schooled
The last few days, to escape thinking about house buying (we found four houses we really like in the neighborhoods and price range we want, and are probably going to send some initial offers out later today), I've been thinking about another sink of time and effort... a graduate degree.
In particular, I've been poking around at places that offer online, part-time Masters' degrees in computer science. Although I'm fine learning on my own and on the job, I enjoy challenging classes, and being exposed to things I wouldn't otherwise see 1. On top of that, my employer offers education assistance, so if the class (or the degree) is related to work, I can probably manage to take classes at near-zero net cost.
Someone asked me yesterday if I wanted the degree to learn, or to make more money. Both, really, although not quite in the way my interrogator meant it: I think knowing more, and having more intellectual tools available, will help me earn raises and promotions more easily. A Master's - particularly one taken after I had a lot of experience, rather than fresh from an undergraduate education - could also make me look more attractive for more senior jobs in the future.
But doing even minor due diligence suggests I should really only do it if I want the education itself: my BS in math seems, in large part, to have already gotten me as far as an MCS would get me. Further, degrees are not a particularly big deal in the game industry, and there is definitely a strong anti-academic bias (although 3D graphics is one area that seems to enjoy a better relationship between industry and academia, I dunno how true that is these days and it's not particularly an interest of mine).
I'm also hampered by an atrocious undergraduate GPA. Some universities allow pretty much anyone to enroll in the online graduate CS courses they offer without accepting them into the program, though. I would hope that taking a few courses - which is to say, about a year's worth, at one course per semester - and doing well would demonstrate enough academic ability and focus that I could then be accepted into the program proper. Without knowing for sure, though, I would definitely need to make sure the initial courses were worth my time without the degree too, of course.
I don't have any decision yet. Even if it doesn't help me make more money, it might help me stay employable for longer 2, or help me retire from games into the regular software industry in 10-15 years. I've solicited feedback from a few people who will read this separately, but I'm curious what my wider reading audience thinks.
1. The classes in college on art history were a real joy for me, and far removed from anything I would have set out to study myself. In fact, they're kind of the silver lining to how drawn out my undergraduate career was, because every time I thought I was done with my general education requirements, I discovered I needed three more credits in some weird subject that art history matched nicely.
2. I have a long-standing fear that as a programmer, and particularly as a programmer who hasn't hitched his wagon to any one company for an extended career, I will be largely unemployable when I hit 50. I've just seen it too many times, and although I hope attitudes will have changed in this regard in 20 years, I'm not very confident it will, so I am trying to prepare now.
In particular, I've been poking around at places that offer online, part-time Masters' degrees in computer science. Although I'm fine learning on my own and on the job, I enjoy challenging classes, and being exposed to things I wouldn't otherwise see 1. On top of that, my employer offers education assistance, so if the class (or the degree) is related to work, I can probably manage to take classes at near-zero net cost.
Someone asked me yesterday if I wanted the degree to learn, or to make more money. Both, really, although not quite in the way my interrogator meant it: I think knowing more, and having more intellectual tools available, will help me earn raises and promotions more easily. A Master's - particularly one taken after I had a lot of experience, rather than fresh from an undergraduate education - could also make me look more attractive for more senior jobs in the future.
But doing even minor due diligence suggests I should really only do it if I want the education itself: my BS in math seems, in large part, to have already gotten me as far as an MCS would get me. Further, degrees are not a particularly big deal in the game industry, and there is definitely a strong anti-academic bias (although 3D graphics is one area that seems to enjoy a better relationship between industry and academia, I dunno how true that is these days and it's not particularly an interest of mine).
I'm also hampered by an atrocious undergraduate GPA. Some universities allow pretty much anyone to enroll in the online graduate CS courses they offer without accepting them into the program, though. I would hope that taking a few courses - which is to say, about a year's worth, at one course per semester - and doing well would demonstrate enough academic ability and focus that I could then be accepted into the program proper. Without knowing for sure, though, I would definitely need to make sure the initial courses were worth my time without the degree too, of course.
I don't have any decision yet. Even if it doesn't help me make more money, it might help me stay employable for longer 2, or help me retire from games into the regular software industry in 10-15 years. I've solicited feedback from a few people who will read this separately, but I'm curious what my wider reading audience thinks.
1. The classes in college on art history were a real joy for me, and far removed from anything I would have set out to study myself. In fact, they're kind of the silver lining to how drawn out my undergraduate career was, because every time I thought I was done with my general education requirements, I discovered I needed three more credits in some weird subject that art history matched nicely.
2. I have a long-standing fear that as a programmer, and particularly as a programmer who hasn't hitched his wagon to any one company for an extended career, I will be largely unemployable when I hit 50. I've just seen it too many times, and although I hope attitudes will have changed in this regard in 20 years, I'm not very confident it will, so I am trying to prepare now.