4 ms·
Ask HN: Bored of enterprise CRUD – should I do a masters?
I've worked as a web developer for about five years, coming from a background in UX design, and feel I lack intellectual stimulation. My degree is completely non-technical (English lit, Cambridge). Would a masters in computer science unlock more interesting work?
I am specifically interested in the MSc in Computing Science offered by Imperial College London. It's open to non-tech graduates and looks like it offers a lot more than your usual conversion course -with modules in ML, AI, CV and graphics programming.
But would it be a good investment? I want to do something more technical than shuffle strings about web interfaces. I feel like I've learned all I can in that domain: I've done high performance distributed systems, I've done web graphics (inc WebGL), I must have written twenty JS/TS Single Page Apps, including Angular and Redux and vanilla stacks and all the rest.
I'm bored. And I feel jealous of my colleagues in data science and computer vision. I feel jealous of the C++ embedded systems contractor we brought in a little while ago. I'm jealous because I want to do something hard, and because I don't like working on commodity software, where you're addressing straightforward technical problems in a micromanaged environment. What's my best way out of that?
- viraptor 9y agoUnless you're interested in academia, research, or a big-corp position that filters by education, I don't believe MSc will unlock anything for you. Your experience should be good enough on its own after 5+ years. If you want to learn any specific tech, you can read papers and play with the code on your own. If you want something more structured, you can pick up the course resources. I understand this may not apply to you because of learning style preferences, but I wouldn't recommend doing an MSc if you're interested in just the tech skills. (I've got a masters deg.) Escaping the micromanagement he'll send a bit orthogonal to technologies. You could look for smaller, or more reasonable places to do that. You don't need to change your skillset.
- indogooner 9y agoHaving a masters will definitely unlock more opportunities for you (both academia and industry) but there are other ways of achieving it. You can take courses online and see how you like the courses (don't have to go full throttle just check if you find it interesting enough). If you find it right fit you can go for full-fledged masters program. You can also earn certificates and try for a position in a startup which is willing to bet on you solving hard problems for them. I have a masters degree and while I enjoyed my masters work I learnt a lot more in same period (~1.5 yrs) in industry. YMMV as I have always learnt more outside classroom by self-learning/hands-on. Btw I have seen a lot of higher degree holders also work on CRUD apps at BigCos. Those jobs will always outnumber niche jobs.
- dsacco 9y agoI don't recommend a Master's degree unless you'd like one to pursue a research position in academia or an industry lab (Microsoft Research, IBM Research, Google Brain, FAIR, etc). Master's degrees come in two varieties: research degrees (Master's degrees with fewer courses and a thesis) and professional degrees (Master's degrees which are just coursework). Professional Master's degrees are not categorically different from Bachelor's degrees. You'll learn material you don't know that's more advanced than undergraduate material, but it won't really be anything you couldn't have learned on your own. On the other hand, a research Master's degree provides you with meaningful experience in how to do scholarly work. This is categorically different from what you're already used to. There is also advanced coursework involved, but the salient achievement of the degree is a thesis. This process will thoroughly acquaint you with the research frontier of various topics and the way you can independently conduct your own research. In computer science it's not uncommon to accomplish a novel research contribution through a Master's thesis. Research is extraordinarily difficult to teach yourself (it's usually a major red flag for someone in isolation to attempt research that's disconnected from the rest of the field). However, you're already an autodidact given your undergraduate concentration. You have the requisite educational maturity to teach yourself more advanced subject matter if you can find the right material and impose the structure on yourself. For this reason, a purely coursework-based Master's degree would not provide you with anything you cannot fundamentally do yourself for free and while still working full time. Examine your goals closely before you formulate a path forward and decide on it. Do you want to do research? Do you want jobs which mostly look for MSc or PhD candidates? What does the work of those jobs look like - do they emphasize the research component of past experience, or are they just looking for someone with advanced knowledge in a domain? How much free time do you have to devote to this, and are you willing to take a (potentially significant) cut in your salary to do it? The other thing you should be aware of is that Master's degrees are very expensive despite the fact that they're only one - two years consisting of six - eight courses. If you are willing to engage in research, you could try to be admitted to a PhD program instead. You would most likely earn an MSc on the way to the PhD without having to pay for it, because PhD programs are (almost always) fully funded. This also leaves your future options more open, regardless of whether or not you ultimately finish the full PhD.
- ccajas 9y ago