Masters degree in Computing (software engineering) Vs Projects, I chose the projects route, a good decision?

[Stephen89]

I'm in England mind you, I live on the outskirts of the second largest city in England, with a huge network around me.

For the past few days, I've been contemplating embarking on a master's degree part time in computing (software engineering), it would've taken me three years part time online to complete this path way. I would've paid monthly. Software development, software engineering modules. And two more modules.

However, instead I've decided to go down the projects route, develop projects in and subsequently apply for jobs in:

C#
C++
Java
Python
JavaScript
React
Php
Full stack developer
Software testing
Web development
Data analyst
Data science
DevOps
iOS development
Android development

Develop skills in oop, tdd, agile, jira, frameworks etc more etc

The projects will be from a well known website.

Back in 2018, I did do a few projects. Subsequently I obtained two telephone interviews for developer jobs and one C# developer interview face to face interview were they told me to complete a coding challenge bringing a spaceship back to earth.

I believe I've made the right decision, I have the resources of what resumes may work. I'm in a public facing job, working for years in this, where people skills and good communication are the key, a public job, so I believe I have the soft skills.

In England, there are traineeships, coding bootcamp's, where people have transitioned from their old jobs(such as a labourer, team leader), into programmers, IT jobs.

 

[Stephen89]

I hope projects in various programming languages can help me stand out from the crowd, a sizeable GitHub portfolio

Also putting up a linkedin profile where I could be sourced

SQL jobs too

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Honestly I don't really feel a Master's degree in this field is even worth it.

Have almost never heard of an engineer having this, nor do I feel it would be worth the expense to get one in comparison to the earning potential over simply having a CS degree.

Just my .02

EDIT: Unless you are going into Academia and then maybe that's different.

 

[nicksaiz65]

I don’t think at this point a masters is worth it. IMO, Udemy courses, certifications, or personal projects if you need them for your resume/portfolio is better.

Especially considering the student debt. Which is another payment once you graduate.

 

[plumber]

maybe the golden age is done.... if you spend for additional credential, it matters what school. if your looking for executive level now or later a name brand school is helpful as well as the connections from the school. if you pursue to Phd level there are some value in that. I seen that level of credential actually make a difference as it was not so common. that however is a lot of effort, more effort than most want to do. Think... reading 5 books a week and understanding....

many, many good engineers as well as wealthy ones... (not always the same).... started by doing another job and using internal moves to get to the dev job they always wanted. the classic path is support -> qa -> dev -> ???? having the broad path approach actually give advantage later when competing for senior mgmt. if you ever want that. some of the organizations do not have the classic models any longer but someone still does those jobs.

on the flip side when some is hiring for a tech spot it is just as much of a headache trying to find someone that can and will and be cool as it is for the person looking for the position. that's why internal transfer path works so well. no need to guess about the person.

if nothing else works... military. get a guarantee into IT something... and move around until doing what you want. you will get access to vendors that you want to work for later... and other vendors you never heard of that pay much.

my knowledge is from US, Asia, other in Europe but never England.

 

[alvinkels]

I don't know if you did your undergrad in CS but what i can tell you is that as a Manager for Software Development in a national bank where my people (subs) consist of CS grads mean whiles I did grad in physics and master also physics. All what I am trying to say is that, degree doesn't you just need know how to talk computers, and from my peers and other software engineers I know, about 95% of are Physical and Mathematical Science grads not CS! And as a hiring manager also I don't pay much attention to CS grads because it tells you don't have the capacity to think in different fields hence something you can learn on your own like me and peers did, you had to go school to be taught! Because I know some CS guys who don't even understand basic Operating System concepts like process and threads, etc and I have to teach them so in my mind I am like "what did you learn at school?!!!"

To me CS is scam for brilliant minds please don't waste your genius brain on it. Go and use it on scientific computing solve problems like encryption, and quantum computing and those hard universe problems that is satisfying. I said "genius brian" intentionally and for a reason!

That's my opinion and that's my experience

 

[BillyPilgrim]

I don't know if you did your undergrad in CS but what i can tell you is that as a Manager for Software Development in a national bank where my people (subs) consist of CS grads mean whiles I did grad in physics and master also physics. All what I am trying to say is that, degree doesn't you just need know how to talk computers, and from my peers and other software engineers I know, about 95% of are Physical and Mathematical Science grads not CS! And as a hiring manager also I don't pay much attention to CS grads because it tells you don't have the capacity to think in different fields hence something you can learn on your own like me and peers did, you had to go school to be taught! Because I know some CS guys who don't even understand basic Operating System concepts like process and threads, etc and I have to teach them so in my mind I am like "what did you learn at school?!!!"

To me CS is scam for brilliant minds please don't waste your genius brain on it. Go and use it on scientific computing solve problems like encryption, and quantum computing and those hard universe problems that is satisfying. I said "genius brian" intentionally and for a reason!

That's my opinion and that's my experience

One can actually use their "genius brain" outside of technology too. Who would've thunk it?

 

[alvinkels]

One can actually use their "genius brain" outside of technology too. Who would've thunk it?

Yes of cause it is up to you. I was only referring to this question but you and know at the end of the day everything ends up in technology whether is syringe or pacemaker or shampoo that promises to give your hair back. They are tech!