No CS background. Will this 1 year program be enough to get a job?

[Owego]

I come a sociology background, but realized last year that I wanted to join the tech industry, and do so as fast as possible. I'm really interested in data science, but could also see myself being a software developer.

 

I've applied and been accepted to 2 CS professional programs. The first is the MCIT program at UPenn. It's 2 years and seems to have a very good placement rate. The second is the MS in CS program at UChicago. It is the one I'm more interested in because it's only 1 year (4 quarters, 11 courses total). But I'm worried that one year and no internship wouldn't be enough to get a job.

 

Would someone mind taking a look at the program and tell me what they think?

It would be:

2 immersion/intro course

5 core courses listed here: http://csmasters.uchicago.edu/page/core-requirements

And 4 electives of my choosing

 

Could somebody with little experience be able to get a job in silicon valley after going through this program?

[orangeglacier]

The most important thing for a computer science job is less the credentials and more knowing the stuff.  You might get filtered out by a few places for just having a masters, without much other experience, but as long as you can succeed at interviews you should be fine.  Do you know computer science well, just not with any recorded experience?  If so, I wouldn't worry.  If you don't have much experience with computer science, I would think about it; from your post it kind of sounds like you're hopping on a bandwagon, computer science will be very different than sociology work.

[DeleteMePlease]

I have no idea about job prospects, but I think that orangeglacier is right. 

One years is really short if you really want to learn practical skills. However, if you bring some prior experience you should be fine. Programming is something you can easily learn by yourself, however it takes a lot of time.

Edited February 5, 2014 by GermanStudent

[redudie]

My advice is to stay away from professional programs. It is called professional for reason, i.e. waste of time.

 

If you really want to study CS, the best thing to do is to take fundamental courses in your school and then apply a full time MS program. Also you can find out whether you really like it or not during the process.