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OMSCS Open Courseware

sites.gatech.edu

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Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#21

Post by krapht »

BlackjackCF wrote: post #14
dannyfreeman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, thinking about waiting until both the kids themselves are in school and then 1 course a semester for me. Not sure if that will be easier or harder than doing it while they are young

OMSCS grad here. The awesome thing about the program is its flexibility. Some of the courses are definitely more time intensive, but I think if you took only one class and dedicated about an hour a day to the course materials, you'd be in good shape. (I know that's still a lot to ask of someone with two young kids.)

There's no way to get through the harder courses in the program on 1 hour a day. And you're not getting value from the degree if you aren't pushing yourself to take those hard courses, unless you just need the diploma.

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#22

Post by rahimnathwani »

BlackjackCF wrote: post #15
rahimnathwani wrote: post #3

OMSCS requires ten courses to graduate. I completed one course (with an A grade) before realizing that, even at a pace of one course per semester, it was not a high enough priority for me to devote the time required to do each course well. That course was great, though, and I definitely learned some things I'm glad to have learned! IMO the instructional materials are a small part of the value. The things that stood o…

Things that I loved about the program: * My fellow classmates. Had a small study group where we got on Discord to hang out and it was a blast * The TAs - they were so dedicated to the students and fantastic. MVPs of the program

Oh yeah I forgot to mention the class discussion board.

I wasn't in any discord groups but the class discussion forum was a nice community.

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#23

Post by rahimnathwani »

dannyfreeman wrote: post #2

I would like to get my masters from georgia tech's omscs program but between work and 2 kids I dont see how I'll ever have the time

There's a web site where different people share what they think of each course, and how many hours they devote per week: https://www.omscentral.com/

That might help you decide whether it's doable.

My first (and only) course was somewhere in the middle in terms of effort, and the courses I was most interested would have required another 50% on top, which wasn't going to work for me, between work, parenting, other learning etc.

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#24

Post by __loam »

AOS destroyed me lol. Video Game Design is excellent. Graduate algo is a requirement for everyone and has great lectures if you're looking for an introductory course.

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#25

Post by tayo42 »

krapht wrote: post #21
BlackjackCF wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OMSCS grad here. The awesome thing about the program is its flexibility. Some of the courses are definitely more time intensive, but I think if you took only one class and dedicated about an hour a day to the course materials, you'd be in good shape. (I know that's still a lot to ask of someone with two young kids.)

There's no way to get through the harder courses in the program on 1 hour a day. And you're not getting value from the degree if you aren't pushing yourself to take those hard courses, unless you just need the diploma.

Is a masters of really holding anyone back once you have a couple years of experience?

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#26

Post by __loam »

coolThingsFirst wrote: post #20
mym1990 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OMSCS degree you get is equivalent to the in person one, so there is no way to make the distinction in an interview. I actually don’t see how people see that an experience like this brings no value, given the rigor of the assignments. One certainly would come out with a better knowledge of how things work, develop a better work ethic, and hopefully make some network connections on the way…

This is very debatable. The courses look like they were recorded in the 90s. The DB course particularly sticks out. My undergrad's DB course was fathoms harder than this. This is what you'd expect a highschooler should be able to learn through a tutorial not a university course. If it doesn't talk about systems calls like mmap, locking and the design of the buffer pool manager, it's not a university Database course i…

DB is known to be a weaker offering.

https://www.omscentral.com/

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#27

Post by rybosworld »

coolThingsFirst wrote: post #20
mym1990 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OMSCS degree you get is equivalent to the in person one, so there is no way to make the distinction in an interview. I actually don’t see how people see that an experience like this brings no value, given the rigor of the assignments. One certainly would come out with a better knowledge of how things work, develop a better work ethic, and hopefully make some network connections on the way…

This is very debatable. The courses look like they were recorded in the 90s. The DB course particularly sticks out. My undergrad's DB course was fathoms harder than this. This is what you'd expect a highschooler should be able to learn through a tutorial not a university course. If it doesn't talk about systems calls like mmap, locking and the design of the buffer pool manager, it's not a university Database course i…

Respectfully, I think you should do more research.

The OMSCS program is well known and well respected in the tech industry. It's a masters degree from the currently 8th ranked computer science school in the U.S.

The university make no distinction between students who take the courses online, vs in person. I.e., the diploma's are identical.

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#28

Post by warabe »

I once considered applying, but I gave up because collecting letters of recommendation was a major hurdle. My academic advisor from university has already retired…

How do you all deal with this?

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#29

Post by oaxacaoaxaca »

I was in the very first cohort of this program. I loved it but had to drop for personal/family reasons after finishing three courses. Someday I'd love to jump back in! I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.

Re: OMSCS Open Courseware

#30

Post by thisoneisreal »

warabe wrote: post #28

I once considered applying, but I gave up because collecting letters of recommendation was a major hurdle. My academic advisor from university has already retired… How do you all deal with this?

I hit the same roadblock unfortunately. My academic references were all in a different field and I hadn't really stayed in contact except with one professor, who sadly has died. I did see that there's an option to use professional references, so even though I haven't done this myself, one route you could consider taking is to get references from managers, colleagues etc. who can speak to your technical knowledge. I agree though with your general point that after being out of an academic environment for a while that requirement becomes challenging.
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