[luhego]

1.5 years will pass so quickly you won't even notice. It's true that there are a lot of self-taught people that are able to land software engineering jobs without a formal CS education. However, CS degrees are still relevant and they will make your job search easier. Software engineering jobs will still exist in 1.5 years, so there is no harm in completing your master. You can apply for internships in the meantime. If you leave your master and then in the future you decide you want to do it again. It is going to be harder studying a master while having a job.

[jdthedisciple]

That's what I think as well, 1.5 years in hindsight will feel like nothing. But right now it just feels nothing short of dreadful and feels like an eternity.

The thing with internships is that they are almost always full-time positions. It's just too much doing a full-time internship next to my full-time masters program unless I want to drag everything out even further.

But I guess you are right about job search, which is why I'm still >50% inclined to biting the bullet and finishing it.

[maiensch]

I can't judge the flexibility of your degree, but I stretched my full-time master's degree from 3 full-time to 7 part-time semesters while working part-time on IT-projects (both in an IT consultancy and the entrepreneurial center of another university) on the side (also in Germany, but a university of applied sciences instead).

I wouldn't say that's "dragging things out" like you said, I consider it more like doing a master's degree on my own terms while keeping up my motivation and passion for the field I'm in. With the previous SWE experience you mentioned it should be possible to look for a working student position fitting your interests.

[jdthedisciple]

I have in fact done just that: I've been a part-time student for a bunch of semesters, did an internship and a working-student job in Software Development.

Then, last October I applied for another working student position. I managed to negotiate a rather high salary for being a WS position and got the job offer -but something kept me unhappy and I could'nt put my finger on it. Then in the last second I radically changed my mind, rejected the nice offer and decided my degree feels too much of a burden in my neck that I won't be enjoying the job and will likely get too exhausted doing both. I felt I won't be making fast enough progress in any direction for my liking: Neither would I make enough money to invest on the side, nor would I finish my degree any time soon.

So I thought let me just get this thing done and over with ASAP first, then come back to the company - And that's what I told them as well (They really, REALLY wanted me badly). Since this summer I'm now studying in full-time again.