Does anyone here have an MS or PhD in Computer Science?

[Charles Kozierok]

Academia is by definition more theoretical than practical. An MS CS program is not going to be about how to get a job in IT, nor much about IT at all.

If your company is paying for it, it's a no brainer if it interests you at all. Increases your market value, and you might even learn something.

 

[Chaotic42]

Academia is by definition more theoretical than practical.

Well, theoretically.

I minored in Geography and there were quite a few classes which specifically covered practical knowledge. That's not a bad thing at all, just not what I'm looking for in an MS.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Right, I'm speaking in general. But one of the defining differences between bachelor's level and advanced level studies is that the latter is focused more on research. If you want to get a job as a programmer, you generally need a BS and not an MS. Few people will sign up for a master's program just to get more practical stuff, when they can get that better while earning money by just getting a job.

But programs are different, so you have to (heh) research this too. Look into the schools you're interested in, and find out what they offer.

 

[Chaotic42]

Right, I'm speaking in general. But one of the defining differences between bachelor's level and advanced level studies is that the latter is focused more on research. If you want to get a job as a programmer, you generally need a BS and not an MS. Few people will sign up for a master's program just to get more practical stuff, when they can get that better while earning money by just getting a job.

But programs are different, so you have to (heh) research this too. Look into the schools you're interested in, and find out what they offer.

There's the problem; I only have one school available to me. Still, it should be interesting. I don't need an MS for my work, I just need to justify their payment of school. If I won the lottery, I'd take a vacation and then start taking classes in most disciplines like they were going out of style. I love school.

It sounds like my fears of being buried in node.js and PHP were unfounded, which is good to hear. There appear to be classes on parallel computing and AI, both of which sound really interesting, so it should be fun. If not, well, it's only a few years.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

What's the school?

 

[Farmer]

I also find the idea logically faulty that somehow being a teacher's aide will give you more to your research than working in the real life field of the problem you're studying. Sure you might have more time as a TA, but like all things, that comes down more to effort than anything.

You are certainly a special case. Another example I can think of is D-wave, which is a supposed quantum computing company doing work that is commonly done only at universities (this is a bad example because D-wave is universally disliked amongst academics).

For someone studying pure math, a TAship makes a lot of sense. You can't really be an RA since math research does not require tedious lab work. On the other hand teaching math does make you better at it.

However, most fields in academic research are simply not yet in industry, or never will be in industry (for instance, there are no companies that research pure math). That is why they are in academia, because they haven't reached that stage yet. Hence the university is "the real life field of the problem you're studying" for the vast majority of cutting edge topics.

In general, as a research topic matures, it finds applications in industry, and companies are started to pursue those applications. Doing a Ph.D. brings you upstream on that pipeline.

Where do you work?

 

[purbeast0]

i have a BS in comp sci and do not plan on getting a masters probably ever, and definitely not a PHD. i've been in the industry for almost 8.5 years and i'm already making a good salary and i don't think a masters in this field would improve the salary at all. plus i feel you learn much more this field with hands on work rather than in a classroom.

i've never been in a position where i could have moved up just because of a masters. and i've never seen a listing that i've been interested in that says a masters is required. usually a masters will cut the years of experience required though.

 

[unokitty]

My question is, do you think that an MS in CS will actually cover the interesting theoretical stuff, or is it likely to be more practical "here's how to get a decent job in IT" kind of thing? Obviously this varies, but honestly more than one or two of those kind of classes would turn me off of the degree. Something like maximally efficient handing of n threads over m processors? Yes, please.

Any comments or anything? I know so little about it that I'm really not sure what I don't know. It just sounds (potentially) interesting.

You are asking hypothetical questions about CS graduate degrees. Though, any useful answers will be dependent on your specific CS program.

While it is good that you have talked to the CS department head, department heads change. Whether or not the new department head will share the same philosophy as the old one is unknown.

Some issues.

One
For most graduate degrees, the faculty, and their research interests, are much more relevant than they are for an undergraduate degree.

Are you familiar the recent papers that your department head has published? Google Scholar can be a handy reference here. Have you searched the publications of the other CS faculty?

Do their research areas overlap with your interests?

Two
There are several broad types of masters level degrees. In general, a STEM masters with have either a research or a professional orientation. As you would expect, a research orientation would be designed to prepare a student to earn a Ph.D. In contrast, a professional orientation would be designed to prepare a student for employment.

