Owego Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 I studied Sociology as an undergraduate and have had a horrible time with the job market. A big problem for me is that I have borderline aspergers and very poor social skills. I have some GIS experience, and have begun to become interested in the programming side of things. I have a romanticized image of working for a tech startup or one of the big GIS companies some day as a programmer. Would this degree get me there? does it carry the same weight as a true "CS" degree or would it be a waste of time and money? This applies for Chicago's Master of computer science program geared towards non-cs majors as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xGeek Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Hi Owego, My 2 cents: I don't really know if the program is "prestigious" and what weight it carries with employers. However, Penn is a great university (not quite sure how strong they are in CS though) and I took a look at the course requirements for the program; they are essentially the core CS classes for an undergraduate degree in CS. In fact, I believe if you master the material you shouldn't find trouble finding a job in the software world (in my experience so far software companies really care more about if you can actually code than where you got your degree from; the most the degree can do for you is get you to the interview stage). Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moolriaz Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Owego, I agree with the above, but I would add the comment to choose Chicago over Penn if you had the choice. I studied at Penn in the CIS department and it wasn't a particularly big or active part of Penn (facilities were also surprisingly poor - often had to sit on the floor). There are many state and private universities with more active/well known CS departments than Penn, and I'd say Chicago is one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chai_latte Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 I'm a little shocked about moolriaz's experience. I always thought that Penn's comp. sci. dept. was well-regarded (more than Chicago's). I did not attend the program, but I did consider it. The general consensus is that the MCIT, like most degrees, is what you make of it. For those without a CS background, it pulls them up to speed. But, the price is quite high (particularly for a field that isn't super-stringent about degrees) and it is not as rigorous as a standard CS MS (obviously). I decided against it, but it will probably open more doors than a sociology degree does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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