Comment by cr0sh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cr0sh | Hacker News Reader

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Disclaimer: I do not hold any kind of real degree (just an Associates from a defunct tech school - worth little to nothing now) - so take the following for what it is...

Based on my experience, which I won't re-iterate here - the various MOOCs I've taken (and currently the Udacity Nanodegree) would not be anywhere close to a masters in the subject (unless I am severely overestimating a masters - but I don't think so).

TBH - they would probably equate closer to an Associates, at best.

This offering from Stanford? Not sure - but I still don't think it would be the equivalent. I'm not saying it wouldn't be worthwhile, but I think if your goal is a deep level of knowledge and understanding of the subject, then a quality masters program for CompSci or similar would be the better path.

Rigor is there.

I'm now working in the ML/AI research division of big-4, all I needed (and all hiring teams needed to see on my resume) were a couple of these classes (with good internal performance ratings).

Having said that, my employer paid for these classes. No way I would pay this price out of pocket. There are probably much cheaper ways to get the same knowledge.

Because I also used to make this much too common grammatical mistake: You're degree is an "associate" (singular) degree as in Associate of Science, etc. (An "associate's" degree could be any type of degree belonging to an associate of some type;-)

I think this seems right. The value in going to a school, taking classes, talking to students in the same boat and talking to professors is greater than the value of a very low-commitment thing like a certificate for watching 20 videos and turning in a few assignments. For the autodidacts, their github profiles are probably worth more than some silly certificate.

I've taken a couple on this list (employer paid as a perk, no way I would pay this price out of pocket) and I can attest it is 100x more worthwhile than Coursera MOOC.

You actually study, partner with, and test along-side Stanford MS/PhD students. Not to mention the accountability factor, since you paid $5k for the class you better take it seriously.

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