What is the orientation of the program that you are considering?

Three
Since you don't have a CS undergraduate degree, you will likely have to take 'levelling' undergraduate classes.

Do you have anything in writing that tells you how many undergraduate course that you will need to take before you can be admitted to the CS masters program? Do you know when they are offered and what their prereqs are?

Four
Since you have already earned an undergraduate degree, will you company pay for you to take these undergraduate levelling courses?

Five
Are you aware of the Ph.D glut? Are you prepared to do several years of academic work to prepare yourself for a $40,000 a year postdoc? See:

More Ph.Ds than ever

Nature on the Ph.D Glut

or

"Earning a Ph.D. may pay off if your goal is status, although I don't understand why anyone regards a Ph.D. as a status symbol that is worth giving up five to ten years of your earning power in your youth, when every dime saved can multiply because of compounding. If the public understood the economics of earning a Ph.D., people would think "naïve economic loser" whenever they hear "Ph.D."

Best of luck,
Uno

 

[Farmer]

It's funny, those who warn of the Ph.D. glut almost always hold Ph.D.s themselves.

 

[Chaotic42]

Do their research areas overlap with your interests?

Yes, though not fully.

What is the orientation of the program that you are considering?

Research

Do you have anything in writing that tells you how many undergraduate course that you will need to take before you can be admitted to the CS masters program? Do you know when they are offered and what their prereqs are?

The undergraduate-level prerequisites are clearly listed and I have emailed the department head to verify the course requirements.

Since you have already earned an undergraduate degree, will you company pay for you to take these undergraduate levelling courses?

Yes

Are you aware of the Ph.D glut? Are you prepared to do several years of academic work to prepare yourself for a $40,000 a year postdoc? See:

Well, I wouldn't go for a PhD in Computer Science, my goal is a PhD in mathematics. I'm choosing the MS in Computer Science because it seems interesting, will be paid for, and does positively impact my ability to be hired on elsewhere should that be necessary. I've already come to terms that I would likely not make even the same amount of money in academia as I do right now.

Job satisfaction is incredibly important to me. I don't want to just have a job so that I can afford to come home and watch TV. I want to work in a place where I will be part of a team doing interesting things. I had that, then we got purchased by a large corporation. That considerably muted the number of truly interesting things that I get to work on.

That's why I feel like if I can't do interesting, industry leading things at work anymore, I might as well pursue an advanced degree where I *will* get the chance to do that. It's not as nice as getting paid to do it, but it beats resigning myself to a lifetime of fairly boring office work.

 

[Imp]

i have a BS in comp sci and do not plan on getting a masters probably ever, and definitely not a PHD. i've been in the industry for almost 8.5 years and i'm already making a good salary and i don't think a masters in this field would improve the salary at all. plus i feel you learn much more this field with hands on work rather than in a classroom.

i've never been in a position where i could have moved up just because of a masters. and i've never seen a listing that i've been interested in that says a masters is required. usually a masters will cut the years of experience required though.

I wasn't as far out of school as you are when I said I would never do a master's, but I eventually changed my mind.

A graduate degree is not for everyone and doing it purely for economic reasons (i.e. salary increase, promotion) isn't the best idea. I did my first one to stick it to someone, I was a bit lost on what to do, I had beaucoup free time, and wanted to learn more about one subject I was semi-interested in. I don't care if it ever pays off (twas only $10k so not that hard to swallow financially).

Then right before graduating, I signed up and got accepted for a second graduate degree. it was also in my field, but within a different subfield I already knew a lot about. The main reason I wanted to do this was because I was afraid I'd have too much free time (part-time like my first) and I was thinking of using it to get into a specific career field (big reason). Big mistake...

I was burned out by the time I finished my first one, and the second I saw the first syllsbus, I knew I wanted out -- withdrew a few days later with no regrets.

Point is, doing a graduate degree for academic pursuit rather than career potential may be preferential in terms of motivation.

 

[Wyndru]

How exactly do you plan to get an MS in Comp Sci if you don't know a lot about CS?

It's definitely not uncommon. Do you remember the Y2K era? That's when a ton of people switched majors mid-way and there were many students with their BS in non computer related majors jumping into CS because the jobs were opening up everywhere for programmers.

I don't know if it's changed now because the demand isn't what it used to be, but I'm sure colleges don't care, they get paid either way.

 

[Imp]

How exactly do you plan to get an MS in Comp Sci if you don't know a lot about CS?

