We will be hopping over to Italy/France/or Croatia in the next year or so. Work will not be the motivator, but we both have options.
In the states during late covid, I thought the downtime would be good to do a second masters in something unrelated to working in software. I chose a remote program with a univeristy here in the states, I did the first year, but it reminded me that studying - especially a program unrelated to anything you have currently done - is actually not easy.
I chose Geology. I have BS/BA in Comp Eng and Chemistry and an MS in Comp Eng. So this was personal interest.
Revisiting math I hadn't used in awhile was the easy part. Making the time, while working, reminded my why I also ended up ABD (all but dissertation - toward PHD) post masters. Sometimes your brain needs to relax.
Glad it worked for you. And the European Universities are significantly cheaper than Universities in the states (this was a state univerisity which is - per state - considered a step above a state school. For instance a UC vs a CSU in california).
Felicidades. Sometimes I think about returning to a public university to have something structured to do, especially since I've been in a way educating myself through AI and I appreciate the idea of an environment dedicated to people with a similar intellectual interest. I don't really care about academia, if I do it it would be an experimental change of environment. If there is even a place for people like me in that public university at all (older people).
I'm studying part-time to complete a BA in political science while working full-time as a software developer. I love learning the subject, but the workload can be tough. Happy to hear it's not just me.
I did study for my undergraduate degree( design & business) full time whilst also working full time. Graduated when I was almost 30. It took me 10 years until I wanted to study anything again.
Now I'm studying part time for my masters degree( cybersec) whilst also working full time, only this time the job is very mentally draining.
Great job! A few months ago I was kicked out of university for failing my Real Analysis course a second time (4 years of CS suddenly gone, thesis was half done) and had to get a full time job. Now I got accepted to a different public university to study on a weekend basis. This article makes me less anxious about my upcoming studies.
It feels like the real reason many people go back to school: not some grand career optimization plan, but being bored, stuck and wanting life to move again
I've been considering doing the same (going back to uni, not moving to Barcelona). But I find the choices are overwhelming, and the time investment is no joke.
In Argentina doing a bachelor + master while working is called a Monday. It's partially unfortunate since it "delays" the finish date of the degree and even makes a lot of people drop out because they found a cushy enough job.
But coming out with a degree along with years of professional experience makes up for the "delay" in getting the degree at least tenfold.
> Culture-wise, the professors at the university were also very different than what I was used to in Germany. [...] My thesis advisor, Alicia Ageno, for instance, had a meeting with me about every two weeks and sent me relevant papers and advice on a subject that was not her current research topic anymore.
This makes german supervision sound pretty abysmal! Maybe that's why the thesis project I had with a German professor crashed and burned (I was to implement an simulation method, and he wouldn't help with debugging), they are just raised in a culture where you don't help students?
I'm finishing a masters here in Spain about HPC (uploaded the thesis last night). It's a joint program by two universities from Galicia (USC/UDC). I paid about the same the author did. The programme is great, loved the professors --- I contacted them after the class and the interactions were helpful/interesting. Like in the author's case, my master had a lot of practical work (which is good, being in computing/HPC). But the workload is *really crazy*. Assignment pretty much every week, with overlapping deadlines.
There's something here called "second chance", which I don't remember seeing this in Brazil. My wife did a masters at University of Barcelona and they also had a second chance. In every subject if you fail, then you take the exam or submit some assignments to get the required grade. Some students realised they wouldn't get a good grade, and preferred to skip the exam or assignment, just to get a better grade on the second chance to graduate with a good score/honours/etc.. I found that interesting, but I focused more learning things that would help me at $work and tried to avoid stress (I was probably the oldest student in my class, 40+ yo).
17 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 39.6 ms ] threadIn the states during late covid, I thought the downtime would be good to do a second masters in something unrelated to working in software. I chose a remote program with a univeristy here in the states, I did the first year, but it reminded me that studying - especially a program unrelated to anything you have currently done - is actually not easy.
I chose Geology. I have BS/BA in Comp Eng and Chemistry and an MS in Comp Eng. So this was personal interest.
Revisiting math I hadn't used in awhile was the easy part. Making the time, while working, reminded my why I also ended up ABD (all but dissertation - toward PHD) post masters. Sometimes your brain needs to relax.
Glad it worked for you. And the European Universities are significantly cheaper than Universities in the states (this was a state univerisity which is - per state - considered a step above a state school. For instance a UC vs a CSU in california).
I'm studying part-time to complete a BA in political science while working full-time as a software developer. I love learning the subject, but the workload can be tough. Happy to hear it's not just me.
Thank you for sharing!
Now I'm studying part time for my masters degree( cybersec) whilst also working full time, only this time the job is very mentally draining.
In Argentina doing a bachelor + master while working is called a Monday. It's partially unfortunate since it "delays" the finish date of the degree and even makes a lot of people drop out because they found a cushy enough job.
But coming out with a degree along with years of professional experience makes up for the "delay" in getting the degree at least tenfold.
the conclusion was as expected
edit> Spain is one of my fav countries and I may even be half spanish, Im just saying if I was going to focus on work Id move to the nordics or the US
This makes german supervision sound pretty abysmal! Maybe that's why the thesis project I had with a German professor crashed and burned (I was to implement an simulation method, and he wouldn't help with debugging), they are just raised in a culture where you don't help students?
There's something here called "second chance", which I don't remember seeing this in Brazil. My wife did a masters at University of Barcelona and they also had a second chance. In every subject if you fail, then you take the exam or submit some assignments to get the required grade. Some students realised they wouldn't get a good grade, and preferred to skip the exam or assignment, just to get a better grade on the second chance to graduate with a good score/honours/etc.. I found that interesting, but I focused more learning things that would help me at $work and tried to avoid stress (I was probably the oldest student in my class, 40+ yo).
Leisure time is a human need btw, I learnt it too late after a burnout.