[OT] graduate school

[Dave Smith]

Bart Whiteley wrote:
> There are some cool jobs that require graduate degrees.
>   

That is most certainly true, but may I offer a counter point regarding 
jobs at my company? I have interviewed dozens of BS/CS and MS/CS 
candidates for software developer positions. I generally have higher 
expectations for the MS candidates, and I have been disappointed with 
them about 80-90% of the time. I figure that a candidate who has been 
studying CS for 6 years or more ought to have mastered basic CS 
principles (like big O). I realize that MS students tend to specialize, 
but even in their chosen areas of emphasis, they still have disappointed 
me. We have hired some MS/CS candidates, and after a few months I can't 
tell any difference between them and the BS/CS people.

So if you want to get an MS/CS degree, do it like Bart did, because you 
want the experience, and not because it will make you a better applicant 
for software developer positions or earn you more money. As an example, 
a co-worker of mine is a real programming language geek, and he loves 
studying it. He is getting his MS/CS right now for that purpose, but he 
certainly doesn't expect it to get him a pay raise. He has, however, 
been able to apply some of what he has learned at work (like building a 
lisp-style macro system for JavaScript, which has been awesome).

I know Derek, the original poster, is considering the academic route, 
and for that, MS/CS is an obvious and appropriate first step.

Well, there's a few more cents for the pile.

--Dave