I have a BS in Computer Engineering and MS in Electrical Engineering (ML specialty) from a top 20 public engineering school in the late 2000s and now have ~15 years in industry. I am currently enrolled at Georgia Tech for OMSCS. I was getting bored at work, my employer would pay for it and I figured why not? I enjoyed my time in real world grad program, OMSCS would be just just as fun. Plus, it's Georgia Tech! I can upgrade my MS from top 20 to top...5?
Well...it wasn't as educational or as fun as real world school. Those who claim Discord is a substitute (or even better?) for in person collaboration in an academic environment with like minded peers, uh ok...I am in those Discord channels and...100% disagree.
One thing I found out about Georgia Tech's graduate program is that it's more of a measure of grit, not a measurement of your knowledge. Their harder courses aren't necessarily hard material that one can't grasp. It's that the 40 hour projects...it's 10 hours of learning/implementation and 30 hours of a few little nuance issues that add no value to your knowledge base.
If you want to see how difficult the material are - many of the courses are on Udacity. Projects won't be listed, but maybe you can find similar ones online.
Since my employer pays for education (not just graduate, but if you don't have a BS they'll pay for it too!), I have a lot of colleagues as well as peers in industry who went the Georgia Tech route. It makes sense. Pure online, inexpensive, renown.
Everyone I know - and I mean everyone...when they have only a few classes left take the easiest ones to get it over with , i.e. Digital Marketing and whatever is ranked easy on OMSCS Central.
If someone is young in their career and wants to upgrade their piece of paper this would be an OK route. If you're older - you likely have an idea of what you want to learn. And if not, well, just watch all the Tech Udacity classes! There are plenty of online resources and communities of top professionals to surround yourself in where your time is spent more effectively.
As for me - I found myself taking Digital Marketing for my 5th class...I dropped my 6th class after getting tired of a particular bulls--- project. I will wait and see if I decide if I reenroll in the Fall. I am leaning towards a no.
IMHO if you are or want to be a software engineer, plenty of more relevant resources out there to grow your knowledge without wasting your time. If you want to be a hard core computer scientist, do an in person program so you can focus and be surrounded by peers and professors.
Tech's OMSCS is ground breaking in that it provides a quality education to everyone. But it is not a quality education for everyone and I wanted to have at least one post here with a contrarian point of view.
Well...it wasn't as educational or as fun as real world school. Those who claim Discord is a substitute (or even better?) for in person collaboration in an academic environment with like minded peers, uh ok...I am in those Discord channels and...100% disagree.
One thing I found out about Georgia Tech's graduate program is that it's more of a measure of grit, not a measurement of your knowledge. Their harder courses aren't necessarily hard material that one can't grasp. It's that the 40 hour projects...it's 10 hours of learning/implementation and 30 hours of a few little nuance issues that add no value to your knowledge base.
If you want to see how difficult the material are - many of the courses are on Udacity. Projects won't be listed, but maybe you can find similar ones online.
Since my employer pays for education (not just graduate, but if you don't have a BS they'll pay for it too!), I have a lot of colleagues as well as peers in industry who went the Georgia Tech route. It makes sense. Pure online, inexpensive, renown.
Everyone I know - and I mean everyone...when they have only a few classes left take the easiest ones to get it over with , i.e. Digital Marketing and whatever is ranked easy on OMSCS Central.
If someone is young in their career and wants to upgrade their piece of paper this would be an OK route. If you're older - you likely have an idea of what you want to learn. And if not, well, just watch all the Tech Udacity classes! There are plenty of online resources and communities of top professionals to surround yourself in where your time is spent more effectively.
As for me - I found myself taking Digital Marketing for my 5th class...I dropped my 6th class after getting tired of a particular bulls--- project. I will wait and see if I decide if I reenroll in the Fall. I am leaning towards a no.
IMHO if you are or want to be a software engineer, plenty of more relevant resources out there to grow your knowledge without wasting your time. If you want to be a hard core computer scientist, do an in person program so you can focus and be surrounded by peers and professors.
Tech's OMSCS is ground breaking in that it provides a quality education to everyone. But it is not a quality education for everyone and I wanted to have at least one post here with a contrarian point of view.