[virmundi]

See I'm going the other way.

I'm in the process of applying for a Master's Degree in Computer Science. Historically I've been rather reluctant to do this since I can learn on my own, and have. However, I think the structure and the environment provided by school is worth the 25k a total cost. Having money on the barrel head provides a real sense of focus. Having a peer group that wants to really pursue the same topic is valuable and worth a portion of the 25k. Finally, it gets me to focus on a topic. Currently I'm flitting around from technology to technology, fueled by HN. I look at Node.js, then Mongo, then a plethora of JS libraries. I'm tired.

School will focus me on Software Engineering with a focus on Grid/Distributed computing.

[alexholehouse]

I did a masters in CS for almost the same reasons and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Met a tonne of amazing people, learnt a stupid amount in one year (which I say with some authority in learning stupid amounts in short spaces of time) and had a really fantastic time. I found that it forced me to do things I wouldn't perhaps on the face of it have chosen, but turned out to be really interesting and influence my work in other areas (like predicate logic, which I initially hated but learned to love).