Why I Got a Master's Degree
Published: 2023-04-29 21:26:12

---
title: Why I Got a Master's Degree
published: true
date: 2022-12-15 02:02:41 UTC
tags: 
canonical_url: https://mikestaszel.com/2022/12/14/why-i-got.html
---

I recently graduated from Georgia Tech’s Online Master’s in Computer Science program! I’m now taking some time to reflect on my experience.

## What was the program like?

Georgia Tech’s program is a 10-course (30 credit hour) Master’s degree in Computer Science. It’s fully online and follows a traditional academic structure with lectures, office hours, homework, exams, and grades. It’s the _real deal_, not watered down. You take the same courses the on-campus students take. You get a real degree that _doesn’t_ mention that the program was online at all, because there is no difference between online and on-campus. You just have to watch recorded lectures instead of going in-person.

## Why did I do it?

I love learning and I love my job as a software engineer. My employer even reimbursed me for tuition. I also wanted to expand my knowledge and skills beyond software engineering.

## What courses did I take?

### Software Development Process

My first course. I made my first real Android app – a Scrabble game – with a group. We also learned about UML, which I don’t care for.

### Intro to Information Security

Made stacks overflow, wrote shellcode, gained root access, etc. This one was very hands on and took a lot of effort.

### Machine Learning for Trading

My favorite course. I optimized portfolios using Sharpe ratios and built a reinforcement learning trading bot that beat the S&P 500 (but I learned that it’s best not to try to beat the S&P 500).

### Intro to Operating Systems

I didn’t enjoy this course – it was similar to my undergraduate Operating Systems course. Our final project was to write an NFS-like server and client using gRPC, which was a new experience for me.

### Machine Learning

Supervised learning, unsupervised, classifiers, regressions, areas under various curves - the whole nine yards. I don’t consider myself to be anywhere _near_ close enough to claim I know much about this topic.

### Human-Computer Interaction

This was a UX course (not UI!). I learned about usability, measuring productivity, and getting feedback from users.

### Knowledge-Based AI

This was a tough course. I don’t remember much of what we learned. AI is tough.

### AI, Ethics, and Society

We really dove deep into the nonsense that happened at Facebook/_Meta_. I learned about GDPR, which comes in handy a lot!

### Network Security

This course was all about hacking into systems using clever methods. We covered SQL injections, web server bugs, JavaScript, and `iframe` attacks to fool users.

### Game AI

As my final course, I wanted to do something new – video game AI. I learned C# and Unity (the game engine) and used them to program AI for a dodgeball game and a self-driving car.

## Thoughts

When I started the program, I had vague goals of learning about “AI” and “Machine Learning” without a clear plan. I did it because I find these topics interesting, not for a promotion or career change.

Here are three unexpected benefits of the program:

1. I opened an IRA and increased my 401k contributions. I had no idea about stocks, but I learned about the stock market and investing in stocks through my Machine Learning for Trading course.

2. I learned to study effectively. The program was challenging and I had to work hard to keep up. Deadlines were real, projects were large and vague, and I had to actually learn the material to pass the exams.

3. I made connections with other students and alumni. I joined the program’s Slack and participated in study groups and office hours.

Overall, I’m glad I did the program. It challenged me and helped me grow as a software engineer and as a person.

### Get in Touch

If you want to hear more, I’m happy to talk to you about the program as a recent alumni. Send me a message!