Ask HN: Need advise whether I should continue on the Master's degree | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Need advise whether I should continue on the Master's degree

2 pointsGreeting4 comments

I have started the second semester of a master's degree in Computer science and I am unsure whether it is the right for me.

I think the subjects I have chosen are interesting and I enjoy the challenge but when I am done with the day or done preparing for the lecture, I feel 'empty' inside. I have only felt excited and wanting to learn more for few selected subjects. It feels like as I am taking the degree for the sake of it without a goal to aim for. I have had a few programming hobby projects with the goal of improving my skills and making software I would use but I have not finished any of them. I felt that the project had no purpose that deeply mattered to me.

I have been working as a software developer for a year prior starting on the master's program. The days did not feel boring and I enjoyed the challenges, discussing and drawing architecture of services I had to make. The implementation was still fun but not as enjoyable as the design part.

I have considered dropping out to try to pick a software development job which has a stronger focus on helping people, such as developing hearing aids, or with a focus on the environment to see if I enjoy the field more. And learn the skills I need as I go when I see a need for it in my career. But am I shooting myself in the foot by doing this?

Do you think I feel this because I have chosen the wrong degree? Or because I am missing a 'why'?

Well it usually goes like this:

Excelling the degree > passing it barely > not starting the program > switching > quitting > failing

Generally quit before you fail, but if you quit it would have been better not to have persued it in the first place.

A master's degree can be leveraged to receive more pay or higher positions. Being failed in an educational program barrs you from taking that educational route again. A future employer might want to improve you, not having the option is obviously bad. Hiring a quitter is also not ideal, because everyone knows it is a soft form of a fail and improvement is unlikely.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter at all and you can do whatever you want. It is your life and your choice. Also you don't have to disclose it to your future employer. With a bachelor in hand you can go very far.

Knowing more is better than knowing less.

Are you the unicorn person that can learn everything on the program without the "incentive" of failing if you don't? Personally, I'm finishing my 2nd bachelors right now, in law - an area that has nothing to do with my current job and probably won't have a lot to do with it in the future. But when it came to what's a better use of my time - learning a new discipline or gaming my evenings away (it's a remote degree), doing the degree felt like the right (albeit quite painful) choice.

So unless you are joining a new big thing startup, there is no good justification not to finish what you started (especially if you already paid for it).

> I feel 'empty' inside.

If I gave up every time I felt empty inside, I wouldn't have done a single thing in my life. Finish your degree. You're finishing it because it's better than the alternative, not because it gives you some deep sense of meaning, that would be an absurdly high standard to have for something as trivial and boring as university.

I am taking the degree for the sake of it without a goal to aim for.

The goal is adding MS to your resume to get a higher-paying job. Secure your finances, then think about helping other people.

Also, when you get to my age, 1.5 years is a blink of an eye.

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