There is a previous question ("Is a masters degree overkill?"), which is about the types of jobs available and the value of a masters when trying to get a job. What I am curious about the impact of programming ability.
I know you usually write a masters thesis on some topic, which I imagine forces you to specialize. Do your programming skills actually get rusty while getting a masters, or is there some benefit? Would it be more beneficial to work for the two years instead?
In my case, the Master's Degree did nothing to improve my ability as a programmer. I did learn more about the business-side and I found that valuable. For me, the only thing that has ever made me a better programmer is the constant experience with new and different technologies, ideas, languages, problems, solutions, etc. In other words, experience is your best teacher.
I went back to get my masters without having a CS bachelors.
This was a huge benefit to me I learned much of the "academic" stuff that I'd missed out on.
If you can manage to do it on nights and weekends, it might take you longer then 2 years, but you'll have both the experience and masters degree.
You'll get out of it what you put in, if you're dieing to work in an AI field, your masters would be a good place to make your mark.
The classes I learned the most from in my MSCS program were the trade-school type classes. They helped me to understand technologies I was using at work.
I got my MSCS in a part-time program, so I still got the 2 years of work experience along with the Masters.
Overall I don't think I'm much better of a programmer because of my degrees. It really helps out when looking for a new job though. Once I talk to other software types, the interview is pretty easy. It's getting past the initial HR layer that is easier with the degrees.
I have been working in the computer industry for about a decade. I have started to get my degree a few times but wound up pulling out due to me "spawning new processes". I have had quite a few friends with degrees that haven't really helped them much. I seem to help them quite a bit due to my experience level. In fact I lead a team of 10 developers and I am the only one without a degree.
I have also interviewed many people with degrees who had difficulty answering simple real world questions due to lack of experience.
However I have currently re-enrolled to get my degree for the simple reason of stating that I will have one. If I need to find another job, the degree helps get your foot in the door to get an interview. Many companys won't look at your resume if they don't see a degree. Although I have started noticing that jobs are starting to be listed as "a degree or equivilant experience".
From personal experience I have benefited more from experience instead of pursuing my degree.Plus pursuing my degree is a lot easier now with the knowledge I have from my experience.
Not much from a programming standpoint- it was pretty useless. It will help you however get hired or get more money in most cases. Lots of jobs have silly requirements like "7 years experience or 5 with a masters." If the economy continues to take, it'll probably provide you a lot clearer path to jobs if they become less available.
I've found that the real value in having a masters degree is that it helps get your foot in the door on truly interesting, cutting-edge development projects, which represent a tiny minority of available software projects. That's not to say that there aren't other avenues, like effective networking, that could lead to this type of work without a graduate degree.
My master's degree was almost completely useless for me. It did, however, allow me to weather a downturn in the tech market and look a bit more attractive to potentional employeers (but that is another story). I also learned a great deal more about AI and networking. Almost all of which I never use.
Don't get me wrong, a master's degree is a great thing to have. It does allow for deeper study in some cool fields. It also allows for research options that you just don't get from a simple BS. That is the value of the masters; expanded opportunities. I didn't take those opportunities so it didn't help me.
But to answer the question, did it help me as a programmer, the answer is 'no'. I found it gave me an chance to practice my programming but that would have happened if I had gotten a real job. Either way I would have grown as a developer.
Absolutely did. But it also absolutely depends on what you do.
I had never done Linux programming before, neither had I created plugins in Eclipse. I did both of those as a part of my Masters and learnt a lot.
What you learn will ofcourse depend on what courses you take, what you choose to do and how you choose to do it.
A lot (should i say most?) of my classmates did not improve at all as programmers. Infact, most of them did not take programming intensive classes because "Im not that good at programming".
Even though my focus was SE, i managed to fit in some courses that required programming, because when you get out of there, most likely you WILL work as a programmer for a few months to a year before you get into the cooler stuff.
A college can only give you as much as you choose to take. But a lot of times, it also teaches you what and how to take :D
At somme level school is not important by what it teaches you but by what students talk to each others.
So even if you go to a master which is elemntary bad, you still have something to learn from the others.
In a mather it's just like documentation and sex :-) when it's bad it's still better than nothing.
Sorry for my english, not my native language.
It helps by getting you thinking about core practices again but the real gain for me was in process and software soft issues that affect productivity and success far more than compiler class ever can.
In Italy, when I got the Master Degree, there were no "Bachelor Degree" (now we split 5 years Laurea in 3 + 2). I've learned so few about Programming while studying. My skills came from the subsequent periods of robotics and Artificial Intelligence research. And a good mentor is what everyone needs to enlights himself.
go find a good mentor.
I have a B.S. in Information Systems and I'm pursuing my masters in cs. Thus far, it has helped me a great deal as a programmer - and I'm only about half way done with the program. It might not be in the form of short-term knowledge gain, but rather a much greater insight into the science of computing (I do think it's important to know C.) For me, it's pretty simple. If I'm going to devote 30+ years of my life to this profession that I love, then I better learn the theory and foundation. So my suggestion is to get the education.
Maybe 10 years down the line if I ever decide to become head of my dept., I will already have the masters degree that will give me the upper hand.
Very much so. I have a BS and MS in Computer Science. Both were very useful. Generally, a good combination of theory (College) and pragmatic (experience) are the best combination. There are fields where it is a big difference. If you want to make a few web pages, or hack a few lines of code it doesn't matter.
If you are employed in the DoD (defense) or many other govt entities, it can make a very big difference in salary. Higher degrees tend to have a higher salary slope, and may be a requirement for some positions. I also strongly reccomend reading tech books on a regular basis. Those with a passion for learning (formal or otherwise) tend to make better programmers.
Both my bachelor's and master's degrees are in computer science. My answer to your question is yes, courses in the master's degree did improve my programming skill.
However, my experience in the job market is a lot different from what other answers say here. Some employers prefer WTF code instead of working code, some employers assume they can't afford to pay ordinary salaries for people with advanced degrees, etc.
It was not really useful for programming, but probably because it was for literature.
it didn't do much to my coding ability; however, I'm still working in the same field as my thesis topic.
I guess BS in CS gives you an breathfirst approch to different domains of Computing sciences, in which you explore several programming language, methodologies, from report writting to project managment. All and all the degree gives you bits of everythings and its up to an indivisual to proceed further in his field of interest.
Further to this, Master's degree is all about your final Thesis and courses revloves around it. I have done my MS from Sweden and it is my masters thesis that is all I can think of.
So, the bottom line is in BS you taste every thing and in MS you creat things and show some inovation in them .
AND YES .....NOW A DAYS PROGRAMMING IS JUST HOW YOU USE APIs' isn't it ????