare), would you rather be pulled over by a police officer with an undergrad in law or one with three months of boot camp training?
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