Electronic & Computer Engineering Masters

SolarNexus

I graduated last July from NCI with a Bsc.H in Software Systems, so I am now looking at my options for masters degrees.

Electronic Engineering has always interested me, but having come from a software background, I'm a little apprehensive that there may be an assumption of electronics knowledge that would appear on an undergrad electronics degree but not a software equivalent.

It's also a lot more expensive than any competing masters degree I've looked at: 6,000Euro per annum (12K total) as opposed to 2,000-3,500 Euro for 1yr courses; so obviously I want to be sure of what I'd be getting myself into.

Can anyone say anything good, bad or otherwise about the Msc. in Electronic & Computer engineering?

stop

It's a new course for September 2011 so you're unlikely to get student feedback. You could try contacting the programme co-ordinator.
Contact details and course info (including module list)

The fees are high enough, it's worth noting though if you're in employment this year and starting the course in September you could claim back 20% of the fees for the first year through PAYE.

SolarNexus

New for this year? Strange as the pdf mentions its start date as 2010, I guess that would explain why the secretary I ended up talking to thought it wasn't on last year.

Do you know where I can get more information about that PAYE thing?

Thanks

pljudge321

Best thing to do would be to have a look at all of the modules and pick out which ones you would be concerned about and get in contact with the lecturer for that module. For example the control theory module would probably presume a familiarity with matlab in fourier and laplace transform applications.

You can search for the individual modules here. http://www.ucd.ie/students/course_search.htm

stop

SolarNexus wrote: »

New for this year? Strange as the pdf mentions its start date as 2010, I guess that would explain why the secretary I ended up talking to thought it wasn't on last year.

Do you know where I can get more information about that PAYE thing?

Thanks

It's mentioned as available from September 2011 here, I'd not heard of it before now.

Revenue information on tax relief for tuition fees.

RayCarley

stop wrote: »

It's a new course for September 2011 so you're unlikely to get student feedback. You could try contacting the programme co-ordinator.
Contact details and course info (including module list)

The fees are high enough, it's worth noting though if you're in employment this year and starting the course in September you could claim back 20% of the fees for the first year through PAYE.

I was talking to one of the academic co ordinators the other day and he did say that there is one student who started doing that masters this year, I'm not sure how, but it could be good to talk to them.

As you can probably see yourself the courses are a mix of computers and electronic engineering, some of those modules are done by 4th year electronic engineers, so yes there would be assumed you'd have a background in the stuff. As it was said, you should look up the module descriptor and also definitely talk to the academic co-ordinator for the course, they would be your best bet.

SolarNexus

There seems to be conflicting information here. The course I was looking at was 2yrs, starting at Sept 2010 but now I'm seeing that there's a course by the same name that's only 1yr starting this year.

So that's a bit confusing.

The reality is that I feel comfortable enough with software that I want to do an electronics-heavy masters intentionally so I'd learn from it, but obviously I don't want to go a step too far.

I don't mind if I have to learn as I go, but if there's some assumed information (or too much assumed?) that makes it impossible for me to do, I'd like to know, so I'll definitely be making a couple calls tomorrow to see what the situation is.

Sid_Justice

12,000 euro to do some 3rd year and 4th year computer science/computer engineering modules, and work for 1.5 semesters? In my amateur opinion this looks like a croc of ****.

have a look at this one instead

http://www.csi.ucd.ie/content/taught-msc-computer-science-negotiated-learning

i think it's about 1,600 eur and you have a broad choice of modules. A couple of hardware ones but admittedly not the range the electronic engineering ones offer.

SolarNexus

Sid_Justice wrote: »

12,000 euro to do some 3rd year and 4th year computer science/computer engineering modules, and work for 1.5 semesters? In my amateur opinion this looks like a croc of ****.

have a look at this one instead

http://www.csi.ucd.ie/content/taught-msc-computer-science-negotiated-learning

i think it's about 1,600 eur and you have a broad choice of modules. A couple of hardware ones but admittedly not the range the electronic engineering ones offer.

I was talking about this earlier, for the price of one semester of that UCD course I could pay for 3 masters degree courses over the same period.

The main reason I was attracted to this one in particular was because it had computer AND electronic engineering, but when you work it out, you can get a one year masters for both, for less money.

kind of crazy, no?

SolarNexus

Got an email today saying I'm not eligible, so that's the end of that

Chet T16

Why not?

SolarNexus

This student would not be eligible for entry to the ME in Electronic and
Computer Engineering. The main reason is that the ME is only suitable for
those coming from an engineering background. He has computer
science as his first degree, so he would not have the required level of
mathematics, physics and chemistry. The FAS course that he is pursuing
would not bring him to the required level and in particular it would not
bring up to the necessary level in mathematics.

That's the gist of it.

So, despite computer science often being considered a valid entry for these kinds of courses, apparently not anymore - at least for UCD.

Chet T16

Not great news but it does give you a great pointer to what you need to do if this ME is what you want to do, if you have the time/money to persue it.

SolarNexus

Chet T16 wrote: »

Not great news but it does give you a great pointer to what you need to do if this ME is what you want to do, if you have the time/money to persue it.

True, I'm still waiting to hear back from some other places, I don't think it'll be a much different response, so yeah...

Chet T16

I know, not ideal. But here i am at 30 in second year of electronic engineering and it took me 1.5 years to be eligible to get onto that.

SolarNexus

Chet T16 wrote: »

I know, not ideal. But here i am at 30 in second year of electronic engineering and it took me 1.5 years to be eligible to get onto that.

Well that's one of the things I keep struggling with... I would be fine with going back and doing Electronic Engineering as an undergrad (or whatever else), but for some reason the idea of being 28-30+ without ever really having a full time job (I've done internships, freelance work etc. but not full-time work) just seems... I don't know, I feel like I'd be missing out on some vital experience or something.

Plus the whole 'living at home till your 30' thing really doesn't appeal to me, which is what would probably happen for me.

I don't know.

ironclaw

Could you not do a masters closer to your field? Such as pure Comp. Sci? Might be a stepping stone. The Engineering masters will always be closed off without some background in Engineering unfortunately. The Eng Anoraks

pljudge321

I suppose it kind of makes sense. In your E&E undergrad by the time you get to fourth year you have done 7 full maths modules as well as a course in signals & systems and thats without mentioning all the other numericaly hard courses like electromagnetic and circuit theory as well.

Anyways good look, there's always a way to get in even if it requires a bit of time.

SolarNexus

ironclaw wrote: »

Could you not do a masters closer to your field? Such as pure Comp. Sci? Might be a stepping stone. The Engineering masters will always be closed off without some background in Engineering unfortunately. The Eng Anoraks

I could, sure, but at the moment I've pretty much had my fill of Comp. Sci. After a certain point the law of diminishing returns comes in to play and I'd be getting the Msc. in Comp. Sci for the sake of having one, not because I think I'd learn from it.

I wanted Electronic Engineering specifically because it would be a bit of a learning experience, in addition to me actually liking the subject quite a bit. You could say I'm bored of computer science to some degree at this point.

I had looked at the Forensic/Security masters on offer but the problem with them is, I cant see it adding terribly to career prospects - in fact I wouldnt know where you'd start to get a job in computer security. Everything I've heard so far is to get into it you'd either have to be in law enforcement or start up your own consultancy or something.

Queens University Belfast has a Computer and Electronic Security masters, so that actually may be what I end up going for, if anything at this point.