This is a look back at a decision that has defined a recent part of my life. The decision to continue my higher education in the pursuit of an MSc after having worked for a few years. This post is in two main parts: some background of what happened before I was accepted in to a Masters programme, and the lessons I learnt after completing it.

Before My MSc Programme

Attempt 1

I did not do particularly great in my undergrad, I will not sugarcoat that fact. The desire to do an MSc was due to positive (but not excessive) pressure by my parents as well as knowing it’s something that I wanted to/should do and get over with in the long run. I look at it now as regret minimisation. Finally, it is simply stupid to forfeit such an opportunity and privilege. It had to be done. The question was “when?”.

My original plan was to work for a year to pad my CV somewhat and earn myself some recommendations. I didn’t really account for the fact that application deadlines started a very small number of months after starting my first job. What was I gonna say? “I’ve learnt life-changing lessons that offset 4 years of mediocrity in 3 months”? Yep, that’s what I did. No dice.

At that point I had become frustrated with my situation and decided to move to another country and take up a different job (mobile development to backend web development), leading to just under 3 great years at dubizzle.

Attempt 2

After an exodus of friends and some personal frustrations, I decided it was a good time to apply for an MSc again… I was looking at universities in London for the most part (I have a soft spot for big cities I think, along with a hatred for standardised testing (US universities generally require GREs)). I approached a former professor of mine for recommendations and some advice, he recommended I look outside of only London and the UK (recommending several universities in Europe but also including University of Southampton - this turned out to be life changing advice).

So I applied. I applied to the Universities that were not a bureaucratic nightmare (basically the UK universities). It was strange; the first application was the only successful one (and the quickest one, with an 8 day turnaround). I did not get in to any of the London-based universities.

So I quit my job and left for my Master of Science in Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

Lessons Learnt

1. Recommenders are people - they are not necessarily reliable, some are very responsive and fast, others not so much.
2. Plan ahead - I had to renew my tenancy contract for less than a year, this could have resulted in penalties (for breaking contract early) had I not had a rough idea on timelines.
3. Learn how to do paperwork - I left my job a few months earlier than necessary so I could have a break as well as to dedicate time to applications/paperwork. Though I think I could have managed the paperwork with flexible working hours.
4. Sometimes asking doesn’t hurt - I got a month’s extension on a deadline no-questions-asked simply because I called in and asked for it.
5. Don’t fret over things you have to do - I have this thing where I put off writing an email or making a call as long as possible for some reason (some internal apprehension). It’s best to just do it and get it over with, it’s easier to be on top of things.

After My MSc Programme

I learned a few things during and after my year in Southampton, this is the meat of this blog post:

Mathematics Is Easy To Forget

The first thing I noticed when I got back to University (and walked in to my first Machine Learning lecture) was how much maths I had forgotten, especially linear algebra. To be fair, the lecturer was trying to scare people away from the course. I almost faltered but eventually decided that this struggle was why I was here. My mathematics was never particularly great and the lecturer was kind enough to arrange for supplementary lectures for background mathematics.

Thankfully the maths was never the actual focus of any of the courses but merely a means to an end. I survived. Barely.

I Learnt A Lot More Than I Thought While Working

You don’t realise the insane amount of information and skills you pick up while working. Tools or languages you may or may not take for granted like using source control, docker, python, the ability to pick up a technology and run with it or setting up a server for your group project partners to use… students fresh from their undergrad don’t have this ability. This saved me a phenomenal amount of time and allowed me to focus on the real problems rather than fumbling with the tools.

The nice thing about my programme was that they also taught some of these basic tools. For example, there was a tutorial session on how to set up and get some basic usage out of mongodb (for the foundations of data science course). I had never worked with mongodb before but I had a mental outline of how it worked as well as the capability to install such things. The tutorial felt excruciatingly slow because I had experience, but I know that it was done for the benefit of others.

It’s Surprisingly Stressful

When I moved to the UK, I expected to be able to travel around extensively. And while I would have been able to should I really have wanted to, there was usually more than enough work to keep me grounded and when there wasn’t work I just wanted to rest.

The end of the second semester was particularly intense, there was a point where there were 6 known deadlines in rapid succession in the period of about two weeks. And while yes, most of those assignments had been dished out significantly earlier, there was always something to delay working on it (like regular assignments). Those two weeks were immediately followed by exams. I think if there has ever been a point in my life where I seriously considered flaming out, that was it.

I Hate Academic Bullshit

As this amazing comic highlights, I felt a lot of the things I was learning were made unnecessarily complex and difficult to understand. I will not speculate on the reasons for this, but it goes back a long way in academic papers. This comes in the form of missing important steps (or so it would seem for the uninitiated) or inundating readers with multiple layers of indirection through excessive use of acronyms and poor choices of symbols in the mathematics. This all came together to add a significant mental tax when reading papers that you need to extract an idea out of.

I realised that I could never function in academia at a higher level (PhD), and while a PhD was not something I ever aspired to, I had never mentally closed that door. I have now.

Smaller Cities Are a Blessing and a Curse

It was an experience to in the UK and to be in a smaller city. It was a little too quiet for my taste but that’s fine - it was only a year and I could deal with it.

I hated not having access to some important things. Namely an airport that has flights straight back home or to more than half of Europe. Getting anywhere was an ordeal (walk to bus, bus to train/coach, train/coach to airport). Inter-city trains are not particularly fast (or reliable). Finally, you have the stress and overhead of getting your bookings/timings right so you don’t get pseudo-stranded in London overnight or so that you can actually get out of Southampton to make it to the airport on time. Logistical nightmare.

It was also a hassle doing job interviews or paperwork in London - when I needed to go to London for the day I had to take the bus (or “coach”) for 2-3.5 hours each way. What a way to make a simple task obliterate your day.

On the bright side, the city has an amazing amount of greenery and the people are quite laid back. It’s not overcrowded and while it lacks a mass transit/rail network, it does have significant bus coverage (with the university being the nexus of it’s own bus network).

Another perk to the smaller city life is that everything was cheaper. Had I been in London, I would have paid almost double for things like beer and significantly more on dorm fees, given the workload of the programme, I would not have been able to take advantage of what London provides but would have been paying the costs for it.

Closing Thoughts

I’m glad I did it, I’m glad I don’t have this constant nagging thought at the back of my mind that “I should get around to that MSc soon”. I also know I won’t look back in x number of years and regret not doing it. The timing worked out such that it did not have a negative impact on my career progression either (I think, time will tell).

Would I do it again? Yes. But if (and this is physically not possible) I could learn the lessons and gain all the meta things that came with it (friends I met, other skills I learnt, habits I changed, experiencing the UK) without spending that much money, I’d take that option instead.