OT: Postgraduate studies

[Shlomi Fish]

Hi Antony,

On Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:53:41 +0300
Antony Gelberg <antony.gelberg at gmail.com> wrote:

> (I hope this isn't so off-topic as to cause offence.)
> 
> I'm an computer scientist and oleh chadash , just finished ulpan bet
> plus.  15 years experience in the field, 1.5 years in Israel, was CTO
> of a startup last year, this year I've been mostly studying Hebrew.
> 
> So now it's time to polish off my CV and further my career.  I've been
> browsing the main Israeli high-tech websites today, as an example I
> was just looking at the IBM Research Labs - very interesting indeed.
> However most positions seem to require an MSc.  There is a definite
> cultural difference between here and the UK in terms of second degrees
> - I don't have one.  I'm 34 and don't want to hang about forever, but
> at the same time I might consider postgraduate studies if they were
> really useful career-wise.  Naturally, it's also too late in the year
> to apply for the upcoming academic year...

IBM Research Labs are not representative of the software jobs' market in
general. Being a Research institute, they naturally expect M.Sc.s or Ph.D.s,
but many positions don't require that. I believe most positions in the market,
require only a B.Sc. at most, and then want experience in certain specialised
fields. I have been rejected from several jobs (and even fired from one)
because I didn't have substantial experience with Ruby-on-Rails or Python/Django
or whatever, and this is despite the fact that I have a B.Sc. in Electrical
Engineering from the Technion, and many years of experience, including
substantial FOSS involvement, and having an M.Sc. would not have helped me
one iota. 

So if you're considering doing an M.Sc. or a Ph.D. just to get a job -
don't. I suggest you instead look for jobs and meanwhile get some hands-on
experience doing FOSS in promising technologies.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

> 
> I'd be interested to hear any thoughts from the list on whether it
> would be a Good Idea to consider an MSc at this point, or whether I
> should settle for a role where "just" a BSc is required, and see if I
> can work with future employer to study whilst I work...
> 
> Antony
> 
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