6 ms·

I'm personally in the Georgia Tech Online Master's in Computer Science (OMSCS) program right now and can't say enough good things about it. The coursework is ri

I'm personally in the Georgia Tech Online Master's in Computer Science (OMSCS) program right now and can't say enough good things about it. The coursework is rigorous, deep, and varied, you really do learn quite a bit through the program and more than just random learning on your own, you get a degree out of it. Plus you get the opportunity to do some research and publish papers.

sthatipamala 4y ago
I'm also a proud OMSCS alum! But "the opportunity to do some research and publish papers" is certainly not the default. Can you describe how you were able to do that?
- allanbreyes 4y ago
  Check out https://lucylabs.gatech.edu https://lucylabs.gatech.edu! David Joyner started it to help foster this opportunity for students and alumni, alike.
- driscoll42 4y ago
  So there are a few ways now! I do agree that it's not the default, I'd probably say <5% of people do, but it does exist. 1. Courses -There are a number of courses now where you can create projects and publish papers. Again, not the default, but if you put in the effort it's doable. To name a few, Computing for Good, Big Data for Healthcare, Deep Learning, Educational Technology, Human-Computer Interaction and others. 2. VIPs! These I consider one of the "hidden" gems of OMSCS and what I personally did. You can see them here: https://www.vip.gatech.edu/ https://www.vip.gatech.edu/ but basically instead of a class for a semester (but counts as a class for credit and graduation purposes) you work for a professor on a project with several other grads/undergrads. I did one this past semester and was asked to stay on as a research assistant over the summer doing work in NLP. Really excited for it actually and has been a fantastic opportunity. I put a lot more details here - https://redd.it/u6cj5z https://redd.it/u6cj5z 3. Master's Project/Thesis - This is the option to do a Master's Project or thesis instead of just ten courses, but it does require more work from the student to find a professor and do that. There's many more details here https://redd.it/9t48b2 https://redd.it/9t48b2 and frankly I wish I had done so, but too late now.
  - marksimi 4y ago
    This is the most comprehensive list of what I've seen for OMSCS research opportunities. Thanks for pulling this together.
treeman79 4y ago
I’ve had good experiences working with people from there.
donthellbanme 4y ago
The problem is when you have paid the tuition, and finished the degree, it's so hard to objectively rate it. I have a Bachelor's degree from a decent state school in California. At the time, I felt the courses were too easy, and my four years were a bit of a waste of time. I remember going to a graduation party, and you would think we graduated from med school. The graduates were carrying on like it was so rigrigrous. (I have a very, very average intellect too. I actually flunked kindergarten.) To this day I will not denigrate the school in any way.
- yumraj 4y ago
  I have no idea how one flunks the kindergarten, but I’m pretty sure that it does not reflect one’s intellect in anyway. Am pretty sure there’s an interesting story there somewhere :)
  - coastflow 4y ago
    Out of curiosity, I found a sample kindergarten curriculum for the province of Ontario in Canada. [0] Children as young as four in the province are evaluated by educators on (pages 306–308): the development of the ability to interpret and respond to basic communication, demonstrate independence and "self-motivation" in learning, giving and accepting constructive criticism, developing problem solving skills ("e.g. trial and error, checking and guessing, cross-checking), personal hygiene, self-control of emotions, assertiveness when feeling safe or uncomfortable, and other skills. Indicators that educators look for include phrases from children such as "I'm really frustrated" (page 161) as a demonstration as an awareness and ability to label emotions; "I put my vehicle on the shelf so it would be safe" (page 167) as evidence of problem-solving ability; and persistence in difficult games (e.g. card games and outdoor children's games). I was also curious whether education in kindergarten could actually have a causal effect on improving long-term outcomes. I couldn't find an immediate conclusion on whether or not interventions are effective, but in at least one paper, it's treated as established knowledge that interventions work. From a quick search, a longitudinal study published in a paper called "Task-Oriented Kindergarten Behavior Pays Off in Later Childhood" [1] with 2837 participants showed a correlation between self-regulation skills in kindergarten and long-term outcomes. The researchers wrote that "early screening by teachers [in kindergarten] introduces the possibility of preventing future learning and behavioral difficulties." They also asserted that "classroom engagement is malleable and amenable to interventions." While causality was not clearly established in this paper alone, it looks like a reasonable prediction from the correlation that improving classroom engagement as early as in kindergarten could plausibly lead to better life outcomes in years later in life. TL;DR: While kindergarten in Ontario in recent years may have different expectations than the commenter's time in kindergarten, it appears that educators do evaluate young children on general life skills (e.g. self-control and ability to be aware and label emotions) as a screening tool, and also potentially for interventions to improve engagement in the classroom (which could plausibly lead to better outcomes in years later in life). [0] PDF, 2016: https://files.ontario.ca/books/edu_the_kindergarten_program_english_aoda_web_oct7.pdf https://files.ontario.ca/books/edu_the_kindergarten_program_... [1] 2013: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23369956/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23369956/
wirthjason 4y ago
