Masters or a few Coursera courses?

Amazon / Eng
rando-sde

Go to company page Amazon Eng

 rando-sde
Dec 24, 2019 18 Comments

Hi all,

I wanted to get some formal education in distributed systems and was thinking of taking this specialization in distributed systems. I noticed it was part of a masters program by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Think it'd be worth it in the long run to go for the whole degree, or just take this specialization that I want the info from? Do Masters degrees still make you stand out?

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/cloud-computing

TC 180, 6yoe
Important note, I do not hold a BS and did not major in CS (but have a BA with a non-science major)

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  • Snapchat / Eng
    Fabby Mike

    Go to company page Snapchat Eng

     Fabby Mike
    Don't do it just because of TC or because the company cares.
    Dec 24, 2019 6
    • All that u use in your team can be studied online or on YouTube at your own pace and after careful selection.
      You do not need to do a degree for it.
      A degree is redundant in this digital age
      Dec 24, 2019
    • Amazon / Eng
      rando-sde

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

       rando-sde
      OP
      I do kind of agree that with the sheer amount of access to information, a formalized education can be redundant, but I do like the idea of the material being carefully picked out. If I am already kind of not familiar with the field, it would be difficult to pick out what is and is not important.

      I think what I'll do is do the Coursera specialization first and if I want to go deeper, apply for the program. It actually uses the same Coursera content + some additional content from the University. I *think* I'd only have to make up the difference if I enrolled.
      Dec 24, 2019

  • This comment was deleted by original commenter.

  • Amazon
    froogality

    Go to company page Amazon

    froogality
    Imho BA in CS is as good as an BS .
    Dec 24, 2019 2
  • Apple
    djayo

    Go to company page Apple

    djayo
    Having the degree is definitely great. But it’s probably a better idea to do the degree that focuses on that area instead of a more general one that has one module in it.
    Dec 24, 2019 1
    • Amazon / Eng
      rando-sde

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

       rando-sde
      OP
      Yeah, I 100% only want to do this if I can find a program that focuses on distributed systems. The UIUC program is "Master's of Computer Science" in Data Science? And you can focus on distributed systems or machine learning. I'd rather do distributed systems because there is much more demand there. I think ML will fade into novelty, OR you better have a PhD to do it.
      Dec 24, 2019
  • Microsoft / Ops
    setaGlliB

    Go to company page Microsoft Ops

     setaGlliB
    Depends on the company, if this is to move internally or applying outside your current company, and your longer term career goals. My experience is if you can demonstrate the knowledge and have a track record of delivering impact, education is less important the further away in time you are from college. Might be useful to have a Master's degree when job hunting.
    Dec 24, 2019 2
    • Amazon / Eng
      rando-sde

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

       rando-sde
      OP
      My goal is to move to Microsoft or Google next year (I want to live on the Eastside), and then start the school work then. I had a good interview for a Sr. engineer position at MS, but was passed up for someone with ML experience. Next time I'll just avoid ML teams.

      Hoping to make this relevant for my career 5 years from now. Hopefully by then, I'll have been at MS for about 5 years. But also really just want to become an authority on distributed systems.
      Dec 24, 2019
    • PayPal
      maybeam

      Go to company page PayPal

      maybeam
      Why MS when AWS can provide you better opportunities in the distributed systems area
      Jan 6, 2020