Bachelor(Co-Op) vs bridge to Masters vs Second Degree - which is more practical when entering the field later in life

[kbell109]

Hi Everyone!

I started following this form a few weeks back in an attempt to glean some second-hand advice for entering the computer science workforce. I have found a ton of helpful information that I might not have learned otherwise. I am now trying to narrow down my options and I am wondering if there is anyone working in the field that might be able to take a moment and offer up some of advice based on their experiences.

I have an undergraduate degree in Biological Science and have been working in this industry for a couple of years now. I need a change and I do not wish to do this for the rest of my life. I have had an interest in computers from a young age and regret not entering this field years ago. I have decided it is now time for me to do something about it, but I am not sure what the best course of action is. I want to make sure I learn the fundamentals so that I don't get tripped up on the job and it would be ideal to incorporate work experience into my education.

The three main options (in no particular order) that I am considering are:

1) Computer Science (Co-op) at UofGuelph
Pros: this is where I completed my undergrad so I am hoping I can transfer up to a year's worth of credits towards electives; five semesters of co-op
Cons: this option will take 4-5 years to complete and will result in me having two undergraduate degrees with no higher education

2) Computer Science Masters at UofT (course-based with internship)
Pros: Masters>Bachelors(?); internship (8 months); 16 months until completion
Cons: requires 1 year bridging program which make this option more like 28 months until completion (I would likely apply as a non-degree student at UofT), gaps in education (might I miss fundamental concepts by only taking a few courses over a year - just enough to gain entry to a Masters program)

3) Computer Science Second Degree at McMaster
Pros: seems to cover the key concepts in computer science over two years instead of four; can work towards a Masters part-time afterwards (hopefully while working in the field); can use the summer in between to seek out paid/unpaid work experience on my own
Cons: no internship component, gaps in education (might I miss fundamental concepts by fast tracking through undergrad studies)

I know that no one can make this decision for me and I have my own unique situation that I have to figure out.
I am just wondering if my concerns about fast tracking through an undergrad in CompSci are warranted.
Also, would an employer see a Bachelor in BioSci and a Masters in CompSci as being under-qualified when compared to someone with a Bachelor in CompSci.
How much do degrees in this field really matter?
Or is it just enough to ace an interview and demonstrate competence?

Any advice is much appreciated!

[Tony]

kbell109 @ Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:15 pm wrote:

is it just enough to ace an interview and demonstrate competence?

You got it.

A lot of job ads would be along the lines of

Quote:

Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field.

You could try arguing that science is science.

Some companies make it more explicit with

Quote:

or equivalent industry experience

In general, smaller companies will look more at your skill set and culture fit, while large companies will use school/degree/years-of-experience as ways of filtering through candidates.

It will be a challenge landing that first job, but as soon as you have industry experience, the actual degree is demoted to a marketing tool for landing interviews. This will be a big advantage to co-op/internship programs -- the bar of entry is a lot easier, and you can ride that out into a full-time job without doing the full interview loop.

Master's comes up as a requirement / nice-to-have in a context of specialized domain expertise. Positions in Machine Learning, Computer Vision, etc. would like to see a Master's degree. While in general "Masters>Bachelors", you are probably not going after the jobs where it really matters.

An interesting part about Computer Science degrees (at least at UWaterloo / UofToronto level), is that they don't actually teach you any programming, less maybe 1~2 courses. To be clear, programming will be required to complete most of the assignments, but the details are expected to be picked up on student's own time. The industry will argue that knowing the internals of data structures, mathematical proofs of algorithm performance, and writing your own compiler will make you a better developer -- and it will -- but in practice there are also a lot of jobs where a full degree is an overkill.

[kbell109]

Thank you for the very detailed response, Tony. You've confirmed a lot of of my thoughts and I can definitely use a lot of this information when making my final decision.

Quote:

An interesting part about Computer Science degrees (at least at UWaterloo / UofToronto level), is that they don't actually teach you any programming, less maybe 1~2 courses.

I have actually heard this elsewhere so I've been spending my free time trying to soak up as much knowledge I can on my own in preparation for any of the choices I'm considering. Fortunately there are a TON of resources online for this.

Thanks again for the info!