Computer Science or MBA

Discussion in 'IT and Computer-Related Degrees' started by mixmeadrink, Jul 5, 2012.

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  1. mixmeadrink

    mixmeadrink New Member

    -Newbie on this board.

    Hello Guys. I checked the forum and you are amazing. I found a lot of useful information.

    Well, in January 2013 I will finish with my M.Sc. Economics from ENS Paris. It is a French »Ivy League« Grande Ecole.

    Since I am interested in Finance, more accurate in trading I would like to apply for some M.Sc. programs related to Computer Science (with courses aiming JAVA, Visual Basic, C++, C#). I think that the main problem could be lack of engineering skills since I did my B.Sc. in Economics as well. Is there any program which does not require IT background and is related to Computer Science? Well I have intermediate c++ knowledge and I had some IT related courses but I do not know if schools accept that kind of students.

    Another solution could be an MBA related to finance,fin. markets or IT. What do you think guys is better to look at these programs or any other engineering field?

    -To sum up.
    -I am looking for 1 year M.Sc. Computer Science or if you have some other ideas which ares to check - please, go ahead
    -Autumn 2012 or Winter 2013 intake
    -Worldwide
    -4500-20.000USD
    -1 year
    -Accept students with econ. background

    thanks
     
  2. mixmeadrink

    mixmeadrink New Member

    Any experience with Open University?
     
  3. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I don't know what is your professional background as you have not specified in your post. Anyhow, I see that you have both academic in Economics; it relates more to the Business route. Therefore, I would recommend you to stick with some relates major; perhaps, a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) or Ph.D in Business is highly recommended. Besides, if you are a European residency, you can find dirt cheap schools in UK, France, Germany, and etc. Take a look at Lancaster University's Ph.D in Management w/ specialization; I think you have to pay $3,000.00 per year.

    If you are trying to get a Master of Science in Computer Science, well I would not recommend it. The IT (Information Technology) fields requires 60% experiences, 30% academic, and 10% industrial certifications. Therefore, even though you have a Master degree in Computer Science, it more likely you will start at fresh from Help Desk position. Penetrating into the IT jobs are not easy, it takes years to move from entry level to mid level.

    There are plenty of schools in Europe offer Doctorate in Business with short residency. Grenoble Ecole Management also offers DBA via distance learning.
     
  4. mixmeadrink

    mixmeadrink New Member

    Thanks for the reply. Yes I have EU residency. Well, till now I have only one year of working experience related to trading. And I saw that there is big demand for guys having programing skills. I know that it is difficult to compete against graduates from Imperial or MIT with M.Sc in IT or some quants from Polytechnique. But applying for Lancaster (I do not know the level of recognition in EU) is little bit odd. Having M.Sc. from ENS and later MBA from Lancaster is not somehow connected (just my point of view). I still believe that having M.Sc. related to IT from mediocre Uni is not that bad in comparison with having MBA from 4th tier Uni. What do you think? What about some certificates from recognized Unis. Any idea I am somehow lost with engineering schools.
    Mercie
     
  5. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    MixMeADrink,

    Well, Lancaster University is ranked between 6 to 10 behind Oxford University in UK; which is ranked #9 out of over a hundred universities in the UK. It is considering top school in the European nations; I really want to get into the program, but one problem for me. The program requires 1 week residency each semester. However, it costs lot of money for me to travel from the United States; and non-European resident has to pay triple in tuition.

    Yes, the IT industry is high in demand; however, IT relies on experiences and IT certifications (i.e: CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, CISSP, RHCE, and etc). Also it relies on hand-on technical experience over universities' theory lectures.
     
  6. novadar

    novadar Member

    Echoing TEKMAN here. IT is much more about "real" skills. This is not to say that you cannot learn real skills in an Undergrad or Graduate program, it is just that typically education is merely a box that needs to be checked. So, I recommend do it as painlessly as possible.
     
  7. Woho

    Woho New Member

    If you just want to have an IT related Master I would suggest to check out the Swedish Universities discussed here some time before. Do a quick search on the forum, for example Blekinge Institute of Technology offers a MSc in IT via distance and as a European citizen you would have to pay no tuition at all.
    Quite frankly I am not that deep into Finance driven IT, but a potentially very affordable Master in that direction could be the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown :: Study at ITB :: Computing. At least from its name it should help to position yourself outside of IT generalists.
     
  8. ryoder

    ryoder New Member

    Before getting a graduate degree in computer science, I would recommend picking up a Java for Dummies book and doing all of the assignments in that book. Then write a simple program, maybe get an Android programming book and build a mobile application. This will let you know if programming is right for you. You may find yourself competing with people in their 30s who have been programming for fun since they were 8 years old and a masters from MIT is not going to get you enough experience to compete with those people.
     
  9. Petedude

    Petedude New Member

    Very good advice. MIT is for the hardcore, anyway. The only top-tier program worth mentioning to the non-hardcore is Carnegie Mellon's MS-IT. . . and only if you have time to do LOTS of work.
     
  10. Petedude

    Petedude New Member

    That's why an MS in Organizational Leadership seemed more appealing to me than an MS-IT. . .
     
  11. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    Since Ryoder's recommendation. Here are some of the online live lectures.
    - Harvard University's Computer Science courses.
    - CourseRA Courses are taught by Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and etc.
    -
     
  12. mixmeadrink

    mixmeadrink New Member

    Hello Guys,

    I am back. Thank you for all the replies. I agree with you that IT sector is more about "real" skills. I skimmed the programs which you recommended. Since I know that for trading positions (only) C++, Java, VBA is required, I think that applying for summer school (C++ or Java) is maybe better and cheaper in my case.

    Additionally, MBA or another Msc. Statistics or Econometrics could be an easier path for me because I went through this during my undergrad.
     
  13. vksheilds

    vksheilds New Member

    Actually there are lots of suggestion for you now I think you should go with computer science that is your relevant area but it’s confusing to understand about your need because your are also talking about finance. Take your own decision or be clear with your interesting area
     
  14. indiaedu

    indiaedu New Member

    As you are more interested to pursue a course in Finance, it's advisable to pursue MBA in finance. Availability of job of MBA finance is more as compared to that of MSC IT.
    However, since you have knowledge of C++, it will not be a problem to learn other programming languages like JAVA. A bit of effort will do everything for you. And that effort is needed even for the students with engineering background.
     
  15. Balios

    Balios New Member

  16. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    yes.......
     
  17. Balios

    Balios New Member

  18. vksheilds

    vksheilds New Member

  19. Sauron

    Sauron New Member

    It sounds like the OP wants to work in finance after getting a degree in Economics so he is looking to study graduate computer science. Since none of that makes sense to me then I am going to throw out Paul Wilmott and his certificate in quantitative finance course. Certificate in Quantitative Finance |
     

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