Spec me an economics course

[Mr. Brightside]

I'll try to keep this brief and will inevitably fail. I'm toying with the idea of doing an economics course of some sort, but I'm not sure what options would (a) be open to me and (b) would be good ideas (or at least not terrible ones).

Background:
I'm 24 with a BA in computer science. I've been working since I graduated in 2011 - I'm in my second job as a software developer. I've not studied economics at any level before but have developed an interest in it over the last couple of years.

Motivation:
I wouldn't see myself going on to do anything that directly benefited from/required the qualification. My interest is pretty much just in understanding for its own sake - pure curiosity. I see myself doing one of a couple of things after:

1. Going on to do a PhD in computer science (if that's even possible without a masters in computer science), perhaps/probably in an area that would benefit from knowledge of economics.
2. Returning to work as a software developer (not the same job though).

Current situation:
That would most accurately be described as "stuck in a rut". For nearly a year now I've been living with my parents. I pay a small amount of rent but it's really nothing compared to the flat I had for two years until last summer. The job I've had for the last two and a bit years allows me to work from anywhere (in the world). Being the frugal person I am (and perhaps insecure, or perhaps just forward thinking), I'm using the situation to stash away as much money as I can (I understand that my self employed status would make it hard to get a mortgage, but even if it didn't, I'm not sure that would be a good idea - I just don't know what I want so don't think that commitment would be wise). Some things about this are good (flexible well paid work), but there are two significant downsides meaning that I don't see myself in it long term:

1. I have no life outside of work (living with my parents in basically the middle of nowhere). I have no colleagues in this country and that's very unlikely to change, so I also have no life inside work, if that's a thing.
2. The job is not challenging me (in the right ways). I'm not learning anything new.

Next move:
I've been thinking for some time what my next move is. The best idea I've had so far is:

1. At the end of July, announce my intention to leave my job.
2. Leave at the end of December (hopefully leaving enough time for them to replace me and to transfer some knowledge).
3. Take ~six months from January to ~summer 2015 to:
4. Apply for admission to post-graduate courses of some sort (economics if it doesn't turn our to be a terrible idea, partly based on the answers to this thread, but I'm also thinking about computer science), and:
5. Have a sort of sabbatical, sort of half of a "the-gap-year-I-never had", doing a mixture of cycling, running, some open source work, some self-directed learning in various fields (perhaps at the intersection of computer science and economics, perhaps elsewhere).
6. Begin post-graduate course in 2015.

Means:
Estimates of costs would be helpful.

Useful answers:
Would include specific information on or pointers to suitable courses, admissions requirements, costs, etc., or general advice/comments from anyone who's done something similar. The biggest question right now is what sorts of course would be accessible to me. I would think that a masters course would be too high a level for someone like myself with no prior knowledge of the subject. Is there a chance I'm mistaken? Assuming not, what other one year courses could be worthwhile and accessible to me?

Thanks!

 

[dowie]

Does it have to be an MSc - since you're not planning on doing anything specific with it this might be useful:

http://www.londoninternational.ac.uk/courses/diploma-graduates/lse/diploma-graduates-economics

Essentially what was the University of London external system - AFAIK its basically a lot of self study in your own time.

 

[DanTheMan]

You have a computer science degree so I imagine your maths is well beyong that needed for an economics degree. Are you interested in learning the maths / scientific methods behind the economy or do you want a more philosophical / social approach?

I'm just finishing my final exams for my BAEcon Economics at Manchester and truthfully, I cannot wait to leave. I too became thoroughly interested in understanding the economy more and why there is so much inequality and lack of efficiency, however I discovered very early in my degree that economics fails to answer these sufficiently. There is only so much that maths can solve and there are very few hard and fast rules when it comes to resource allocation.

Higher level economics tends to be very mathematical and theoretical, it has the scientific approach of a tradition science without much real world application. Where does your interest in economics lie? Economics is very broad and becomes quite specific at postgraduate level with areas such as macroeconomics, microeconomics and econometrics taking very different routes. There's also political economy, philosophical economics such as the works of Adam Smith and Marx which are less scientific and much more philosophical.

I would suggest deciding what part of economics you most like the look of, especially if you plan on going in at post grad level as there will be a much narrower focus.