[donretag]

I also graduated with a MSCS from GT. While I agree that a Masters degree is not a good signal for a job candidate, having Georgia Tech as your last institution of study instead of your potentially "lower" undergraduate program is.

The question remains is if an online degree has the same credibility. Looking back at my time at GT, I cannot see how operating solo, without the constant feedback from your peers and faculty, is as good. There is more than just what is in the study material. The other question is if the entrance requirements are still as stringent.

[png_hero]

Silicon Valley hiring manager here.

From my perspective, unfortunately, Georgia Tech has really diluted the value of their masters in cs degree. They have become a sort of immigration visa-mill with very many India undergrad -> Georgia Tech Masters of very questionable skill level.

Just my experience.

[agentgt]

GT grad here (1999-2003). While I'm not Indian I do have a ton of Indian friends and yes GT does have a large Indian percentage (by observation from when I was there).

I can't speak if the CS degree has been diluted but I will say there is an enormous amount of extremely undeserved selective bias against Indian people for technology jobs. When US citizens even see Indian names there are less likely to hire (known as name bias).

Again I can't speak for the programs but my Indian friends that went to tech were at the top of their class both in MS and BS. Highly qualified. Extremely humble, ambitious and hungry.

Just my experience (and I run a recruiting software company so I see it at scale).

I compare this to the apathetic divas that I have met from Stanford and MIT (I live in Mass so I have met many MIT grads). I would hire a GT grad over them any day.

[hiram112]

Indians have a stigma for a very good reason: the 5% top engineers are drowned out by the 95% posers used by body shops (Infy, TCS, etc.) that have literally taken over numerous industries in the US tech market.

I worked in India for one of these BPO companies and know what I'm talking about. If the good engineers from India want to reclaim their status, they need to push back against the flood of H1Bs from these companies.

But instead, the majority of HN (or at least the guys who do more hiring, less coding) keeps pushing for more and more visas when we should be urging Congress to reform the system to allow the talent to come in (with Green Card), while disallowing US companies from using it to lower wages for all US engineers.

[agentgt]

I have no doubt about the stigma... but one should be careful about letting stereotypes into their decision process particularly when it comes to hiring and race. It is not just morally wrong it is against the law (at least in the US).

I'm sure the hiring manager who posted earlier will say it doesn't affect the decision but the subconscious bias is a real thing.

[kapilkaisare]

I concur, but I'd rephrase it like so: It's not just against the law, it is morally wrong.

[uptownfunk]

CMU has done this too unfortunately with their online MS degrees.

[assface]

Those degrees are not CS. AFAIK, CMU only has a software engineering online degree.

[uptownfunk]

Sure, but... We have clients hiring individuals looking only at cmu and see an online ms tangentially related to analytics then they associate that with cmus world class ml program and then touting them in our faces as the latest and greatest in machine learning. When we interview folks from the same program they don't make it past our first round because they don't know technique or programming

[yarou]

>When US citizens even see Indian names there are less likely to hire (known as name bias).

You're doubly fucked if you have an Indian name and you were born here. White hiring managers automatically assume you're incompetent, and Indian H1B hiring managers are threatened because they fear for their job.

When I was younger, I found it odd that many of family members of mine would Americanize their name. Now, I've experienced the reality of it.

[uptownfunk]

Damn. I'm a second gen Indian and this makes total sense. I may do an experiment and go with a western name just to see what happens. But then I'm reminded of all the other Asians who do that and think isn't it a little odd for an Asian to be named Winston Chang and more normal for something like wu Xi or something. Or maybe that's too nomenclature-normative and we should be more agnostic to the orientation of someone's chosen name

[slezakattack]

I get this too. However, I can say that it's not just Indians. There are quite a few people from all backgrounds who have questionable skill levels from prestigious schools and/or who have masters degrees. I've given enough interviews to realize that there is an alarming amount of people who can't figure out how to write an "addition" function given two strings representing positive integers in a 45 minute window. So, I honestly skip over the school and education in the candidate's resume and see what their work experience is (or side projects if they have that).

[nvarsj]

Yes it's not just masters and it's not just indians. I think everyone who has been in tech long enough can give many examples of people with great backgrounds who just weren't great engineers. Education is a signal for sure though I think - it shows a certain willingness to dedicate oneself, and a certain level of intelligence and aptitude to attain, and getting a M.S. or PhD or even a B.S. from a hard school is going to filter out a lot of people already.

I also think a graduate degree is necessary for certain types of work. For just bog standard programming jobs where you can read a web page to learn the language/framework/library, sure you don't need it. But for other types of roles (quant roles, more research oriented, ML, anything tech cutting edge that requires theoretical understanding), an M.S. or Ph.D. is going to be a gatekeeper whether you want it to or not.

[TFortunato]

Question for you if you don't mind...

I've been out of undergrad and working in industry for close to a decade as a Software Engineer and/or Embedded Systems Engineer. I feel I'm doing pretty well in my career, but I've been looking at the online masters in CS as a way of showing that I'm dedicated to continuing learning, and to maybe open up some new doors for myself down the road.

From your perspective as a hiring manager, would this be worth the time and effort? It's not like I wouldn't be interested and learning new stuff anyways, but if I'm going to go invest the time and money to do the degree vs. learning on my own, it would be nice to know if it was worth anything.

(No sweat if you don't feel like answering, or want to take this private. Thanks!)

[donretag]

I believe that a dedication to continuing learning as massively important in our field, so it is something that I always ask every candidate during an interview. Not everyone has time for open-source projects, blogging, what not, but anything is important. Following Martin Fowler in Twitter, receiving a newsletter, something, anything. Candidates that demonstrate no interest in furthering themselves is risky, but from themselves and the company.

That said, a masters degree is not necessary, it is an overkill. I rather see open-source projects.

[randcraw]

I wholly agree with your first paragraph, and I'd elaborate a little on the second.

I see only an upside in earning a MSCS, however you do it. But while learning more principle and technique is always good, it's not strictly necessary and it's definitely not sufficient to outcompete other candidates.

Experience in relevant side-projects is a good thing. It shows initiative and passion and that you're more than just a serious student. Open source dev experience demonstrates your desire to create -- not just to design, but to actually make -- as well as your ability to work with others, especially distant others. Most pro tech work now requires not just up-to-date tools and techniques but also good communication skills, increasingly with folks who work away from you. Demonstration of such skills is unusual and desirable, especially in those just out of school.

[donretag]

Instead of editing what I wrote, I will comment on it.

In hindsight, looking back at my MSCS, I think the strongest point of a Masters is not the elevated agree, but the opportunity to focus on a specific field. If you have an interest in AI, go to GT and work underneath a professor with lots of experience. Do not get a Masters just for the sake of getting a Masters.

GT has tons of research dollars. I was paid the entire way there, even as a non-PhD student. At first a teaching assistant, and then a research assistant. You cannot get that kind of experience from an online school.

[criddell]

> That said, a masters degree is not necessary, it is an overkill. I rather see open-source projects.

There are companies where side projects or off-hours work on open source projects is complicated. Employment contracts that say the employer owns all of your work, on the clock or off, aren't uncommon. It might be easier for some people to get a masters degree, especially when employers are willing to pay for it.

[png_hero]

For getting a new job, only do an online masters if you want to switch specialties (i.e. move from embedded to security or web programming, etc)

If staying in embedded will just focus on work experience.