What would you do with these Master's Degrees?

[jread]

I'm not going to ask which one you'd get, I'm going to ask what you would DO with each of them. These are my final choices and I can't make up my mind. I think that it would help me to get an understanding of which is best for me if I knew what someone in the industry would do with each one. BTW, don't say "none of them"... pick one!

MS in CIS: http://www.stedwards.edu/business/graduate/mscis/curriculum.htm

MS in SE: http://prtl.uhcl.edu/portal/page?_pagei...355_972772&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTALP


All help is most-appreciated.

 

[Qacer]

In my opinion, unless your MS research work transitions you into a full time job, then you'd probably be doing what other CIS or SE in the industry is doing. The truth is with an MS degree you have an advantage over a BS degree. However, if you can't find a job that you like, you can fall back on your MS degree and teach undergraduate courses, which doesn't always translate to being a good teacher. Without industry experience, you'd be teaching from "theory" instead of a practical perspective.

Anyway, if I pick SE for you, then you can probably work at a Raytheon or Honeywell or a Lockheed-Martin and do some type of embedded programming with real time systems.

 

[Reel]

Your CIS degree looks like if you want a business sort of position that focuses on computing such as a job that uses computers as a tool to complete a business task. SE looks like a hardcore programming position: design, verification, testing, etc. As I am learning in my work experience, I prefer SE though I am in a CIS position (using the above nomenclature). However, your preferences remain your own and you have to evaluate your own thoughts about what you would enjoy most.

 

[jread]

Thank you very much for the replies so far.

So far, it has seemed to me that an SE degree is a "management" degree as well, just specifically focused on software. The course descriptions are kind of vague, so I can't tell just how much programming is involved, etc.

For the record (I don't know if this makes a difference), I have a liberal arts bachelor's degree, so I will need to take undergraduate CS "preparation" courses such as Data Structures and Operating Systems to get up to speed (though I have multiple programming courses and experience under my belt).

 

[Qacer]

Originally posted by: jread
Thank you very much for the replies so far.

So far, it has seemed to me that an SE degree is a "management" degree as well, just specifically focused on software. The course descriptions are kind of vague, so I can't tell just how much programming is involved, etc.

For the record (I don't know if this makes a difference), I have a liberal arts bachelor's degree, so I will need to take undergraduate CS "preparation" courses such as Data Structures and Operating Systems to get up to speed (though I have multiple programming courses and experience under my belt).

I have two friends who have BA's in Liberal Arts. One went straight to a Master's in Electrical Engineering (after taking some additional courses) and got his degree last year. He is now pursuing a Master's in Structural Engineering. The other also got a Master's degree after a few additional courses and went to RPI for his PhD.

You should be fine.

 

[jread]

Great to hear that hope isn't lost for those of us who took the easy way out as undergraduates

 

[jread]

ttt