Ask HN: Does a master's in CS develop you into a better programmer? I'm not a programmer, just a really curious guy. Does a master's in CS make you a more effective programmer (in the workplace)? Or is it merely the most talented programmer choose to do a MS? |
Getting a masters in CS is a good way to get a visa to the US though. Most MS CS programs are about ~20% US citizens.
Computer science is a misnomer because it is a field within mathematics. It's about the abstract, theory of computability rather than actually computing with programs. I think this confusion arises from school curricula blending the two together because both are about "computers". It's really orthogonal to programming and has no bearing on one's effectiveness as a programmer.
I've found having an understanding of the underlying theories supporting the tools (that includes languages and libraries) I use makes me use them better, understand their strengths, weaknesses, and how to improve them. It also helps me look at problems from various perspectives and see how other solutions may fit, including those that don't already have a tutorial or library.
I suspect that if you're an effective programmer, you're doing more than copying and pasting and growing in experience, and you're actually absorbing and apply more computer science than you realize.