I have a more mixed experience with the OMSCS. Overall it's a good program, and if the choice is between Udemy or OMSCS then it wins hands down. For me the central issue is online vs. in-person. Education is an interactive experience, the value of a good professor and classmates is helping to identify issues when you are stuck and nudge you just enough for you to connect the dots. As an undergraduate I liked attending study groups and office hours. I learned as much from my peers, both me helping them and them helping me, as I did from my professors. This spirit was difficult to replicate this in OMSCS. The problem is that high tough, in-person communication is very effective but this doesn't "scale" well. I can only imagine how different the world would be if Plato was teaching online. :) Also I was in the 2nd cohort, there were certainly a lot of "bugs" and issues they were working through. Additionally, the culture of video conference and zoom was also less a few years ago, which could make an impact.
- knicholes 4y ago
  I was in the second or third cohorts, and I dropped out during the first course because the assignment was to write their registration system for them for free. They had specific requirements for Java, MySQL, etc. If I'm going to work, I'm sure as hell not going to be paying to do it.
  - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
    I’m incredulous. That sounds like some kind of abuse of power.
  - kettleballroll 4y ago
    I'm sorry, but this doesn't sound credible. You wouldn't let potential newbies write an important part of your infra. Plus a credible school has more than enough software developers. Might it have been the other way around, that the people who actually wrote the system have designed assignments that are based on their experience? That's something I sometimes did when I held classes: nothing gets you closer to a realistic real-world practice problem than the one you just solved yourself
- 4y ago
1983054104 4y ago
I created this account for a specific question because the subject is something I'm thinking of right now. My question is: How much time do you invest every day on this degree? I dropped out of my MS degree 20 years ago and would love to do that again, but I feel like I would only have (at most) 1 hour a day to work on it due to all my work and family commitments. I could squeeze an additional hour at work to learn but that's about it.
- wil421 4y ago
  Not sure how old your kids are but last time this topic came up I asked someone a similar question. My kids are both under 3 and they said no way if your kids are very young. I don’t think an hour would cut it unless you had a large part of Saturday you could spend time doing projects.
- Icathian 4y ago
  I'm almost done with my OMSCS run. An hour a day won't cut it. Most people either do a couple hours an evening plus a chunk on weekends, or else dedicate most of their weekend. I tend to fall in the first camp, and then also add more weekend for harder classes. The time commitment varies from 5-30 hours per week depending on the class. Most classes fall pretty close to 10 per week in my experience, but I also have been mostly picking medium difficulty classes on purpose.
- ecshafer 4y ago
  It varies for me. I am a bit over half way through. I think I spend on average 10-20 hours a week doing work for the class. But I typically am the type to burn a weekend doing a project then do not much work for the next week.
- driscoll42 4y ago
  I'm sad to say that an hour a day is unlikely to let you finish the program productively. You can look at https://omscentral.com/courses https://omscentral.com/courses for student's estimates of how long they spent per week in courses, but most are over 10 and quite a few 20-30. You can get through it by taking some easier courses, but it is like a second job in many ways.
el_benhameen 4y ago
I’m curious whether anyone here is doing/has done OMSCS with a family in addition to a day job. I would love to do the program, but I’m not sure how realistic it is to take it on with young kids in the house. Does all of your non-work time end up being consumed by coursework?
- alanfranz 4y ago
  You can do one class per term, and even skip terms. You can alternate hard classes and easier classes. If you don’t rush, it’s doable. Source: graduated from omscs last year, with two small kids and a full time job. Took 3.5y though, and I had to skip a couple of hard but interesting classes because they would have been too difficult given the situation (covid lockdowns with kids at home and increased job-related workload)
- fm2606 4y ago
  I did my degree online with a "day" job and young family. My kids were 6 and 3 at the time. But my job wasn't a 9-5 so I didn't have that burden. Also, it got to the point where the day after lectures were posted, which were around 9 pm to midnight, I would get up at 3:30 a.m. to watch a 3 hour lecture. The old adage "where there is a will there is a way" is definitely true.
- JoeDaDude 4y ago
  I did in person MSCS with a day job and one kid, about 7 years old at the time. It's doable with a supportive spouse. I spent one or two hours (outside of class) a during the week, and sometimes more during the weekends. I completed this at one class per semester, except for the semester I attempted two classes to speed up the process. While I was able to complete both classes, I felt the learning suffered as I was just rushing to complete assignments in time instead of really learning the material.
- njhartwell 4y ago
  I just graduated from OMSCS and have four young kids and a full time job. It took me four years and I made full use of my employer’s generous continuing ed program (50 days/year, introduced about a year after I started) which kept after-hours work to a manageable level. I had to pass on a few good courses due to predicted workload, but made it through a good number of the harder/more rewarding ones and am very happy to have done it. I do not think I would have stuck with it if I was working 40 hours/week and doing the program entirely on my own time.

