[davidreiss]

> I believe this program is a good complementary source of knowledge to become a better software developer.

That's something you could learn on your own. But your knowledge of "technologies" are more valuable to employers than CS degree - especially if you have work experience.

The tech industry isn't like academia ( economics ) where you have to build up credentials. Work on projects that deal with web technologies or even better learn the back end ( databases ) or even the middle tier/server code if you are a front-end developer.

Becoming a full-stack ( front-end, middle-tier and especially back-end ) is going to be far more important to employers than if you know what undecidability is or computational theory.

Degrees are very important if you want to break into the industry ( especially top tier corporations ). But if you are already work in the industry, employers want to see the technologies you are competent in.

If your employer is willing to pay for it and you have free time, then go for it. Learning is always a good thing. But if you want to further your career, go learn SQL ( any flavor ) and RDBMs technologies - SQL Server, Postgres, etc ( any you want but I recommend SQL Server Developer Edition if you are beginner on Windows OS as it is very beginner friendly from installation to client tools ).

A full-stack web developer is rare and you could even sell yourself as an architect/management. That's a difference from being a $60K web developer and a $200K full stack developer/architect.

[soneca]

Thanks! After reading all comments I more inclined to follow your advice and invest my time in first becoming a full stack developer/architect.

The consensus is that it is very time-consuming. As a junior web developer I would have a lot of catch-up to do in Programming (some comments mention the need of intermediate level at C, Java, and Python, I have none of neither). As an Economics graduate, I have a fairly shallow knowledge of Math, some catch-up would be needed in Calculus and Linear Algebra also. This would make the program even more time-consuming for me (and I need to stay my full-time job).

I will focus this ernergy on becoming a better software developer and think again about this program in a couple of years.

[cjalmeida]

I've a quite similar background. Brazil, mid 30s, major in Business (FGV), transitioned into dev in 2015, though I had earlier experience. Two failed companies as well :)

I agree becoming a decent full stack developer is better than doing an MS were the focus is fundamentals. However, those matter. Things like concurrency, data modeling, relational algebra, strong OOP fundamentals are used daily in any non-trivial backend work. OTOH, engineering stuff like auth, version control, testing, data cleaning and migration seems not part of the course and are quite relevant.

My personal recommendation is to learn multiple languages. You'll learn the concepts and abstract away the implementation. C++, Java, Python and R are different enough and very useful when looking for jobs.

I also recommend doing puzzles to learn algorithms and data structures. Not because you'll see a lot of them in your day to day, but a lot of places use them to weed out job applicants.

Which brings us to the most important advice of all: focus on remote work for US customers. Really. You can easily make $30/h, that translates to around 16k BRL as a "PJ". After a few years, $50/h, $70/h and even more is not unusual. That's upper mgmt level money down here with a fraction of the burden.

You can ping me at cjalmeida at gmail.com if you want to talk more.

[ll931110]

True, but it should not have been mutually exclusive. Getting both the theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge would boost a person's career many folds.

[pc86]

"Many folds" is very unlikely unless you're already grossly underpaid. A small percentage? Maybe. Enough to justify the cost of attendance? Again, maybe if you're going the OMSCS route and you're only out $7k. If you drop $30k on a master's you'll be lucky you make that up even before considering inflation, opportunity cost, etc.

I have a BA in Political Science and about a decade as a software developer. The next step in my career would be better served by an MBA than an MSCS. I'm not even sure I could break even if I did GT's OMSCS out of pocket as I'm about as high up as I can get and still use data structure and algorithm knowledge on a daily (let's be honest - weekly at best) basis.

[ll931110]

I'm not talking about pay or salary, just career in general. There are a lot more than money matter here.