4 ms·
I 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
by dsacco 9y ago
I 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>I don't recommend a Master's degree unless you'd like one to pursue a research position in academia or an industry lab Even if their Bachelor's degree is unrelated to the one they want to get, like the OP? I'm on a similar boat, unrelated degree, but doing programming work and don't want to be stuck doing the mundane forever. People keep telling me conflicting advice. Get a MS if you have a bachelor's already. Get a BS in CS, your degree is unrelated. Or DON'T get another degree, and learn what you need online. For me I have an end goal in wanting to partake in space exploration because I really like the mission of some companies and agencies to put people on Mars and possibly beyond. That's not a hop, skip and jump away but I want to know if it's really worth for more than a research. Especially if you consider there are career-oriented MS degrees, like the programs at DePaul for example. What is your opinion on career-focused MS degrees like that one?
- dsacco 9y agoFirst and foremost, I don't think a second Bachelor's degree is rational in any scenario. If you are going to spend the money to augment your education with another degree, make it a Master's degree. I think there's an argument for doing a professional Master's degree if your undergraduate degree is in an unrelated discipline. I still believe a research Master's degree is a more valuable use of time, but a one-year professional Master's degree could also be valuable in that scenario. However, the caveat is that since you won't be learning anything you can't learn on your own, you should probably go into this for the signaling effect. Large tech companies don't require undergraduate degrees in a specific discipline (or any undergraduate degree at all for that matter), which means the university name is the thing you're paying for that you can't do on your own. In consideration of this I wouldn't do a Master's degree unless it was from a top 20 or so school.