5 ms·

As someone in charge of hiring and recruiting developers, I'd see an extra year or two of experience being more valuable than a masters degree. The work my comp

As someone in charge of hiring and recruiting developers, I'd see an extra year or two of experience being more valuable than a masters degree. The work my company does is consulting across a variety of industries, and subject matter experts are always valuable to us. So, your experience as an architect would still be weighted above above a candidate with a masters degree. Another thing to consider is cost. If you get right to work, you'll be gaining valuable experience and making money while you do it. If you spend another year or two in school, you're racking up debt and getting no real world experience. All that said, I'd imagine that there are certain fields that require more specialization, like AI or signal processing that would benefit from an extra couple of years of study.

WhitneyLand 10y ago
I think you are doing this person a disservice. With no undergrad CS and no development work experience they won't even be able to tell you how fast a sorting algorithm is. Also you're not taking into account how new important tech is unfolding or what the long term impact of this choice will be over a lifetime.
- pitaj 10y ago
  > how fast a sorting algorithm is What are you referring to here? Like remembering off the top of your head the big O of bubblesort? Or figuring out the big O of an algorithm you wrote yourself? The first is something easily looked up. No reason to dedicate some of your limited human memory to that.
  - ice109 10y ago
    you shouldn't memorize big O for common algos. you should understand the algo and be able to rederive the complexity. maybe not for Ford-fulkerson but definitely for bubble sort.
  - WhitneyLand 10y ago
    >The first is something easily looked up. No reason to dedicate some of your limited human memory to that. That's irrelevant because it's true of everything. I can also look up and learn quantum mechanics at khan academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/quantum-physics https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/quantum-physics Sure it's feasible to look up facts here and there, but it's harder to grasp the underlying meaning and generalize it when rushing to check in code for a job, compared to having dedicated and structured time set aside. Anecdotally, I started coding intensely in middle school and thought I was pretty bad ass by the I time entered college. Was blown away at how little I knew about what I didn't know. Gave up hubris at that point.

WhitneyLand 10y ago

I think you are doing this person a disservice. With no undergrad CS and no development work experience they won't even be able to tell you how fast a sorting algorithm is. Also you're not taking into account how new important tech is unfolding or what the long term impact of this choice will be over a lifetime.

pitaj 10y ago
> how fast a sorting algorithm is What are you referring to here? Like remembering off the top of your head the big O of bubblesort? Or figuring out the big O of an algorithm you wrote yourself? The first is something easily looked up. No reason to dedicate some of your limited human memory to that.
- ice109 10y ago
  you shouldn't memorize big O for common algos. you should understand the algo and be able to rederive the complexity. maybe not for Ford-fulkerson but definitely for bubble sort.
- WhitneyLand 10y ago
  >The first is something easily looked up. No reason to dedicate some of your limited human memory to that. That's irrelevant because it's true of everything. I can also look up and learn quantum mechanics at khan academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/quantum-physics https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/quantum-physics Sure it's feasible to look up facts here and there, but it's harder to grasp the underlying meaning and generalize it when rushing to check in code for a job, compared to having dedicated and structured time set aside. Anecdotally, I started coding intensely in middle school and thought I was pretty bad ass by the I time entered college. Was blown away at how little I knew about what I didn't know. Gave up hubris at that point.