Is going to graduate school worth it?

Question

IT education

Background: I graduated from the 3rd year of the university, I am studying to become a specialist, i.e. study for 2 more years. I work in parallel with my studies. The work is not that completely satisfied (not very interesting), but the salary is enough. Yes, and for part-time is quite adequate.
But still, the work should be interesting, I have not yet found a place of work suitable for my interests in my city (administration of * nix systems, and it is the process itself that is interesting, from the initial installation to bringing the system into working condition).
However, an interesting field of research in graduate school should drag on for a long time (this is my personal opinion and idea of ​​graduate school) with the opportunity / desire to remain in science. Interested in CS, be it M2M, Big Data, Cloud Computing, AI or something like that. The only problem is that I still don't know what exactly I want to do. However, the realities of domestic education/science are a little scary, so if there is a desire to study in graduate school, then somewhere abroad. There have already been several articles about successful postgraduate studies in Japan, Germany, England, Switzerland, etc.
In one of the questions, some of you have already suggested interesting topics to explore, so there is plenty to think about and choose from.
Actually the question is, is the game worth the candle and what to do?
For both scenarios are interesting:
1. The remaining two pick Unixes, program and read books, and then, perhaps, just go to another city to look for a job that you like.
2. Spend the same two years on a painstaking study of a topic, and after graduating from the university, try to enter a foreign graduate school.
Thank you in advance to all who submitted.

Answer 1

As a result, I finished it, but did not finish my dissertation - getting a degree and completing a graduate school are two different things. The period of validity of candidate minimums is not limited at all (for 4 and 5), so I can theoretically finish it even after 10 years and submit it to the judgment of the Academic Council. But practically I don't care.
I'll just be honest - for all the time of my studies, I simply have not met a single person about whom I would like to say that I want it just like he / she. To be honest, I can't understand why anyone might need it. It seems that there are just people stewing in this mess and that's it. Who moonlights as a hack on the side, whose parents have plenty of money. Who simply lives on 10,000 and at every lunch break blames the state for not supporting science and institutions. At the same time, sooooo few people (I know one) are trying to do something really sensible and sell their brains and results. Moreover, my university is purely technical and applied - in reality, each dissertation should simply be introduced into factories (of which there are also plenty), and a graduate should go to work at least as an engineer of the 1st category.
Somehow, in general, I did not take root in this environment - I went to the factory to work as a programmer. I didn't really want to go to the office at first. Here we make equipment for diagnosing pipelines, and, honestly, there is an order of magnitude more science here than in writing a dissertation. I don’t have a single doubt that at least ten sets of graduate students could defend dissertations on it at my university. And we just silently make and sell them here. Of course, there is also enough bureaucracy, but at least you can take and hold the result of your activity in your hands.

Answer 2

Only abroad. For us, postgraduate study is not a scientific activity, not research, but the implementation of a schedule with strict observance of bureaucratic norms. The essence of the work is not particularly interesting to anyone, and no one really goes into it - the main thing is to draw up documents correctly and on time. I studied for 2 years, passed all candidate minimums for 4 and 5, I could well write bureaucratically correct nonsense and get my crust. Actually, this is exactly what the leaders demanded from me :) But somehow my motivation ended very quickly. Still, of course, the fact that the topic of the dissertation was not particularly interesting to me personally (although it was related to IT, of course), but here again you don’t have to choose - you will not be illusory hint that you need to take work on the topic of the department’s activities, in order to use the experience of previous developments, etc. etc.

Answer 3

I went down the path of work - now I regret it. Learning is much more interesting than poking around in the enterprise.

Answer 4

it’s definitely worth it, and if it’s also in your specialty, then in general it’s a class,
you can choose an interesting topic and cut research - such knowledge will always come in handy.
pros:
a big plus when hiring in foreign firms
when considering an immigration case gives an additional point
deviating from the army for another three years
cons:
lost time spent on preparing a dissertation that no one needs
if it is not directly related to what you are really interested in.
as a rule, the second and subsequent year according to a free schedule,
and the first year is a free visit, you can always get a job
so as not to lose your qualifications
PS I myself am a candidate of sciences and I do not regret the time spent.

