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My wife is doing a CS master's, after having done another master's during the lockdown. I'm looking over her shoulder, as I did with my brother a few years ago.

My wife is doing a CS master's, after having done another master's during the lockdown. I'm looking over her shoulder, as I did with my brother a few years ago. It's been interesting to see how she thinks about algorithms and coding from a fresh start. As a longtime coder I've found it interesting to dive back into some basic algorithms. Something about how it is taught to students makes it harder than just learning it as an already experienced dev. I find I can gloss over a lot of the stuff, but there are still details that I don't understand. One thing that helps a lot is modern learning resources, basically websites and videos about the same topics, done by someone else. It's quite different from when I was in uni and you were stuck with the people you had around you and the same old books. Now if I don't quite understand insertion sort, there's a variety of explanations. For those interested there's a number of UK universities that offer a remote master's. Takes a year full time and two part time, and you can often pay by the module. You might also be able to use the virus situation to get a "non-remote" master's remotely, which my wife managed to do last year.

Mike_Jordan 5y ago
> For those interested there's a number of UK universities that offer a remote master's. Would you say it is worth pursuing Masters from the UK university? If you dont mind which university would you consider worth it?
- lordnacho 5y ago
  Depends a bit on your background. It's pretty convenient for me to just have the course available to look at, and since I've been coding for many years it's not terribly time consuming to fill in the gaps. For someone who's never done anything technical it's quite a leap, but not impossible. I can see she's increasing in confidence from learning this type of stuff, which is really positive. If you're doing it to get a job, then it does seem likely that a CS master's will get you some interviews. Certainly the content is what you'd expect. It's a red brick (certain unis that were established I think in the 1800s?) she's studying at, so pretty good rep but not Oxbridge, which has its own aura. But worthwhile for sure, people won't look down on a red brick.
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    > not Oxbridge, which has its own aura Yes, although they're not particularly well regarded for CS (not bad, just not better than other places). They have a reputation for being overly focussed on theory, and this is also a discipline that other universities do very well.
    - bambataa 5y ago
      Where is considered good in the UK for computer science? Imperial? I really like the look of Oxford’s computer science courses, but that’s partly because of the theoretical/philosophical bent to them.
      - lordnacho 5y ago
        Imperial is considered top notch, for sure. The Oxbridge aura extends to every course, nobody would really know anything other than that you went there. Whether it's good or not, my guess is it's much the same menu as anywhere else in any established broad degree course. There'll be optional courses that take you more theoretical or more practical, totally up to you, but the content ain't gonna vary terribly much.

Mike_Jordan 5y ago

> For those interested there's a number of UK universities that offer a remote master's. Would you say it is worth pursuing Masters from the UK university? If you dont mind which university would you consider worth it?

lordnacho 5y ago
Depends a bit on your background. It's pretty convenient for me to just have the course available to look at, and since I've been coding for many years it's not terribly time consuming to fill in the gaps. For someone who's never done anything technical it's quite a leap, but not impossible. I can see she's increasing in confidence from learning this type of stuff, which is really positive. If you're doing it to get a job, then it does seem likely that a CS master's will get you some interviews. Certainly the content is what you'd expect. It's a red brick (certain unis that were established I think in the 1800s?) she's studying at, so pretty good rep but not Oxbridge, which has its own aura. But worthwhile for sure, people won't look down on a red brick.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  > not Oxbridge, which has its own aura Yes, although they're not particularly well regarded for CS (not bad, just not better than other places). They have a reputation for being overly focussed on theory, and this is also a discipline that other universities do very well.
  - bambataa 5y ago
    Where is considered good in the UK for computer science? Imperial? I really like the look of Oxford’s computer science courses, but that’s partly because of the theoretical/philosophical bent to them.
    - lordnacho 5y ago
      Imperial is considered top notch, for sure. The Oxbridge aura extends to every course, nobody would really know anything other than that you went there. Whether it's good or not, my guess is it's much the same menu as anywhere else in any established broad degree course. There'll be optional courses that take you more theoretical or more practical, totally up to you, but the content ain't gonna vary terribly much.