Can You Help Me With My Degree

Has your college degree helped you in your career?

I couldn’t have done half of the things I did without my college degrees. But each degree had a different career impact. My BS in Mathematics enabled me not only to get some entry level jobs in scientific and engineering jobs but enabled me to excel in these jobs and move up to higher positions. My graduate degrees taught me more advanced concepts that helped as I moved up and enabled me to take advantages of opportunities that came along from time to time (that required this advanced knowledge). They also, gave me the credentials needed to become a college level teacher, which I did as a “moonlighting” job for over 45 years. The extra income was very helpful in enabling me to have a good nest egg for retirement, as well as helping pay for various things along the way - things that others have to borrow to pay for.

How will an MSCS degree help me in my career growth in a software company like Microsoft or Google? I have a job at Microsoft as an SDE right after my bachelor’s. Should I apply for an MSCS, or start and continue to work at Microsoft?

Two years at Microsoft in a good team will teach you far more than two years in graduate school. If you like programming, are good at it (I'm guessing you are since you're employed at MSFT) and have recently started working, perhaps you want to work for a couple of years and then ask yourself this question. Unless you're the academic kind, or you breezed through college taking easy courses and now are finding it difficult, I really don't think an MS CS degree will help you that much right now.Most graduate level courses are an extension of college level courses so in terms of acads, I don't think you'll learn a whole lot new. If you're interested in pursuing research/academics, this thought of course doesn't apply to you.If you're unsure what you want to do in CS, you can always try what interests you at home apart from your day job, or switch to a team within Microsoft that works on what you enjoy doing. Career wise, an MS CS degree won't make any difference to your job at MSFT as you get reviewed based on how you perform comparative to what you sign up for and your peers. A degree doesn't change that. I'd suggest working a couple of years, taking the time to see if there's a particular area of CS you find yourself lacking in /interested in, and pursuing that as your Masters area of interest if you decide to do the degree. Right now, I feel you may end up taking some general graduate level courses which won't add much to your skill set and you may end up spending a lot of money on a degree that didn't turn out to be that valuable. Good luck.

How can a math degree help me contribute to the world?

Some math graduates contribute to the mankind or their country:Florence Nightingale : Mother of Nursing. She studied under the Math tutor JJ Sylvester. By using her Math skill in Statistics to show that there were more deaths due to wounds than killed in battlefields, she finally convinced the Queen of England that there was a need of a new professional aka “nurse” to assist doctors in patient wound cares.James Harris Simons built the Simons Foundation to give financial assistance to promote America College Math Teaching. He was a PhD student of Prof SS Chern (Wolf Prize winner, aka “Gauss the 2nd”).Google’s 2 Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were Stanford Math graduates under the mentor Prof Tony Chan. The “Google Search” is the mankind’s Knowledge Revolution in Internet Age.Math mostly applied in Computing even before the first computer was built: Binary Math (0, 1) by Leibniz, Boulean Algebra by Boule, Alan Turing, Von Neumann, …Next applied area is in Mathematical Physics by Paul Dirac (Quantum Mechanics), Prof Frank ZN Yang (Yang-Mill Conjecture), Edward Witten String Theory, …With the power of Computer, Algebraic Topology is the Applied Math in Big Data Analytic for Bio-Medicine, Stock Market, etc.Category Theory invented after WW 2 by American Math professors McLane and Eillenberg will see its new penetration through IT (Functional Programming) into Artificial Intelligence — the next mankind's “Brain Revolution”.

Can you help me decide a graduation degree for my future?

I have been studying colleges this past year as my daughter is also in 12 th. I recently read an article that listed Computer Science people as the top wage earners in the next 10 years of all degrees. So if you like CS and you are good at it , I would definitely go for that. Here is my other thought: The most important thing is that you go to undergrad, do something you like , do really well and then you can focus on what you really want TO DO as a graduate student.It is unrealistic to think that 17 or 18 yr olds are going to KNOW what they want to do for the rest of their lives. They can make an educated guess but that's about it. Chances are most people change their minds at least once if not twice.Pick a college where you feel comfortable , where you think you will be able to excel, don't pick a school where you will be the small fish in the big ocean, do just the opposite . Pick a major that excites you, that you can see yourself doing it, that is not the same job day in day out. A job that fits your personality.Visit campuses either in person or by virtual tour on line on the school website. Talk to some graduate students in computer science . They chair of the dept will have an email on line and you can ask . The more information you get the easier it will be to make a decision.Also ask your guidance counselor at school if they have any interest tests you can take , this may show you that you have interest in something you didn't even know about!Good Luck to you!

Would you help me to raise funds for my master's degree in germany? Why yes or why not?

Personally probably not.I perceive it as a freeloader trying to have a free year long holiday on the other side of the world.I think your pitch might be more engaging if you include information like:why you don’t have the money (create sympathy, do you have a poor family?)why you didn’t get a scholarship (have you tried? why not?)what can you get in Germany that you can’t get in Colombia? (do you really need to go there to achieve what you intend to? Or do you just like Germany more than your own country? Why Germany?)Fortunately for you, working in the health field will make people more inclined to help you (as opposed to if you were trying to get into finance), but you probably should explain how you will help people.If your ultimate objective is getting a job, it’s not as compelling as wanting to cure this kind of cancer by learning more about x.I’m sure your motivations are good, but you probably need to better express why people should part with their hard earned money to help you of all people? And why their investment will be worthwhile for humanity/medical science.Good luck.

Will an MS degree help me to reach the next level of my career?

Thanks for A2A,If you are an engineer you will know the scarcity of jobs these days, but if your financial status is good, considering you are planning your masters from USA, i would say it's best to leave that damn job and follow your interest as per a new job concerns, if you are sure to get good credits then for sure you will get a job that you actually want to do, just follow your interests and excel in them, once you are settled in corporate world you will find it difficult to study further, we live once so 'just do it'.

Would an irrelevant degree help me get into the military in an officer position?

I can't speak for Australia as I am a US service member but I'll throw some basic truths about this your way anyway.First - the military teaches you what it wants you to know. Even if you got into an IT career field with an IT degree it won't necessarily matter. The militaries of the world do things their own way and a lot of times that is much different than the private sector.Basically… You WILL be going to school again… but luckily not for nearly as long as you were in college. *Edit* As Tom pointed out that isn't necessarily true for some career fields. Their are some that require a LOT of different schools of various lengths. Pilots always have a bunch of schools and another example would be Linguists learning the more complex languages (Chinese and different Middle Eastern languages being the longest I believe.)Secondly - they will put you where they need you. If there are no IT jobs available you could be part of an Artillary unit or food services.In the US there is a way to get a “guaranteed job” where they will put you on a waiting list until there is a spot for you in that career field, but that may be different in Australia.In my personal opinion I believe the best way to go officer would be through ROTC programs in college. It's not necessarily easier but you'll be knocking out college AND military requirements at the same time… so by the time you graduate you’re ready to enter active service. Again… that might not be true in Australia but I'd be surprised if they didn't have similar programs.I hope this was of some help!