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Hi guys, my first thread here .. I hope I came to the right place to ask this
I want to do a Masters in Computer Science from a US university, after which I plan to move to Canada permanently and start looking for Software Engineer jobs there. So I wanted to know how the Canadian Software industry recruiters view a candidate with a Masters in Computer Science degree from a top US university, versus another candidate who is say, a graduate of the same degree from University of Waterloo.
I have admission offers from 3 top US Universities, and I value them all more or less the same. They are from: University of Southern California (USC), Brown University (Ivy League school), and Arizona State University.
For kicks, you should know that I also have an admit offer from University of Waterloo too, however because I personally don't like their program a lot, I'm preferring a US university
Never heard of this before, but a quick search reveals the following:
My undergrad isn't.
My grad degrees aren't, BUT their undergrad versions from the same institute are. For example, I have an MS in ECE degree from Georgia Tech. This MS degree isn't ABET accredited, but the Bachelors version is.
In fact, I've looked through quite a handful of universities, and for some reason I'm only finding Bachelors degrees which have this certification, not MS or PhD degrees.
I completely agree to all the points mentioned there, and I know a struggle is always involved in trying to find a job. In fact, I have 3 years of experience already, so I'm not completely inexperienced.
My question was actually based on the notion that maybe everything else being the same, a Canadian employer might like to hire a Canadian institute graduate, rather than a US institute graduate. So much so, a Canadian employer might actually be somewhat biased towards hiring a Canadian institute graduate, even if another US university graduate might actually be a little more experienced. I wanted to ask how much of such a bias exists in the minds of Canadian software job recruiters.
Also, some universities have a 'reputation' in some places, as either being somewhat better or worse than others. For example, a graduate from Carnegie Mellon or Stanford will at least get a lot of interview phone calls, simply because he has a top university's name mentioned on his resume. Whether or not he get the job depends on his own performance largely, but still, the degree's value and name might be a small factor in making the hiring decision.
So my question was according to the aforementioned notion, if USC or Brown or ASU CS graduates are appreciated or looked down upon in Canada, especially when compared to another candidate who has a Canadian degree.
I didn't check, but Georgia Tech as an institution is almost certainly ABET accredited. Basically, it just means you haven't attended a diploma mill. The reason you never heard of it is that it is extremely rare for any name school in the US to lose accreditation as it makes their degrees pretty much worthless which makes it impossible to get government fundi for most activities, hire professors, get students, and basically function as a legitimate institution of higher learning.
My question is why get a master's in computer science if you already have a masters in electrical and computer engeering? There should be a fair amount of overlap in the coursework, and you already have a degree often regarded as a better version of the one you are going after. Why not just go for your doctorate in computer science if you really want to focus in that field?
I get a feeling that the thread is going a little off-topic here, but I'll still address your questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by AuburnAL
My question is why get a master's in computer science if you already have a masters in electrical and computer engeering? There should be a fair amount of overlap in the coursework, and you already have a degree often regarded as a better version of the one you are going after. Why not just go for your doctorate in computer science if you really want to focus in that field?
Well there are several reasons, mainly that because I've not studied CS till now, there are some concepts which I don't know (e.g. algorithm analysis and formation, programming language theory, etc.). This puts me at a disadvantage in the job market here in my own country, where virtually every guy has a CS degree. Plus, it is also my own personal passion to have a CS degree - for various reasons, I made a mistake earlier on to get a Masters in ECE - because I was on a scholarship program, I couldn't change my department while I was there in the US.
The overlap that comes between ECE and CS are hardware engineering related things, and I don't plan on studying those anymore. Things like AI and Machine Learning are somethings which I also want to study, making CS my choice. This is also why I'm not going for a Software Engineering degree. Granted, such advanced topics are rarely used in the industry, it still might give me an edge in certain industrial research jobs (although I admit, PhDs might be preferred more for such roles).
Quote:
Originally Posted by jambo101
Whats the point of moving to Canada after acquiring a degree from a major US university?
Wouldnt your job prospects be greater in the US
Correct, however working in the US long-term involves a lottery (H-1B sponsorship), and chances of getting selected in that become worse every year (unless they increase the quota). Canada at least doesn't have such issues, so would serve as a decent backup.
