Software Engineering - Getting a Software Engineering MS

Author

Getting a Software Engineering MS

NullBock

2006-08-29, 4:09 am

Hi,

I've been programming professionally for around seven years, and am
considering getting a degree. Doing a quick search of programs in
Oregon, I stumbled across the "Oregon Masters of Software Engineering"
(http://www.omse.org), a relatively new program based at Portland State
University.

Does anyone have any experience with this program, or with any other
"Masters of SE" programs? Is this a new trend? And, most importantly,
is an MSE degree taken seriously by the industry?

Thanks,

Walter Gildersleeve
Freiburg, Germany

P.S. I'm looking at getting a degree primarily to get better
employment. I'm not happy being "just" a programmer, and increasingly,
good jobs require a degree in CS or related (I've got a Master's in
History). This is doubly so in Germany, where I'll probably work in
the future.

Plasmafire

2006-08-29, 4:09 am

Hi Null;

Having been on both ends of the recruting table, a significant number
of times, I can confidently say that the MSE will increase your chances
of securing an IT job. The only - point you have is lack of formal
classroom IT education. This course of action will be suitable unless,
you can find a more specific MSE, eg: MS in ASE

All the best for the future.

NullBock wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been programming professionally for around seven years, and am
> considering getting a degree. Doing a quick search of programs in
> Oregon, I stumbled across the "Oregon Masters of Software Engineering"
> (http://www.omse.org), a relatively new program based at Portland State
> University.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with this program, or with any other
> "Masters of SE" programs? Is this a new trend? And, most importantly,
> is an MSE degree taken seriously by the industry?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Walter Gildersleeve
> Freiburg, Germany
>
> P.S. I'm looking at getting a degree primarily to get better
> employment. I'm not happy being "just" a programmer, and increasingly,
> good jobs require a degree in CS or related (I've got a Master's in
> History). This is doubly so in Germany, where I'll probably work in
> the future.

H. S. Lahman

2006-08-29, 9:59 pm

Responding to NullBock...

> I've been programming professionally for around seven years, and am
> considering getting a degree. Doing a quick search of programs in
> Oregon, I stumbled across the "Oregon Masters of Software Engineering"
> (http://www.omse.org), a relatively new program based at Portland State
> University.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with this program, or with any other
> "Masters of SE" programs? Is this a new trend? And, most importantly,
> is an MSE degree taken seriously by the industry?

It is new in the sense that recognition of SE as a standalone degree
specialty is relatively new. (Schools like CMU have been emphasizing SE
as part of a CS degree for a decade or more.) IMO that rise in stature
just reflects that the software industry is belatedly beginning to
figure out that writing 3GL code is probably one of the least important
things that software developers do from a business perspective. As a
result SE is finally moving out of the academic ivory towers into the
mainstream.

Unfortunately the number of shops that actually practice good SE are
still relatively rare. OTOH, customers are beginning to notice that the
only thing that breaks nowadays is software. That is placing pressure
on the industry similar to that applied to manufacturing in the '80s.
IOW, reliable and timely software is becoming a competitive advantage
and the only way to achieve that is through good SE practices. So over
the next decade I expect most shops to start playing catch-up.

Therefore in the long term such a program has a lot of potential value.
But I think the current value will be mainly that you can get a job in
the relatively few shops that are not programming zoos. IOW, the shops
that know what they are doing will take the degree seriously and that
will get you in the interview door. Working is such shops is a /lot/
better than working in the zoos. Been there; done both.

Alas, the corollary is that shops that think they should embrace SE will
also be interested because they see the degree as a Silver Bullet to
magically solve their problems. IOW, Management has a Vision that they
expect you to implement. Converting such shops takes a long time and is
usually extremely frustrating because of NIH and entrenched resistance
to change at the developer level. Sadly there are a lot more of those
wannabe shops than ones that already practice SE. But such a program
should enable you to ask the right questions to recognize those situations.

Bottom line: In the short term I think it will have limited value but in
the long term it could pay huge dividends.

*************
There is nothing wrong with me that could
not be cured by a capful of Drano.

H. S. Lahman
hsl@pathfindermda.com
Pathfinder Solutions
http://www.pathfindermda.com
blog: http://pathfinderpeople.blogs.com/hslahman
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