Msc in computing

[Doggy Styles]

I left coding behind many years ago. Don't we leave that to the Indians these days?

[minestrone]

That probably explains most of the chinless PMs one finds in IBs these days.

Once had to explain the concept of "client" and "server" to a BSc in Medieval Literature who was nominally the project's technical architect.

Conversation I heard this week...

PM "How quickly can you do that fix we asked for?"

Contractor "well we have to wait until the Hong Kong team merge their changes back into the head so we can take a branch to put it on"

PM "I'm sorry I don't understand the technical stuff, so how quickly can you do that fix we asked for?"

[The_Equalizer]

May as well stick my neck out and say I did one. Mainly for the reason it was a good way to get into the industry and it was never going to hurt to have the extra qualification.

[Francko]

That probably explains most of the chinless PMs one finds in IBs these days.

Once had to explain the concept of "client" and "server" to a BA in Medieval Literature who was nominally the project's technical architect.

It would be sad to need an advanced MSc to understand a client and server topology.

[scotspine]

It would be sad to need an advanced MSc to understand a client and server topology.

what do you mean by that frankie? what is an 'advanced' msc? and to what level do you mean 'understand'? it would take a v. good msc to be deeply conversant with the ins & outs of the iso/osi layer model for example, including the maths of the tcp protocol and self-correcting binary transmission codes. however, if you're simply taking about here is a server and there is a client, then yes, a gcse in woodwork ought to cover it.

and anyway, why sad? would that not be a good requirement? degree courses can be and are often very good, with content that far outlasts your obsolescence, and i am always happy to accord respect to the msc, whether or not it adds value to the job in hand. or do you reckon we'd be better off without them?

[DieScum]

I did a conversion MSc coming up for a decade ago now. It worked out pretty well for me.

At school I enjoyed computers and languages but there weren't many courses that combined the two. So did my undergrad in languages and then the conversion MSc.

Graduated in the post dot com slump and it was the language skills that got me my first series of jobs. Starting off in crappy helpdesk roles to a decent break in consultancy.

I've never been a programmer and I doubt I have the mind for it. I learned java on the course though and it still serves me well to this day. I bashed out a little log parser app in C sharp last week using the same stuff I learnt back in the day. No way I could do proper programming though but sometimes you just need a little app and in non-programming roles that can actually be a stand out skill.

[Francko]

what do you mean by that frankie? what is an 'advanced' msc? and to what level do you mean 'understand'? it would take a v. good msc to be deeply conversant with the ins & outs of the iso/osi layer model for example, including the maths of the tcp protocol and self-correcting binary transmission codes. however, if you're simply taking about here is a server and there is a client, then yes, a gcse in woodwork ought to cover it.

and anyway, why sad? would that not be a good requirement? degree courses can be and are often very good, with content that far outlasts your obsolescence, and i am always happy to accord respect to the msc, whether or not it adds value to the job in hand. or do you reckon we'd be better off without them?

Scots, I didn't imply that this wouldn't be useful. It certainly would have been helpful but just as helpful as being able to do self-training in a quick timeframe and get the ball running quick. The maths of the tcp protocol would not help you directly to become a cisco certified network engineer. Sure it would be nice to know but at the end, yes, no more useful than a good degree on something you enjoyed and that gave you the ability to learn quickly. I think MSc conversion courses are good for today's fast changing and hybrid environments. And at the end I also appreciate people who can go a bit outside the lanes and have more skills combined together (and in many IT sectors that is the case, IT and finance, IT and engineering, IT and science, etc). Surely an MSc conversion IT course graduate would not host a lecture on the tcp protocol but I don't either like a network engineer that has an MSc in advanced computing (maybe in cognitive robotics, interesting as you like but not strictly and directly related to the job) to imply that he's a better network engineer than one without an advanced degree like that because that's simply a prejudice. And that's how the thread started if you forgot.

[minestrone]

Anyway I will take my BEng(Hons) from 1997 and place it miles above a computer science degree from that year.

I never knew there was such snobbery from the CS graduates.

[minestrone]

And to add a bit of spice to this, the exam results requred for Mechanical Engineering are far higher than the ones for IT related degrees.

[Fred Bloggs]

And to add a bit of spice to this, the exam results requred for Mechanical Engineering are far higher than the ones for IT related degrees.

Correct. The hours of work a week are a lot more too. My daughter has applied for Chinese studies next year at a couple of uni's and she expects 7 to 9 hours a week. Engineering courses are probably about 35 hours a week.