For my third course, I may create online drown proofing.
For context, drownproofing was a course once upon a time at Georgia Tech which is now more famously taught in the Navy SEALS. It teaches you not so much how to swim but how to bob just below the surface without drowning or expending too much energy. The "final exam" was having your ankles and wrists bound and being dropped in the pool.
There's a startup metaphor in there somewhere.
I would assume it is him. He's very active on the unofficial Google Plus group for the program.
It gave me an excuse to create an account.
This program is no joke, especially if you don't avoid certain courses. If I had one piece of advice for anyone in the program, you should trust the crowd source student reviews of the courses.
(Googler here) I took ~4 classes, and they all seemed to be of high quality (applied for the full MSCS, but didn't get in, unfortunately). What are some of the opinions you've heard here?
I believe the typical complaint is about the additional classes required to just round out the degree that are not as useful to one's chosen sub-field in CS. Can't give you my personal opinion because I'm not there yet.
https://garymm.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-regret-getting-masters...
Look for discussions from the author, I can't link it here.
Nope, it's definitely not easy. I take two classes full terms, one in the summers while working a full-time day job. I easily spend 20-30 hrs/week on coursework + readings + lectures during full terms, only ~10 hrs/week during the summers. Anything more than that would definitely require a rethink and time off. But it is entirely doable if giving up two years' pay isn't an option.
Also the personal stuff to some extent. Point is, I gained a lot from the program, but it hurt me in other ways and money is the least of these worries.
Can you say which classes you took and/or your favorites or the ones you thought you got the most out of? Any you wish you had taken instead or the classes you did not enjoy or get much out of?
I've only heard of this program, but have not researched any details.
Is there a way to stretch this to 3-4 years so that things aren't as compressed?
Very true of my on-campus degree from Gatech as well. There wasn't any flexibility in spreading out courses due to my visa status. Tech tends to expect grads to leave in 1.5 years, which is slightly tighter.
> "It cost me my relationship with the SO and it cost me my health (staying up late nights, lots of coffee)."
Could've been true for me as well. Tech was also the first time my SO and I were long-distance, so that was an added challenge. I also put on 20 pounds the first year due to late nights and large pizzas. When I came to my senses, there were amazing options available in the fitness center.
> " The hidden gem is Piazza ..."
Opinions varied among my peers but I loved Piazza (the idea) too. Only one of my courses (advanced OS, Kishore) actually used it extensively, sadly.
Apart from the campus culture, etc, one thing I would miss in the OMSCS is talking to professors after class. A couple of the professors spent almost an hour after class answering questions in the hallway (in addition to scheduled office hours). I wonder if that experience can be replicated.
Got a job at Google directly because of this program (a few classes like CCA helped a lot with interviews). I'm aware of at least a couple dozen of us from OMS here.
The program cost me dearly. It cost me my relationship with the SO and it cost me my health (staying up late nights, lots of coffee).
* $5k cheap, it's nothing, the real way you pay for it is via your time.
* The teachers like the flexibility as much as we do. Many are top notch. I took two classes from professors that work at Google (Dr. Starner and Dr. Essa), one at Netflix (Dr. Lebanon), and a few others have their own startups.
* One of the classes was taught by Sebastian Thrun, with a TA at Google, but I think that's changed now.
* The lectures are good, but you have infinite ability to subsidize them with Udacity, Coursera etc.
* You learn squat by watching videos. The true learning happens at 2am when you are trying to implement something, and end up tinkering, debugging, etc. That's when things click.
* The hidden gem is Piazza and some of the amazing classmates that help you out. Lots of classmates that work in industry and can explain things a lot better. I.e: Actual data scientists and CTOs of Data Science companies taking the data science class. They were amazing and I owe my degree to them in part.
* Working full time and taking classes is not easy. Consider quitting and doing it peacefully.
* From within Google, I've heard from people that did the Stanford SCPD (I'm considering it) and also OMSCS. Lots of people that say the SCPD program wasn't worth the time and effort. No one yet that's said the same about the GT program.
I've heard from people that have done the program in-person, and they say the online lectures and materials are significantly better.