I got together with one of my professors from SCSU (Dr Fisher) this morning at a coffee shop in St Cloud (Taste of Seattle I think it was called?). I'm thinking of going back to school to get my Master's or PhD, and I wanted to pick her brain on the topic a bit. It was a blast -- she's a lot of fun to talk to, and an absolute wealth of information.
After catching up on what we've both been up to for the last few years we talked about what it's like to be a college professor. That's the direction I'd like to take my career eventually, in case you didn't know that about me. I learned plenty about what it means to be a teacher at the college level -- there were a lot of things about the profession that I was unaware of. For example, I knew that college profs needed to teach (duh!) and publish scholarly works. But I didn't know that they also (at least, in the state of MN) have to donate time in the form of internal and external initiatives. Furthermore, they have to continually go back for more education. Plenty to keep me busy!
She did say that teaching is a great career for younger people (ie, people in their 30s), but by the time you start getting older, it's tough to get the energy needed to keep up with your students. She said that you get more weary as time goes on.
Overall, it was a really nice talk and I'm glad I got the chance to sit down with her. My next step is to contact the U of M (the only college in MN that has a PhD program for computer science) and see how the classes are structured (because I'd only be able to take a weekly night class or something like that) and whether I need to take the GREs or not. Stuff like that. So we'll see how it goes -- I doubt I'd start until next Fall because of the house and stuff that's going on right now (plus, I'm certain admissions for the fall are closed).
Anyone here get a PhD in CS while working a full-time job? Any insights or suggestions?
I've always thought about doing it too.. not for teaching but for research work. Though people have told me I'd be a good teacher, I think my heart lies in researching science... as long as it involves lots of code.
Just always thought you had your Master's.
You sure put a lot of the fellows that I've met with a BCSc to shame :)
-Scott
Aaron-
I have 2 doctorates -- one clinical, the other research -- and I'm currently a full professor at a college. I've been in academia and research for over 20 years. I also recently went back to school in the hope of getting an MS or PhD in CS just for fun, but had to stop despite straight A's due to health problems.
Faculty make much less money than their peers in industry, are overworked (usually with trivial administrative and committee stuff that gets in the way of the fun stuff), and are underappreciated by the administration (who think that they can "plug-and-play" different professors without regard to individual talents) and by most students. The rewards come from two sources: (1) self-satisfaction with your achievements in research and teaching, and (2) the students whose lives you positively influence and/or thank you for your efforts. If you can overcome the obstacles and focus on the rewards, it can be a good career, but that is almost entirely dependent upon where you end up teaching -- each college has unique blend of challenges. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss it further.
-Scott
@Scott #1 -- thanks! :-D
@Scott #2 -- thanks for the insights -- I may take you up on the email offer. It's always good to get many different perspectives on a career path. :-)