7 ms·

At 5K, the price is right (my in-person master's was 22K, although my employers covered most of it) but be aware it's not the missing piece to catapult you into

At 5K, the price is right (my in-person master's was 22K, although my employers covered most of it) but be aware it's not the missing piece to catapult you into superstar developer earning 170K/year. Honestly I think your time is better spent working on real projects. In my CS master's program I met many students with no real-world experience. One was a paralegal before school, and after he graduated he became...a paralegal with a CS master's. Experience > degrees, every time. There's value in the program (algorithms and data structures being the most applicable), but just go in with your eyes open knowing that the degree is not a glass slipper that'll turn you into Cinderella overnight. Too many IMHO falsely believed my program was a jobs program and really struggled to find work in the field. If you can do it at night while working FT, great but don't take 1-2 years off work. It sounds appealing to be done ASAP but you're unlikely to make up that 60-120K/year in lost wages. Unless you're fabulously wealthy. Good luck.

repsilat 9y ago
> algorithms and data structures being the most applicable There's really not much off that to be had -- one introductory theory + algorithms course, one course on algorithms and complexity for parallel and distributed programs, and after that just a few domain-specific things -- image processing and machine-learning algorithms. I thought the program was worthwhile because it was cheap and flexible. I could watch lectures on the train on my commute. Quality is mixed, though, and other degrees or (as you say) real-world experience could prove more valuable, depending on their own quality -- I wouldn't assume that any programming experience is better than this program.
- SEJeff 9y ago
  If you want to learn about Algorithms, you need to buy the entire series on Algorithms from Robert Sedgewick: https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Parts-1-4-Fundamentals-Structures/dp/0201314525 https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Parts-1-4-Fundamentals-Str... https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rs/ https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rs/ I don't think there is a single better source on algorithms than everything from Robert Sedgewick.
  - auggierose 9y ago
    Some would say this is a pretty good source too: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms
  - kchoudhu 9y ago
    I recommend anything other than Sedgwick for algorithms and data structures. I damned near didn't touch a computer for two years after being forced to trudge through his books in college.
- ordinaryperson 9y ago
  > I wouldn't assume that any programming experience is better than this program. I don't. Just want the OP to not get degree fever, assuming they'll be flooded with job offers b/c they have a CS masters. In developer interviews I've never had anyone even bring up my education once, mostly I think it helps get me past the HR filter at big cos. But I loved my master's program, I'd recommend school to anyone if they can do it without spending a ton of money, like this program.
  - le-mark 9y ago
    This is the crux imo, higher degrees somehow justifying higher salary and positions to normal business types. I often tell people I can tell when someone can do this job by talking to them for a few minutes and asking a few questions, formal education or not. This career is very unique in that regard. But typical large company HR will use the lack of degree or lower degree like an AS as justification to pay less or deny promotion. I've found advanced degrees are not an indicator of programming ability, and maybe even negative correlation.
  - ThrustVectoring 9y ago
    IMO, being able to show the degree off to immigration bureaucrats is more valuable. Being able to code doesn't let you get better citizenship options, being able to prove to bureaucrats that you have valuable skills does. A Master's in Computer Science from an accredited American school is a great option for doing that. And the OP is from Brazil.
heedlessly 9y ago
at my university there actually isn't much of a difference between a master's salaries and bachelors. There's a 10k difference, however, the average undergrad would not get into the master's program. Undergrad gpa is 2.9/4 while the master's program required at least 3.4/4 minimum. I'm sure if you compare the best 25% of undergrad's salaries out of college, then it would be comparable to the average master's student salary.
MuffinFlavored 9y ago
$170k/yr in what city?
luckydude 9y ago
I used to think Google was nuts in the early days, they really wanted people to have a PhD. Here's how my opinion has evolved based on hiring people for my own company. It's a workshop analogy. A self taught person (the real projects suggestion above) is sort of like a messy shop where nothing is in its place. A messy shop isn't inherently worse, it is absolutely capable of producing fantastic work. An educated person is sort of like a neat shop, there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. A neat shop doesn't guarantee that you'll produce fantastic work. In my experience, while the self taught person can do great work, it frequently takes longer than the person with a formal education. As an example, I had a guy working on a compiler for me (because we really needed another programming language :) One of my other guys said "I think you're gonna need an AST for that" and the compiler guy, self taught, was like "Uh, no, I'm pretty sure I can do it without". That went on for a few months and then he did an AST. I think if he had taken a formal compiler class he would have gone straight to the AST (and one might wonder why I didn't have the guy who had formal education do the compiler; good question, I needed his talents elsewhere). Anyhoo, not sure I made a compelling argument but I slowly came to value formally trained people like Google does (or did, not sure who they hire these days).