sthatipamala 4y ago

I'm also a proud OMSCS alum! But "the opportunity to do some research and publish papers" is certainly not the default. Can you describe how you were able to do that?

allanbreyes 4y ago
Check out https://lucylabs.gatech.edu https://lucylabs.gatech.edu! David Joyner started it to help foster this opportunity for students and alumni, alike.
driscoll42 4y ago
So there are a few ways now! I do agree that it's not the default, I'd probably say <5% of people do, but it does exist. 1. Courses -There are a number of courses now where you can create projects and publish papers. Again, not the default, but if you put in the effort it's doable. To name a few, Computing for Good, Big Data for Healthcare, Deep Learning, Educational Technology, Human-Computer Interaction and others. 2. VIPs! These I consider one of the "hidden" gems of OMSCS and what I personally did. You can see them here: https://www.vip.gatech.edu/ https://www.vip.gatech.edu/ but basically instead of a class for a semester (but counts as a class for credit and graduation purposes) you work for a professor on a project with several other grads/undergrads. I did one this past semester and was asked to stay on as a research assistant over the summer doing work in NLP. Really excited for it actually and has been a fantastic opportunity. I put a lot more details here - https://redd.it/u6cj5z https://redd.it/u6cj5z 3. Master's Project/Thesis - This is the option to do a Master's Project or thesis instead of just ten courses, but it does require more work from the student to find a professor and do that. There's many more details here https://redd.it/9t48b2 https://redd.it/9t48b2 and frankly I wish I had done so, but too late now.
- marksimi 4y ago
  This is the most comprehensive list of what I've seen for OMSCS research opportunities. Thanks for pulling this together.

treeman79 4y ago

I’ve had good experiences working with people from there.

donthellbanme 4y ago

The problem is when you have paid the tuition, and finished the degree, it's so hard to objectively rate it. I have a Bachelor's degree from a decent state school in California. At the time, I felt the courses were too easy, and my four years were a bit of a waste of time. I remember going to a graduation party, and you would think we graduated from med school. The graduates were carrying on like it was so rigrigrous. (I have a very, very average intellect too. I actually flunked kindergarten.) To this day I will not denigrate the school in any way.

yumraj 4y ago
I have no idea how one flunks the kindergarten, but I’m pretty sure that it does not reflect one’s intellect in anyway. Am pretty sure there’s an interesting story there somewhere :)
- coastflow 4y ago
  Out of curiosity, I found a sample kindergarten curriculum for the province of Ontario in Canada. [0] Children as young as four in the province are evaluated by educators on (pages 306–308): the development of the ability to interpret and respond to basic communication, demonstrate independence and "self-motivation" in learning, giving and accepting constructive criticism, developing problem solving skills ("e.g. trial and error, checking and guessing, cross-checking), personal hygiene, self-control of emotions, assertiveness when feeling safe or uncomfortable, and other skills. Indicators that educators look for include phrases from children such as "I'm really frustrated" (page 161) as a demonstration as an awareness and ability to label emotions; "I put my vehicle on the shelf so it would be safe" (page 167) as evidence of problem-solving ability; and persistence in difficult games (e.g. card games and outdoor children's games). I was also curious whether education in kindergarten could actually have a causal effect on improving long-term outcomes. I couldn't find an immediate conclusion on whether or not interventions are effective, but in at least one paper, it's treated as established knowledge that interventions work. From a quick search, a longitudinal study published in a paper called "Task-Oriented Kindergarten Behavior Pays Off in Later Childhood" [1] with 2837 participants showed a correlation between self-regulation skills in kindergarten and long-term outcomes. The researchers wrote that "early screening by teachers [in kindergarten] introduces the possibility of preventing future learning and behavioral difficulties." They also asserted that "classroom engagement is malleable and amenable to interventions." While causality was not clearly established in this paper alone, it looks like a reasonable prediction from the correlation that improving classroom engagement as early as in kindergarten could plausibly lead to better life outcomes in years later in life. TL;DR: While kindergarten in Ontario in recent years may have different expectations than the commenter's time in kindergarten, it appears that educators do evaluate young children on general life skills (e.g. self-control and ability to be aware and label emotions) as a screening tool, and also potentially for interventions to improve engagement in the classroom (which could plausibly lead to better outcomes in years later in life). [0] PDF, 2016: https://files.ontario.ca/books/edu_the_kindergarten_program_english_aoda_web_oct7.pdf https://files.ontario.ca/books/edu_the_kindergarten_program_... [1] 2013: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23369956/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23369956/

