MEng degree advice

tntcoder · 23 Feb 2008 at 15:52

Hi,

I am currently doing a straight Bsc in Computer Science, with 1 year left. All being well I will get a first hopefully, however i have virtually no experience in the industry yet, and don't think i will be in that area of work over the summer. All i have is pub work, and a CompTIA linux+ certification... I also have very very bad alevels, but hopefully my degree will phase them out

So has anyone done an MEng CS degree? My uni offers it and it contains a fair few MSc modules I am interested in, but also has 2 days a week working in a real company which I'm told gives a lot of valuable experience.

So is this a valid option to consider? It would mean i would finish uni at 22 hopefully with a 1st or high 2.1, and would then take a year traveling with the aim of going into a relatively decent job after that (no idea what yet, possibly software dev or network engineer). Is this a plausible route to take? or am i dreaming

Thanks for any advice
Jack

Tefal · 23 Feb 2008 at 15:55

heheheh Meng

Nitefly · 23 Feb 2008 at 15:56

Tefal said:
heheheh Meng

I can just hear a certain scot from the Austin Powers films saying it.

dowie · 23 Feb 2008 at 15:59

If you're worried about jobs then definitely do it - you'll not only get a masters but you'll get real working experience. Certainly will make you more employable and most employers will give you extra pay above other grads - for example my company pays 30k to grads but 35k to people with a masters. Few years down the line and you'll have made up the cost of spending an extra year in education. also uni is a good laugh, you get more free time than you'll have working - make the most of it!

(btw.. I don't have a masters but it was offered on my course and I reckon I should have done it)

tntcoder · 23 Feb 2008 at 16:01

dowie said:
If you're worried about jobs then definitely do it - you'll not only get a masters but you'll get real working experience. Certainly will make you more employable and most employers will give you extra pay above other grads - for example my company pays 30k to grads but 35k to people with a masters. Few years down the line and you'll have made up the cost of spending an extra year in education. also uni is a good laugh, you get more free time than you'll have working - make the most of it!

Thanks, thats the kind of thing i wanted to hear

If i can stay at uni another year and get paid more in the long run then it seems a win-win situation. Also I can do it on the old £1200 tuition fees where as if i changed to MSc it would cost a lot more on the new fees.

Nitefly · 23 Feb 2008 at 16:07

tntcoder said:
Also I can do it on the old £1200 tuition fees where as if i changed to MSc it would cost a lot more on the new fees.

Slightly off topic, but when I start my masters next year (I got a conditional offer this morning

), my fees will be a fairly steep £5900 a year (for two years).

A friend of mine wants to be a vet. Her fees will be £18000 a year (for FIVE years!).

Education certainly isn't cheap postgrad.

Psyk · 23 Feb 2008 at 16:55

Most employers make a distinction between an undergraduate masters program such as an MEng, and postgraduate ones such as an MSc. I guess the key difference is that with an MEng it's an extra year of more of the same. Where as an MSc is a year studying a specialised area in depth.

Una · 23 Feb 2008 at 16:57

I wouldn't be worried about jobs if your a CS graduate from a decent uni. I have been offered two so far without even applying... and all I have is a summer placement at IBM and a good degree. Apart from that I got 0 work experience. Saying that you may as well carry on and get the MEng if its a 4yr course its worth it, working sucks

dowie · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:30

Psyk said:
Most employers make a distinction between an undergraduate masters program such as an MEng, and postgraduate ones such as an MSc. I guess the key difference is that with an MEng it's an extra year of more of the same. Where as an MSc is a year studying a specialised area in depth.

Depends - for specialist/research MSc that is certainly true

but quite a few CompSci MSc courses out there are for people who don't have a bachelors in CompSci - in which case they are basically inferior to an MEng/MComp despite those being 'first degrees'

[TW]Fox · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:11

dowie said:
but quite a few CompSci MSc courses out there are for people who don't have a bachelors in CompSci

Can you do an MSc in CompSci/a Comp related discipline without a bacheleors in CompSci/Comp related discipline? If so, is it worth it for an ITish position?

Butters · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:13

You can do a masters in pretty much any subject you want with no relation to your undergrad course.

I was considering a Meng as the prospects exposed from this are good. However, I'm old now and need to consider starting employment proper. As I have a few options lined up I decided to skip the Meng knowing I could do it later if I really really wanted.

Una · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:17

[TW]Fox;11162926 said:
Can you do an MSc in CompSci/a Comp related discipline without a bacheleors in CompSci/Comp related discipline? If so, is it worth it for an ITish position?

I would say doing a Maths degree then doing a CS masters is actually better than doing the 3 years of CS I have just done

If I could chose again thats what I would be doing. Oxford/Imperial I know do two such really good courses for people with a scientific BSc.

Obviously there are two types of Masters: one as a conversion course, the other as further study into your field.

dowie · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:49

I'd agree with you there - in some areas it could be beneficial to do maths/physics etc.. first

all I'm saying is that the qualification in itself is basically not the same level despite being a 'post grad' qual as opposed to a first degree - an MSc as a conversion course in CompSci probably isn't any better than a bachelors (certainly at my uni the 'masters' students simply attended the same lectures as 2nd/3rd years) - whereas someone who has spent 4 years studying it ought to, in theory, have a broader knowledge of the subject.

Psyk · 23 Feb 2008 at 22:17

Una said:
Obviously there are two types of Masters: one as a conversion course, the other as further study into your field.

In Computer Science I think both can be suitable for people who didn't actually study it at undergraduate level. Since computer science is essentially an area of mathematics it's quite normal for someone who studied maths to do a speciality in a computer science subject.

Una · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:40

Psyk said:
In Computer Science I think both can be suitable for people who didn't actually study it at undergraduate level. Since computer science is essentially an area of mathematics it's quite normal for someone who studied maths to do a speciality in a computer science subject.

Not all. Take http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/computing/teaching/postgraduate/mac/ for instance.. Its specifically called Advanced computing because its not meant for non CS first degree people. There is no way you could do say.. Type Systems for Programming Languages without having a decent understand of how programming languages work/how compilers/type checkers work. I doubt a scientific grad could do it. However there are some which are conversion courses as you say: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/computing/teaching/postgraduate/computing-science for example. Which are meant for anyone with a scientific first degree.