repsilat 9y ago

> algorithms and data structures being the most applicable There's really not much off that to be had -- one introductory theory + algorithms course, one course on algorithms and complexity for parallel and distributed programs, and after that just a few domain-specific things -- image processing and machine-learning algorithms. I thought the program was worthwhile because it was cheap and flexible. I could watch lectures on the train on my commute. Quality is mixed, though, and other degrees or (as you say) real-world experience could prove more valuable, depending on their own quality -- I wouldn't assume that any programming experience is better than this program.

SEJeff 9y ago
If you want to learn about Algorithms, you need to buy the entire series on Algorithms from Robert Sedgewick: https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Parts-1-4-Fundamentals-Structures/dp/0201314525 https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Parts-1-4-Fundamentals-Str... https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rs/ https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rs/ I don't think there is a single better source on algorithms than everything from Robert Sedgewick.
- auggierose 9y ago
  Some would say this is a pretty good source too: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  I recommend anything other than Sedgwick for algorithms and data structures. I damned near didn't touch a computer for two years after being forced to trudge through his books in college.
ordinaryperson 9y ago
> I wouldn't assume that any programming experience is better than this program. I don't. Just want the OP to not get degree fever, assuming they'll be flooded with job offers b/c they have a CS masters. In developer interviews I've never had anyone even bring up my education once, mostly I think it helps get me past the HR filter at big cos. But I loved my master's program, I'd recommend school to anyone if they can do it without spending a ton of money, like this program.
- le-mark 9y ago
  This is the crux imo, higher degrees somehow justifying higher salary and positions to normal business types. I often tell people I can tell when someone can do this job by talking to them for a few minutes and asking a few questions, formal education or not. This career is very unique in that regard. But typical large company HR will use the lack of degree or lower degree like an AS as justification to pay less or deny promotion. I've found advanced degrees are not an indicator of programming ability, and maybe even negative correlation.
- ThrustVectoring 9y ago
  IMO, being able to show the degree off to immigration bureaucrats is more valuable. Being able to code doesn't let you get better citizenship options, being able to prove to bureaucrats that you have valuable skills does. A Master's in Computer Science from an accredited American school is a great option for doing that. And the OP is from Brazil.

heedlessly 9y ago

at my university there actually isn't much of a difference between a master's salaries and bachelors. There's a 10k difference, however, the average undergrad would not get into the master's program. Undergrad gpa is 2.9/4 while the master's program required at least 3.4/4 minimum. I'm sure if you compare the best 25% of undergrad's salaries out of college, then it would be comparable to the average master's student salary.

MuffinFlavored 9y ago

$170k/yr in what city?

luckydude 9y ago

I used to think Google was nuts in the early days, they really wanted people to have a PhD. Here's how my opinion has evolved based on hiring people for my own company. It's a workshop analogy. A self taught person (the real projects suggestion above) is sort of like a messy shop where nothing is in its place. A messy shop isn't inherently worse, it is absolutely capable of producing fantastic work. An educated person is sort of like a neat shop, there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. A neat shop doesn't guarantee that you'll produce fantastic work. In my experience, while the self taught person can do great work, it frequently takes longer than the person with a formal education. As an example, I had a guy working on a compiler for me (because we really needed another programming language :) One of my other guys said "I think you're gonna need an AST for that" and the compiler guy, self taught, was like "Uh, no, I'm pretty sure I can do it without". That went on for a few months and then he did an AST. I think if he had taken a formal compiler class he would have gone straight to the AST (and one might wonder why I didn't have the guy who had formal education do the compiler; good question, I needed his talents elsewhere). Anyhoo, not sure I made a compelling argument but I slowly came to value formally trained people like Google does (or did, not sure who they hire these days).