wirthjason 4y ago

I have a more mixed experience with the OMSCS. Overall it's a good program, and if the choice is between Udemy or OMSCS then it wins hands down. For me the central issue is online vs. in-person. Education is an interactive experience, the value of a good professor and classmates is helping to identify issues when you are stuck and nudge you just enough for you to connect the dots. As an undergraduate I liked attending study groups and office hours. I learned as much from my peers, both me helping them and them helping me, as I did from my professors. This spirit was difficult to replicate this in OMSCS. The problem is that high tough, in-person communication is very effective but this doesn't "scale" well. I can only imagine how different the world would be if Plato was teaching online. :) Also I was in the 2nd cohort, there were certainly a lot of "bugs" and issues they were working through. Additionally, the culture of video conference and zoom was also less a few years ago, which could make an impact.

knicholes 4y ago
I was in the second or third cohorts, and I dropped out during the first course because the assignment was to write their registration system for them for free. They had specific requirements for Java, MySQL, etc. If I'm going to work, I'm sure as hell not going to be paying to do it.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  I’m incredulous. That sounds like some kind of abuse of power.
- kettleballroll 4y ago
  I'm sorry, but this doesn't sound credible. You wouldn't let potential newbies write an important part of your infra. Plus a credible school has more than enough software developers. Might it have been the other way around, that the people who actually wrote the system have designed assignments that are based on their experience? That's something I sometimes did when I held classes: nothing gets you closer to a realistic real-world practice problem than the one you just solved yourself
4y ago

1983054104 4y ago

I created this account for a specific question because the subject is something I'm thinking of right now. My question is: How much time do you invest every day on this degree? I dropped out of my MS degree 20 years ago and would love to do that again, but I feel like I would only have (at most) 1 hour a day to work on it due to all my work and family commitments. I could squeeze an additional hour at work to learn but that's about it.

wil421 4y ago
Not sure how old your kids are but last time this topic came up I asked someone a similar question. My kids are both under 3 and they said no way if your kids are very young. I don’t think an hour would cut it unless you had a large part of Saturday you could spend time doing projects.
Icathian 4y ago
I'm almost done with my OMSCS run. An hour a day won't cut it. Most people either do a couple hours an evening plus a chunk on weekends, or else dedicate most of their weekend. I tend to fall in the first camp, and then also add more weekend for harder classes. The time commitment varies from 5-30 hours per week depending on the class. Most classes fall pretty close to 10 per week in my experience, but I also have been mostly picking medium difficulty classes on purpose.
ecshafer 4y ago
It varies for me. I am a bit over half way through. I think I spend on average 10-20 hours a week doing work for the class. But I typically am the type to burn a weekend doing a project then do not much work for the next week.
driscoll42 4y ago
I'm sad to say that an hour a day is unlikely to let you finish the program productively. You can look at https://omscentral.com/courses https://omscentral.com/courses for student's estimates of how long they spent per week in courses, but most are over 10 and quite a few 20-30. You can get through it by taking some easier courses, but it is like a second job in many ways.

el_benhameen 4y ago

I’m curious whether anyone here is doing/has done OMSCS with a family in addition to a day job. I would love to do the program, but I’m not sure how realistic it is to take it on with young kids in the house. Does all of your non-work time end up being consumed by coursework?

alanfranz 4y ago
You can do one class per term, and even skip terms. You can alternate hard classes and easier classes. If you don’t rush, it’s doable. Source: graduated from omscs last year, with two small kids and a full time job. Took 3.5y though, and I had to skip a couple of hard but interesting classes because they would have been too difficult given the situation (covid lockdowns with kids at home and increased job-related workload)
fm2606 4y ago
I did my degree online with a "day" job and young family. My kids were 6 and 3 at the time. But my job wasn't a 9-5 so I didn't have that burden. Also, it got to the point where the day after lectures were posted, which were around 9 pm to midnight, I would get up at 3:30 a.m. to watch a 3 hour lecture. The old adage "where there is a will there is a way" is definitely true.
JoeDaDude 4y ago
I did in person MSCS with a day job and one kid, about 7 years old at the time. It's doable with a supportive spouse. I spent one or two hours (outside of class) a during the week, and sometimes more during the weekends. I completed this at one class per semester, except for the semester I attempted two classes to speed up the process. While I was able to complete both classes, I felt the learning suffered as I was just rushing to complete assignments in time instead of really learning the material.
njhartwell 4y ago
I just graduated from OMSCS and have four young kids and a full time job. It took me four years and I made full use of my employer’s generous continuing ed program (50 days/year, introduced about a year after I started) which kept after-hours work to a manageable level. I had to pass on a few good courses due to predicted workload, but made it through a good number of the harder/more rewarding ones and am very happy to have done it. I do not think I would have stuck with it if I was working 40 hours/week and doing the program entirely on my own time.