Congrats on sticking with the impulsive decision and congrats with your first class!
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Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
91–100 of 177 posts
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#92Congrats! > Group projects were also a common complaint. You were randomly assigned a group, but it was often unclear if the participants were even doing the course - many people were in completely ghost groups. I see that nothing has changed in 20 years. Even when attended the courses physically in person, group project usually had 1 or 2 people doing all the work and the rest nowhere to be found, or just hanging ou…
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Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#93Congrats! > Group projects were also a common complaint. You were randomly assigned a group, but it was often unclear if the participants were even doing the course - many people were in completely ghost groups. I see that nothing has changed in 20 years. Even when attended the courses physically in person, group project usually had 1 or 2 people doing all the work and the rest nowhere to be found, or just hanging ou…
I once had a group project during a masters course where one guy disappeared halfway through the semester. Didn’t respond to phone, email, anything. The rest of us were discussing how to let the professor know after he had been over a month MIA (we didn’t need him but didn’t want him to get the group grade) when the professor emailed us to say he had heard from the guy, who had been literally hit by a truck and was still in hospital; medical withdrawal.
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#94I got a Bachelor, Master, and PhD in Computer Science, with a total of 11 years of education. It's the biggest waste of time of my entire life. As I progress in my professional career I'm more convinced that pretty much everything in tech is on-the-job learning, and universities are little more than a social club. Nowadays you can learn everything you do at university and far more online and for free. Universities (e…
I'm currently finishing my bachelor in CS in Rome, and have been feeling this often. I'm 24 and feel a bit lost. When I started 5 years ago I had never programmed (in my high school we studied latin for 5 years, and I don't remember a single word), and basically had to teach myself Python for an exam, delaying the others, (we had 4 exams per semester, and couldn't keep it up). Then I had the opportunity to start work…
> basically had to teach myself Python for an exam, delaying the others, (we had 4 exams per semester, and couldn't keep it up).
How did this work? They actually waited for you before holding an exam?
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
do you have a phd? did you get it in the last 10 years? because i have one as well and 100% agree with op - it was worthless. and i got mine from a "world class" school too (US T10). > It's about picking up research independence, confidence, and a strong capacity for critique. lolol maybe in the days of yore. today it's about pumping out questionable papers that your advisor tells you to pump out and targeting the ri…
Yes, I did get it within the last ten years (with an excellent supervisor fortunately), and I take part in student supervision. I get to talk with the students and determine what is most valuable for them in the long-term. Considering where those students have ended up, and that we still keep in contact, I'd say I've done alright so far. > today it's about pumping out questionable papers that your advisor tells you t…
> That's called a garbage supervisor.
yes my advisor was garbage but also
1) my advisor is literally in the top 500 most cited researchers in the world
2) every single other student in systems had the exact same experience
in summary: your "no true scotsman" doesn't work here because by all measures all of these people are the scotsmen.
> Immense challenge is suffering
this is facile - torture is suffering, deprivation is suffering, prison is suffering. immense challenge is ... challenge. stop with the exaggerated language please. stop writing these paeans for research. it's not some ethereal pursuit. for a select few it's a calling. for most it's just a shitty job.
> find another PhD supervisor please, before it is too late.
bro you are so out of touch it's laughable. there are departments full of your so-called "not true advisors". what do you recommend to the students in these departments who are post-quals and are just now discovering the truth? you recommend to them they what? transfer schools? drop out after 2-3 years of reduced earnings? will you compensate them?
> No, this is precisely what the PhD is supposed to be for. It should be the most challenging topic of your entire early career, or your supervisor wasted your time.
again my guy: take a look at literally any top conference and tell me how many papers do truly novel work? as i commented below: i grew up in math where novel work meant a truly original theorem. that kind of quality is 1/1000 in neurips.
> you were used as part of a paper mill
did you catch the part where i attend a US T10? how do you square your assessment with that?
