3 ms·

Can anyone who is taking/has taken the program and who has a family and full time employment comment on how the time commitment fits into your life, both in ter

Can anyone who is taking/has taken the program and who has a family and full time employment comment on how the time commitment fits into your life, both in terms of course workload and the overall length of the program? I keep finding myself looking at omscs, but I’m a full time swe and I have kids so the prospect of another major time commitment is a little daunting.

orware 8y ago
It can definitely be difficult working full-time with a family. I hit the halfway point in the program in Fall 2017 (after starting in Summer 2014) and I haven't been able to make any progress since then. I know in order to do well in the classes I sign up for that I need to spend the needed time to complete the work, but it's been super difficult for me and balancing time with my wife and kids and my work. I really wish they could launch more self-paced options for the courses, rather than keeping strictly to their on campus semester schedule. To stay active in the program I have to keep on signing up for classes, but then end up dropping them over the past few semesters. On the one hand I want the masters degree, but on the other hand it's difficult to force myself to stay motivated and interested in the classes since not all of them are fun/enjoyable (or allow for the time to learn in a more self-paced manner). I'm also not a big fan of online testing / proctoring...I would rather just complete projects ideally. There've been other students that have been successful in the program even with full-time work, signficant others, and children in the mix, but those first few years in the program were definitely a sacrifice personally and it's been difficult to continue with that same level of sacrifice since the end of 2017 for me personally (hence my wish for a more self-paced option where I could accelerate/decelerate my own progress since the tie to the regular semesters really slows down my ability to make progress as someone that has difficult fully dedicating the time regularly now).
alanfranz 8y ago
Check with your employer. You may be able to bargain some time off that you can dedicate to your education. I was able to get a full day off, and it's usually enough to do most of the work, if you're able to leverage some parts of your lunch/commuting to watch lessons. I have a job and two kids. Remember that nobody forces you to graduate quickly. I always take one class AT MOST at the same time, so I don't get overwhelmed, and I alternate easier classes with harder ones, so I kind of "prepare ahead" for the harder class while attending the easier one.
allanbreyes 8y ago
OMSCS grad, father, and full-time SWE, here, also currently enrolled in the OMS Analytics program. I had my first kid mid-way through the program, and it was pretty rough. Something's gotta budge, and for me, it was sleep. In total, I pulled about 15 all-nighters, give or take, and watched a whole lot of lectures holding an infant. Most of the all-nighters were for large assignments/projects. It's tough, but can be done. Some tips: 1. Load-balance your courses. omscentral.com is an excellent resource for this, and I made sure that the workload never exceeded 20 hours per week (there's crowd-sourced statistics there). Pairing some of the more work-intensive courses with "easier" courses was very helpful, in retrospect. 2. Spread out your courses. It's self-paced! You can take 1 course per semester, skip a semester, etc. Before my kid arrived, I front-loaded and took a 3-course semester. 3. Watch lectures at 2x speed. This was clutch. Most of the content has very slow speakers, likely for clarity, so if you're a native English speaker, watching at 2x speed is usually reasonable. 4. Be okay with mediocre grades. This was probably the most liberating aspect for me. In undergrad, I really cared about my grades. Not caring about grades in OMSCS (or caring more about learning what I want to learn) was more liberating. There were many times I submitted sub-par assignments because they just didn't interest me, or I would rather have spent time with my family. Hope this helps. If you attend the program, join the unofficial Slack group (I run it). Happy to chat with you offline.
- jki275 8y ago
  The grade thing is huge. I've always been a 4.0 type, pushing for As in every course, but it just isn't realistic here. Bs work, I don't care about GPA, I'm trying to learn and get the degree at the end.
jki275 8y ago
It doesn't. You work your life around it. If you're only taking one course you can probably pull it off, otherwise you're going to have a bad time. There is a ton of lecture content, assigned reading, projects and tests -- much of it beyond what's available in the free udacity courses. I've been taking two courses/semester and it's a significant commitment. 40+ hours per week.

orware 8y ago

It can definitely be difficult working full-time with a family. I hit the halfway point in the program in Fall 2017 (after starting in Summer 2014) and I haven't been able to make any progress since then. I know in order to do well in the classes I sign up for that I need to spend the needed time to complete the work, but it's been super difficult for me and balancing time with my wife and kids and my work. I really wish they could launch more self-paced options for the courses, rather than keeping strictly to their on campus semester schedule. To stay active in the program I have to keep on signing up for classes, but then end up dropping them over the past few semesters. On the one hand I want the masters degree, but on the other hand it's difficult to force myself to stay motivated and interested in the classes since not all of them are fun/enjoyable (or allow for the time to learn in a more self-paced manner). I'm also not a big fan of online testing / proctoring...I would rather just complete projects ideally. There've been other students that have been successful in the program even with full-time work, signficant others, and children in the mix, but those first few years in the program were definitely a sacrifice personally and it's been difficult to continue with that same level of sacrifice since the end of 2017 for me personally (hence my wish for a more self-paced option where I could accelerate/decelerate my own progress since the tie to the regular semesters really slows down my ability to make progress as someone that has difficult fully dedicating the time regularly now).

alanfranz 8y ago

Check with your employer. You may be able to bargain some time off that you can dedicate to your education. I was able to get a full day off, and it's usually enough to do most of the work, if you're able to leverage some parts of your lunch/commuting to watch lessons. I have a job and two kids. Remember that nobody forces you to graduate quickly. I always take one class AT MOST at the same time, so I don't get overwhelmed, and I alternate easier classes with harder ones, so I kind of "prepare ahead" for the harder class while attending the easier one.

allanbreyes 8y ago

OMSCS grad, father, and full-time SWE, here, also currently enrolled in the OMS Analytics program. I had my first kid mid-way through the program, and it was pretty rough. Something's gotta budge, and for me, it was sleep. In total, I pulled about 15 all-nighters, give or take, and watched a whole lot of lectures holding an infant. Most of the all-nighters were for large assignments/projects. It's tough, but can be done. Some tips: 1. Load-balance your courses. omscentral.com is an excellent resource for this, and I made sure that the workload never exceeded 20 hours per week (there's crowd-sourced statistics there). Pairing some of the more work-intensive courses with "easier" courses was very helpful, in retrospect. 2. Spread out your courses. It's self-paced! You can take 1 course per semester, skip a semester, etc. Before my kid arrived, I front-loaded and took a 3-course semester. 3. Watch lectures at 2x speed. This was clutch. Most of the content has very slow speakers, likely for clarity, so if you're a native English speaker, watching at 2x speed is usually reasonable. 4. Be okay with mediocre grades. This was probably the most liberating aspect for me. In undergrad, I really cared about my grades. Not caring about grades in OMSCS (or caring more about learning what I want to learn) was more liberating. There were many times I submitted sub-par assignments because they just didn't interest me, or I would rather have spent time with my family. Hope this helps. If you attend the program, join the unofficial Slack group (I run it). Happy to chat with you offline.

jki275 8y ago
The grade thing is huge. I've always been a 4.0 type, pushing for As in every course, but it just isn't realistic here. Bs work, I don't care about GPA, I'm trying to learn and get the degree at the end.

jki275 8y ago

It doesn't. You work your life around it. If you're only taking one course you can probably pull it off, otherwise you're going to have a bad time. There is a ton of lecture content, assigned reading, projects and tests -- much of it beyond what's available in the free udacity courses. I've been taking two courses/semester and it's a significant commitment. 40+ hours per week.