[ale] OT: master in comp. sci.

Fulton Green ale at FultonGreen.com
Wed Dec 10 08:48:20 EST 2003


On Wed, Dec 10, 2003 at 05:56:56AM -0500, Jim Philips wrote:
> On Wednesday 10 December 2003 04:18 am, miguel wrote:
> > hello alers,
> >
> > thought about going back to school, but with all this outsourcing going
> > on, i am having 2nd thoughts....is worth the trouble/time/money?
> 
> If you're going to school to be a pure code slinger, then there is a good 
> chance your job will be exported before you find it. Along with your coding 
> skills, you should learn some business skills like project management, 
> accounting, setting requirements and so on. If you have a solid understanding 
> of all the business processes that the technology is being applied to, you 
> are much less replaceable. This was always true, but it's even more true now. 
> If I had the time to do it all over, I would get an MBA along with a computer 
> science degree. 

I have a bachelor's in computer (software) engineering with over thirteen
years' worth of experience in the IT industry.  I'm now seriously
investigating several MBA programs, part-time and full, if that tells you
anything.

If, by chance, somone on here wanted to pursue an MBA yet still wanted to
stay in the tech industry, you could either get your MBA from GSU, where
their MIS concentration is one of the best in the country, or from Tech,
where their entrepreneurship program is also one of the best.  GSU also
has a part-time program ranked right up there with Kellogg's part-time
offering, and both Emory and Tech are top 20-to-30 calibre for their
fulltime MBA programs.  UGA, which also has a nationally-ranked program,
has a part-time MBA option in Gwinnett and an executive format MBA in
Buckhead.

Wait ... you were talking about an *MS* in *CS*. :)

I do know that an MS in CS can open doors that might otherwise be closed
to you.  My company, for example, has one or two open reqs. that requires
a master's degree (and actually prefers a Ph.D.).  But unless the job
requirements are mathematically intensive, most employers are finding
that it's cheaper to go w/a BS, and more and more are finding that
offshore is even cheaper.  It also seems that a significant percentage of
jobs in the USA that require (or at least greatly respect) a master's or
Ph.D. in CS are also going to require a DoD or DoE security clearance.

Just my $0.02 worth ...



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