Is the ECE degree from Georgia Tech a 4 year university degree, or a 2 year college program? In looking at the program, it looks like it's 132 hours, which is less than four 39 hour courses (39 hours being the standard number of hours for a course), which in Canada is viewed as a Certificate. A degree is a four year program of study. Am I looking at the wrong program at Georgia Tech?
Were you accepted into a masters program at Waterloo, or as an undergraduate? If your background is a 2 year college program, then I doubt you would qualify for a master's program.
Canadian universities are interested in foreign students because of the high tuition they pay:
"Between 2000 and 2008, the number of foreign students in postsecondary education worldwide nearly doubled, from 1.8 million to 3.3 million. That number may double again by 2020.
The international student population in Canada grew by 60 per cent nationwide between 2004 and 2012. We broke the 100,000 level for new arrivals for the first time in 2012. Those students spend more than $8-billion annually in Canada, including tuition fees, rent and living expenses. Ottawa wants to double the number of such students by 2020.
International students, who tend to pay high fees, are prized by cash-strapped administrators. They are doubly prized in regions in demographic decline, where a fresh inflow of funded students is manna from heaven."
Canadian universities are interested in foreign students because of the high tuition they pay:
"Between 2000 and 2008, the number of foreign students in postsecondary education worldwide nearly doubled, from 1.8 million to 3.3 million. That number may double again by 2020.
The international student population in Canada grew by 60 per cent nationwide between 2004 and 2012. We broke the 100,000 level for new arrivals for the first time in 2012. Those students spend more than $8-billion annually in Canada, including tuition fees, rent and living expenses. Ottawa wants to double the number of such students by 2020.
International students, who tend to pay high fees, are prized by cash-strapped administrators. They are doubly prized in regions in demographic decline, where a fresh inflow of funded students is manna from heaven."
Or rather, they are prized outside of graduate, research-oriented programs. Recruiting internationals for research-based graduate programs is the one area where the high tuition actually hurts. For this reason, internationals without outside funding in any shape or form will find themselves having a hard time getting a PhD in Canada, unlike the US, where private schools, as long as the project isn't military-funded, do not care much about where students come from, as long as they are qualified and are not East Asians (mostly China+India as far as PhD recruitment is concerned; it's harder for them because cheating is rampant) if only because tuition is the same for everyone.
Or rather, they are prized outside of graduate, research-oriented programs. Recruiting internationals for research-based graduate programs is the one area where the high tuition actually hurts. For this reason, internationals without outside funding in any shape or form will find themselves having a hard time getting a PhD in Canada, unlike the US, where private schools, as long as the project isn't military-funded, do not care much about where students come from, as long as they are qualified and are not East Asians (mostly China+India as far as PhD recruitment is concerned; it's harder for them because cheating is rampant) if only because tuition is the same for everyone.
What do you know about China/India candidates cheating? I'm very interested in this. We had a PhD candidate on a short term contract recently and, although she is fluent in spoken English, her written word was something completely different. I had edited written documents for a native speaking Cantonese person several years ago and know what English looks like when it's directly converted from Cantonese to English. The work submitted by this PhD candidate had the same style and problems that I would expect to see with an electronic translator. It was not fluent English. I would expect typos or punctuation errors from someone that is fluent in English as a second language, but what she submitted was incoherent in parts. Someone that speaks coherently should also write coherently because the words flow out of the mouth, or onto the paper in the same order. I suspect that she took work published in China, converted it to English, and then had trouble putting it into coherent English - although I can't prove it. Is that a known issue?
In Canada, many PhD candidates are currently paying for their degree. I suggested to this same woman that she should be applying for research money, but she told me that it is not possible. That's simply not true, so I have to wonder why it is not possible for her. I suspect that her area of research is so pointless that no one cares about the results. Typically, PhD candidates were funded by research. If they weren't funded, they weren't accepted as candidates.
Regarding the question from the OP about work in Canada after completing tech training in the US, I'm unclear on the criteria for completing that program. From a brief review of the Georgia Tech program (and perhaps I looked at the wrong program), I would say that the program does not qualify as an undergraduate degree in Canada, and that it is not sufficient for admission to a graduate program in Canada. I do not believe that the skills would be sufficient to compete with Canadians who completed Comp Sc requirements in Canada.
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