Answer 5

You decide what you want in life in the future. If you work in a scientific institution or university (it doesn't matter - in Russia or abroad), then postgraduate studies and an academic degree will come in handy for you. If you go into business or the public sector - only as an increase in authority. If you work for an uncle, then a few extra years of experience may be more important than a crust. In any case, if the employer is adequate. Only when making a decision, keep in mind that there is no and will not be money in our science and higher education - so you should not count on it.
Our degree is quite equivalent to a foreign one (not everywhere, but let's say in France, Germany...). But there, as far as I understand, it also makes sense in further work in science or a university.
I completed my postgraduate studies (Russian, part-time, 4 years) and defended my thesis (economist) last year. There is no profit yet, but I'm still waiting for the crust. At the university I teach part-time - more for my own interest. In general, while 4 years of wasted time. My friends have gone far in their careers during this time. By the way, 25% of us reach the end of graduate school - because. It takes a lot of time, and the return is very vague.
1. Outline the area of ​​study. Study, write articles in scientific journals. Russian, foreign.
2. Find a researcher. In computer science, it will probably really be better abroad
3. Look for someone who needs research in this area, contact large companies. I think foreign ones - there science is more needed. Try to sell your own time. The main problem of Russian science is that it is a “thing in itself” and 99.9% of works end their lives on paper.
In the presence of articles and research, a good scientist, protection will be a matter of technology. Graduate studies in itself give little, compared to the time spent ...

Answer 6

In general, if you choose the right topic, then graduate school can give a lot.
There are things that you simply won’t learn at work or at home for various reasons.
When you do scientific work in captivity, you read new articles, you develop the skills of writing scientific articles. That is, in fact, you not only expand your horizons, but also get a certain positive experience.
Naturally, you need to be prepared for paperwork, reports at the department. The process of writing a dissertation itself also takes a lot of time. Again, much depends on the university and supervisor. Well, from a graduate student, of course.
So I would recommend graduate school, given that you will need to try to choose a really interesting and new topic.

Answer 7

That's not even what to go, but graduate school needs exactly such graduate students like you, the only thing is that proper support is not provided everywhere (I'm talking about Russia), so you will have to break through the walls, most likely. Anyway, good luck, I think it's worth a try!

Answer 8

If there is no expressed field of interest, then it is better to find it.
I graduated from high school 5 years ago and now I clearly understand what I need from further education, and how it will help me.
And to raise the level turned out to be a lot of work.

Answer 9

I decided for myself that I would not go to graduate school. Graduated from high school this year. During my studies, I did many different projects, tried to go to exhibitions. I had a topic that was interesting to me and my comrades, on which we defended more than one term paper and wrote more than one publication. But, unfortunately, we did not manage to get any help on the project, except for the defense of several term papers, the topics of which strongly intersected with the topic of our work (I remember one day we asked for an SVN repository ... they did not select it). Exhibitions are a separate story, but now they are not about them.
During this time, I got acquainted with the organization of "scientific activity" in my university, talked with other graduate students. And somehow I was disappointed in this system. Now I am sure that scientific activity is organized much more conveniently in the R&D departments of companies. In half a year of work, I read more literature on mathematics than in the last semester at the university.

Answer 10

In our country, the main profit of postgraduate studies is goodies when working as a teacher. For employers, in most cases, this is a minor plus. The second benefit is self-development. The scholarship is not much different from the student, so you have to work in parallel. Well, the third - a delay with the possibility of release from service in case of successful protection.
If you go for self-development, then only if there is a topic that is really interesting and does not scare the fact that most of the work is all kinds of publications, which are most often written reluctantly and for show.
Theoretically, it is possible to complete a postgraduate course in a year and defend oneself, but this is if there is a really strong interest and at the same time nothing serious is done.

Answer 11

Quit graduate school and come to St. Petersburg. It’s beautiful here, although I’m not sure about interesting work.
Although, if you study abroad, it probably greatly increases the chances of getting into some Google.

Answer 12

another plus: it gives you the opportunity to do an internship in summer programs from Microsoft (they have a good summer school on data structures) or a summer program from Google
, I did a summer internship at the Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (Austria), nothing too :)

Answer 13

I have completed my graduate school. All for / against in the article .

Answer 14

What is graduate school and science? - This is the satisfaction of one's curiosity at someone else's expense.
It is worth going to a foreign graduate school with ready-made ideas and ideas in order to receive money. And for a faster and better entry into a foreign graduate school and the scientific environment, you need a good leader here, who will introduce you to the appropriate circles. Therefore, if you decide to go to graduate school, take the following steps now:
1. choosing an area of ​​​​scientific interests
2. searching for and getting to know a potential supervisor
3. conference articles and other attributes of academic activity.
4. graduate school and ... everything is in your hands.