Computery types, or academic types generally - please help!
I am switching fields to IT/CS because I can't get a job as an academic biologist, but there are plenty of jobs around in IT and CS/maths/stats type research & development. I was planning to do an undergrad degree majoring in computer science, with maths and stats subjects.
The CS/IT/maths people here reckon that with a previous career* as an academic biologist, I should just do a one-year master's by thesis and attend a few high-level undergrad courses in maths and computer science. They all say undergrad is unnecessary.
I think this is ridiculous, because I have no useful background whatsoever in maths, stats or CS. I honestly have no idea how any of it fits together. While CS isn't maths (except in a few areas) it assumes basic competence with things like calculus, geometry, matrix algebra etc. - most of which I've never done and have absolutely no clue about.
I did badly in the "maths for idiots" option at school, I flunked first year maths at university (56 % in the "maths for biologists" stream, probably because I went to almost no lectures and did no assignments); and I've never done any statistics at all beyond the complete basics taught to biologists. As for CS, I've done a couple of very basic introductory programming courses (Python, BASH) and really enjoyed them. I've always been the most analytically-minded person who "gets" how to deal with data, in every biology lab I've worked in (which of course isn't saying much when you think about the analytical skills of most biologists). However, being able to follow the first 3 chapters of a Python textbook isn't "having a background in programming", it's parroting syntax without understanding a word of what's going on.
I think that if I followed the advice of doing a masters, I wouldn't understand a word of what they were talking about in a 3rd year undergrad class in maths or CS - I can't even really remember how to do basic high school stuff like quadratic equations or calculus. I do think I'd survive undergrad maths and stats because I can pick stuff up quickly when I need to, but I do think I'd need to do the full undergrad degree to have the faintest clue what's going on.
Am i mad or are the people offering advice just not thinking through precisely how much maths etc. they did themselves at high school level? My DH for example did university maths while at high school, as did many of his friends and colleagues - he genuinely doesn't seem to understand that there are fully-functioning academics out there who don't know how to solve a quadratic equation...
*Previous career = working in academia as a biologist since 1998, PhD awarded in 2004, postdocs for 7 years, got to lecturer level with lots of experience, but couldn't get made permanent because of lack of jobs available here, went back to postdoc-ing, hated it, gave up. Could probably get a job as a biologist if I were in the UK, USA, Europe etc., but not where I currently am, as there are too many biologists here and few jobs generally.
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IT/computer science - academic question - AIBU to do an undergrad rather than a conversion master's?
8 replies
pomBearPooPouffe · 01/09/2015 00:43
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