> isn't what the degree is supposed to be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
stupid is as stupid does
> The program doesn't work for everyone, but it does have a purpose
there is literally no program. you're completely full of shit. there is no "standardized phd". every single department around the world completely makes it up to be whatever they want.
> it is frustrating when selfish academics bastardize that purpose to give this kind of false impression of the degree.
have you looked at the mirror recently? the frustration comes not from the craven/mercenary individuals who admit their cravenness - it comes from gaslighters like you who claim there's some idealized version of it that exists that everyone supposedly falls short of (hint hint: have you ever heard of this convenient concept of original sin?).
EDIT:
> it seems you did not experience what you should have
i got exactly the experience i needed to disabuse me of the illusion that academia was a priesthood in pursuit of truth/knowledge/beauty/whatever. so that was perfect (i will never step foot on another academic campus again and i will warn everyone else off from it too). in addition i got a job in FAANG so that was a nice consolation prize :)
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#96I have a similar trajectory. I attended two very competitive military schools in Brazil but never finished and moved to America.
Today I’m a senior software engineer at a FAANG company. The lack of diploma has never been a barrier and I progressed very quickly in the company from junior to senior (4 years).
But this has always been a perceived pain point and limiter for me so I decided to get a CS degree during COVID online from a college from Brazil. Just finished last week :)
I do look for a stronger school name on my resume and got accepted at Johns Hopkins Masters in AI (online). Anyone had any experience with that program? Thoughts?
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#97I got a Bachelor, Master, and PhD in Computer Science, with a total of 11 years of education. It's the biggest waste of time of my entire life. As I progress in my professional career I'm more convinced that pretty much everything in tech is on-the-job learning, and universities are little more than a social club. Nowadays you can learn everything you do at university and far more online and for free. Universities (e…
> I got a Bachelor, Master, and PhD in Computer Science, with a total of 11 years of education. It's the biggest waste of time of my entire life. In CS, for Bachelor, I can understand. You perhaps do it just to show the paper and get a job. For Masters, I can somewhat understand, as the Masters is becoming the "new Bachelor's" For PhD: It's all on you. No one makes you do it, and the downsides are well documented. In…
PhDs are not immune to buyers remorse. It's just buyers remorse. They are a buyer because of the opportunity cost of getting a PhD. It's economically equivalent to spending money, because the alternative was working as a software developer.
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#98I got a Bachelor, Master, and PhD in Computer Science, with a total of 11 years of education. It's the biggest waste of time of my entire life. As I progress in my professional career I'm more convinced that pretty much everything in tech is on-the-job learning, and universities are little more than a social club. Nowadays you can learn everything you do at university and far more online and for free. Universities (e…
As a European living in the US, would you have been able to immigrate without a degree? I know I needed one for immigration.
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#99I have a similar trajectory. I attended two very competitive military schools in Brazil but never finished and moved to America. Today I’m a senior software engineer at a FAANG company. The lack of diploma has never been a barrier and I progressed very quickly in the company from junior to senior (4 years). But this has always been a perceived pain point and limiter for me so I decided to get a CS degree during COVID…
> got accepted at Johns Hopkins Masters in AI (online). Anyone had any experience with that program? Thoughts?
Not worth the tuition.
GATech and UT Austin is highly respected and they only costs $6k and $10k respectively for their OMSCS.
The only online CS degree programs I can think of that are actively taught by top faculty and don't break the bank are GT, UT Austin, and UIUC.
Re: Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
#100I have a similar trajectory. I attended two very competitive military schools in Brazil but never finished and moved to America. Today I’m a senior software engineer at a FAANG company. The lack of diploma has never been a barrier and I progressed very quickly in the company from junior to senior (4 years). But this has always been a perceived pain point and limiter for me so I decided to get a CS degree during COVID…
> Johns Hopkins Masters in AI (online)
do whichever one of these online MS which permit you to leave off the "online" part (i.e., are awarded through the conventional faculty). i'm not sure johns hopkins does but OMSCS from gatech does.