quit masters and get a job?

Kevo

Hi,
I know this would be better suited to an education forum but I want to get the opinion of people who work in development as that is where I want to end up myself.

I finished a degree in computer science last year. I'm now doing a masters in computational biology (mostly Biology unfortunately) with option of making it a phd. The problem is I don't really like it. I prefer building software rather than researching proteins and things like that.

I get to write some software but it is secondary to the biological research which I don't like as much as I'd hoped.

I really want to get a job as part of a development team.

Here are my options:

Finish the Phd:
In this case I will be trained to do research in the long term. I will learn very little software development. I don't think this is what I want to do.

Finish the masters:
In this case I will get a masters in something which is not closely related to software development and I don't like it so I may not do very well either.

Quit now (or when I am accepted) and get a job:
This is what I really want to do. I have a first class honours degree so I think I could get into a graduate program.


The decision is really between the last two options. Is a masters in an unrelated field really worth all that much in IT? Or is an extra 6 months on the job more advantageous.

Keep in mind that I'm going to do a masters in computer science while I'm working a few years down the road.

Thanks for reading. Any advice appreciated.

yop

Get your education done if I was you, you will find it harder to get back to it when you start working.
At least the more you have with regards education it could open up other avenues for teaching etc

ronivek

I'd recommend sticking with your MSc. unless you don't think you'll be able to do yourself justice and finish it comfortably. It'll differentiate you from other job applicants and give you an extra opportunity to talk yourself up, especially if you carefully select your dissertation topic to demonstrate the kind of skills employers want in their software developers.

You're also assuming you'll get gainful employment by snapping your fingers, which is unlikely to say the least. Especially in terms of graduate programs due to the fact you've already missed many application deadlines and the selection process for most of the aforementioned programs won't be finished until the summer.

Sparks

There's a very good piece of advice out there which says that you're well served by having expertise in two fields not normally combined, which sounds like what your MSc is doing for you right now - I'd personally finish it. Especially since BioTech seems to be the new IT these days.

mneylon

Stick with the education for as long as you can.

Naikon

If you have no intention of staying or working in Academia
get into the industry if you are offered a job.

Otherwise, stick with the masters. Good luck:)

Dawei

Does a master degree mean job security to you? Probably by looking at the situation now.

I think that if you want to be successful in anything, you need to become an expert in it, and rarely any body become an expert without having any interests in it, if he/she really did beome one, well, that's very sad. This is only what I believe.

what you do really depends on you, no body can tell u, nor should you listen to anyone what to do, it is very easy for me or us to tell you what to do, but we are only saying, it is you doing it. Or listen to someone who you want to become.

qwytre

I'd recommend finishing the masters. Having a masters will open more doors for you when it comes to interviews for jobs. Unless you plan to stay in academia I wouldn't bother with a PhD, at least when it comes to the IT industry in Ireland. If you were interested in the computer science side of IT then you would really want to do a PhD in it but most of the IT in Ireland is around software products and services.

A masters isn't just about the material you learn, it is about abilities such as research, analysis, working on your own and part of teams, clear writing and communication skills, understanding large bodies of knowledge and adding your own findings to it, and the ability to complete a difficult project. There are many good programmers who have masters in other disciplines like philosophy would you believe!

Dont worry, you will have many many years ahead of you to write software after the Masters. If you could find some time during your masters to get a few small courses done in programming etc then that will stand to you also.

JimmyCrackCorn!

Stick in education for as long as you can.

It only gets harder to go back once you leave. Take it from someone who is picking away slowly at a masters while working.

fergalr

Kevo wrote: »

Hi,
I know this would be better suited to an education forum but I want to get the opinion of people who work in development as that is where I want to end up myself.

I finished a degree in computer science last year. I'm now doing a masters in computational biology (mostly Biology unfortunately) with option of making it a phd. The problem is I don't really like it. I prefer building software rather than researching proteins and things like that.


I get to write some software but it is secondary to the biological research which I don't like as much as I'd hoped.

I really want to get a job as part of a development team.

Here are my options:

Finish the Phd:
In this case I will be trained to do research in the long term. I will learn very little software development. I don't think this is what I want to do.

Finish the masters:
In this case I will get a masters in something which is not closely related to software development and I don't like it so I may not do very well either.

Quit now (or when I am accepted) and get a job:
This is what I really want to do. I have a first class honours degree so I think I could get into a graduate program.


The decision is really between the last two options. Is a masters in an unrelated field really worth all that much in IT? Or is an extra 6 months on the job more advantageous.

Keep in mind that I'm going to do a masters in computer science while I'm working a few years down the road.

Thanks for reading. Any advice appreciated.

[/quote]

You don't say whether this is a taught or research MSc that you are doing - but if you've the option of continuing on to do a PhD in it, I'm going to assume its research.

First off, a research MSc seems to be much harder to get than a taught one, from what I've seen.
A research MSc can be both less general (most taught mscs are broader) and more open ended too, so it could take you longer than you think.
Unfortunately, a research MSc doesn't seem to be much better regarded in industry than a taught one, unless you are going for a job in the exact area you have studied. (It would be in academia, especially if you have some good papers published as part of the masters).


You sound like you are doing a lot of biology, and don't like this.

I'm working through a phd myself, though I'm still early enough on in it.
One consensus piece of advice that I've gotten from a lot of people, seems to be - and this makes a lot of sense to me from what I've seen: do not do a PhD in something you really do not like.
- Its hard to motivate yourself to stick it through as the years go on.
- It can take longer than you think, so if you really aren't enjoying it and it goes on for an extra year or two, that could be tough.
- A lot of PhDs are very specialised, so they can heavily influence your subsequent career path - if you do a phd in something you don't like, you might find yourself working there for quite a few years afterwards.
- Finally, its 3-5 years of your life! And its not exactly well paid! Don't spend it doing stuff you don't like!


Another thing I'd say, is that personally, from my experience (I worked for several years after college), a PhD seems to be perceived as worth a lot more than a research MSc, and while it's certainly more work, I think the ratio of [work] : [career value] means that if you are going to go through a research MSc, it makes sense to go on and get the PhD, especially if you might like a research career.

So... my thoughts would be that if you are very early on in your research MSc, and you don't like it, you need to either fix it so that you do like it, or consider changing to a different area where you are happy with the research area, and happy to stick it out for a couple of years and possibly work there afterwards.

If you have a decent supervisor, I'd definitely say the first thing to do is talk to him/her about this.
You are doing computational biology - theres some people in my lab that are in that subject area, and some are much more focused on the biology, and some on the computational bits - if you talk to your supervisor and let them know your concerns, perhaps you could change your research focus and move it closer to the area you are interested in? Work less on the hardcore biological problems, and more on applying computational techniques to solving well defined problems that just happen to come from the biological domain?

I guess I've been really fortunate with my supervisor, but I definitely think if I wasn't happy with the sort of work my research area was leading me into, I'd be able to discuss this, and we'd be able to talk about me looking at different problems, or at the same problems from an angle that was more interesting to me. You have to remember, that its really in the supervisors interests to have a student that's highly motivated about the way the research is going, and is willing to go the extra mile to get good results, too, and you might be able to work something out.

If you are totally unable to work anything out, and you really don't like it, then I guess you have to consider quitting, and finding a different research MSc, or getting a job - but I'd say to consider this only as a last resort - when push comes to shove, things might be more flexible than they initially seem - and theres certainly plenty of interesting problems in computational biology than can be looked at as hard CS problems, largely ignoring the biological context, if you can get into this area - even if you can't, maybe you could change your approach to a problem you are currently looking at, to go down a much more algorithmic, hard-CS route...