Graduate degrees are funny like that...

An MBA, from what I've read, is a dumbed down BBA or other business degree.

I had an architecture degree holder in my MEng program -- somewhat related, I guess. Don't think she'd ever be able to get licensed as an engineer though because the requirement is an accredited undergrad degree here. Foreign degree holders from certain (former British colonies) can do a master's plus national experience to get one.

I've heard of people doing MAs in sociology and anthropology just by having a minor.

Someone on here got an accounting master's by taking a few community college courses.

 

[Chaotic42]

Graduate degrees are funny like that...

An MBA, from what I've read, is a dumbed down BBA or other business degree.

I had an architecture degree holder in my MEng program -- somewhat related, I guess. Don't think she'd ever be able to get licensed as an engineer though because the requirement is an accredited undergrad degree here. Foreign degree holders from certain (former British colonies) can do a master's plus national experience to get one.

I've heard of people doing MAs in sociology and anthropology just by having a minor.

Someone on here got an accounting master's by taking a few community college courses.

I thought he was just trolling, but is it really that weird to go from a Mathematics BS to a Computer Science MS? I'll be taking the core CS undergraduate courses before I start graduate work. Is it somehow not "pure" to make that kind of move?

 

[Farmer]

I thought he was just trolling, but is it really that weird to go from a Mathematics BS to a Computer Science MS? I'll be taking the core CS undergraduate courses before I start graduate work. Is it somehow not "pure" to make that kind of move?

No, it's not weird.

 

[Wyndru]

I thought he was just trolling, but is it really that weird to go from a Mathematics BS to a Computer Science MS? I'll be taking the core CS undergraduate courses before I start graduate work. Is it somehow not "pure" to make that kind of move?

Definitely not weird to make that move. When I got my BS in CS, there were a lot of math courses required, so at least you already have those under your belt.

You'll be fine, as long as you actually like all of the programming. After I got the degree a got an entry level programming job and hated it. It felt way too mundane for me. I walked away and started working toward system/network/web admin rather than sw development. I still do some web development on the side, but I can't work on code 40 hours a week.

 

[unokitty]

That's why I feel like if I can't do interesting, industry leading things at work anymore, I might as well pursue an advanced degree where I *will* get the chance to do that. It's not as nice as getting paid to do it, but it beats resigning myself to a lifetime of fairly boring office work.

Sounds like you are ready to go. Though, it may not be prudent to expect everything associated with your masters to be interesting.

And it sounds like your situation is boderline ideal. From your undergraduate degree, you should be accustomed to academic work. Many CS graduate programs will consider a math undergraduate degree to be an excellent attribute. Your company will pay for your courses. And you already are acquainted with some of the faculty.

Best of luck,
Uno

 

[Merad]

At my school, at least, the people who just want IT jobs and/or can't hack it in CS are shuffled to a totally separate major in the business department - Computer Information Systems (CIS). Of course plenty of CS majors will end up in IT jobs anyway, but the major (undergrad and graduate) has nothing to do with "IT".

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Where do you work?

I work for CDW's Managed Services Division Without getting into gritty details, we hired a ton this past year and hold the most CCIE's of any company. We are premier partners with NetApp, VMWare, and Cisco. We are basically told to strategize, experiment, and adapt. As such we get access to healthy sums of equipment (including, non-partner equipment.. We have plenty of EMC, Brocade, and Juniper equipment in our labs), and are told to learn, test, and experiment solutions and document things to help the advancement of solution work. It's pretty interesting at times because I can think of something I want to try and acquire the equipment to try it just by asking. Asking the same of my university usually is met with "not going to happen.", and that's just how things work. At what university can you ask for a NetApp FAS6200, two Cisco UCS 5108's, two Nexus 7000 chassis', and two Fabric Switches and be given the opportunity to hook them all together and try new things? (much of Cisco's "not supported but will work" sections come from this work) All with the background support of Netapp and Cisco engineers at their respective companies to help answer questions? It allows me to try things in virtualization and storage that I just can't do in an academic setting. I like what I do, and there's no way I could see giving all that up to work as a TA.

Keep in mind, my work (even for my Master's), is housed much closer to the real world than theory. That's where I'm happy. We have a Security team however who's engineers definitely lean towards Network theory more than practical when they're doing research. It's very interesting to hear their ideas

 

[SP33Demon]

MS but not PhD would be my recommendation.