
Ask HN: Master vs. Udacity nanodegree - pgcosta
What is your opinion, in terms of added value, of an university master in machine learning vs udacity machine learning nanodegree?<p>I want to further progress my education, but am very divided: masters are expensive and long (2 years in Barcelona).<p>Udacity seems more accessible(moneywise), and has also the advantage of being taught by world leaders in the field.<p>What&#x27;s your opinion on the matter?
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ShakataGaNai
Lets start out by being clear here, Udacity "nanodegree" isn't an accredited
degree. So please keep that very clearly in mind.

That being said in the SF Bay Area "tech bubble" no one really cares about
degrees. They care about what you know and what you can do. That may not be
true where you're looking for a job though. You should look at what real job
postings are looking for and perhaps talk to a recruiter or two (if possible).

Anything from a real university is likely to provide you a lot more
information and access, way more than you can ever get at Udacity. However if
you can't afford the time/money, Udacity or similar learning courses may not
be a bad option.

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anuj_nm
Have you considered an online Master's degree in machine learning from Georgia
Tech? Its offered through Udacity so its cheaper and more flexible, but you
also get a full degree from Georgia Tech.

Full disclosure- I'm currently in that program and loving it.

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BlackjackCF
Is it possible to do a Master's from GA Tech without a BS/BA from a STEM
major? I have a BA, but it's in the humanities, although I'm currently
employed as a software engineer.

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anuj_nm
Yes, I think it should be fine considering you have some work experience.

Once you're accepted though, you'll have to complete two foundational courses
within a year (with a grade of at least B) in order to continue to be
eligible. This applies to all new students.

From my own experience, some of the courses are pretty easy, so getting a B or
higher isn't difficult.

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umlaut
I just finished the Udacity machine learning nanodegree a bit over a month
ago. While it is good (and getting better) at teaching techniques and
material, you miss a lot in terms of access to research faculty.

There aren't any research projects, and you won't ever operate at the cutting
edge (WaveNet!) at Udacity. It's like trade school for software, which is fine
if you're highly motivated or just want to acquire some skills.

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tedmiston
> There aren't any research projects, and you won't ever operate at the
> cutting edge (WaveNet!) at Udacity

Besides doing specific research, the CS grad curriculum at most schools is
hardly cutting edge either. Sometimes it lags quite a bit behind the real
world because of faculty being more focused on their own research vs teaching.

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napratin
The goal of a Masters degree in Machine Learning is ideally to prepare you for
core research and engineering roles where you work on improving, adapting and
inventing new algorithms and techniques.

However, such roles are very limited in the industry. Most jobs you will find
expect you to be able to apply, combine and optimize existing algorithms to
given real-world problems. This requires a different set of skills that are
seldom taught at University (you're typically expected to pick up these
practical abilities on your own).

Udacity's Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree, like its other programs, is
heavily project-based, and has been developed with feedback from industry
partners in order to emphasize the skills and concepts that are most relevant
for the vast majority of jobs that are out there. This focused curriculum
allows people with limited time or a related background to efficiently get
started in machine learning.

Keeping this mind, ask yourself what your ultimate goal is, what time
constraints you have, and choose accordingly. There is no shortcut to success,
esp. in a competitive and highly technical field like machine learning -
whether you opt for a Masters degree or a Nanodegree, you will have to spend
considerable effort building a strong public profile (e.g. by participating in
Kaggle competitions, and working on additional projects) in order to make
yourself stand out from the crowd.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I work at Udacity, in case you didn't realize by now :)

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1_listerine_pls
Which companies are hiring the ML nano-degree graduates?

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napratin
Several companies have hired MLND grads, including Google, PwC, Cyient
Insights, Henry Ford Health System, TransVoyant, AirBnB and Udacity itself.
Also, it is common for companies to hire candidates internally once they
demonstrate they've acquired the relevant skills.

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quickpost
Unless you're career progress is dependent on a traditional degree (university
professor, old school corporation, etc.), I would say go with whichever route
allows you to actually both learn and apply the materials to the fullest
extent.

The important thing is that you're able to learn and master the material and
use it to create real value in the world. If you can do that, I don't think
anyone will care how you came by it.

 _The great aim of education is not knowledge but action._

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sndean
As a third, shorter (and cheaper) option I'd suggest the new Coursera ML
course [0]. If you're short on money, they'll let you take the courses for
free.

I don't know how expensive Master's degrees are in Barcelona, but GA Tech has
a online Master's in CS for ~$500 per course [1], where you could focus on ML.

[0] [https://www.coursera.org/specializations/machine-
learning](https://www.coursera.org/specializations/machine-learning) [1]
[https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/](https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/)

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masters3d
A Udacity nano degree is more like a Graduate Certificate but much much
cheaper. What udacity has going for them is that at the end of the nano degree
you have projects you can show off. Not all certificate programs will make you
have a final project for you portfolio.

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codeonfire
In 50 years people will know what your degree is and your university will
probably still be around. Udacity will be long gone and no one will know what
a nanodegree is.

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pgcosta
I hope to be either retired or dead in 50 years :D

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forvelin
a masters in machine learning for sure, university adds very important value
of 'connections' mostly, I doubt if udacity can provide that.

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ponderingHplus
I was in a strikingly similar position as you at the beginning of this year.
In December 2015, I setup a plan to quit my job and take some time to self-
learn Artificial Intelligence, when I was accepted into a master's program in
Barcelona (UPC's* - assuming it's the same as the one you're considering).

This blogpost outlines what my plan and concerns were about the self-taught
route:

[http://cole-maclean.github.io/blog/Self%20Taught%20AI/](http://cole-
maclean.github.io/blog/Self%20Taught%20AI/)

Since then, I've been asked why I ultimately pursued the formal degree route,
and this was my response:

"Without a formal CS background, I was pretty skeptical about my chances of
getting accepted, but I applied anyways. I was so skeptical, that I convinced
myself it wouldn't happen and set off to teach myself. But I ended up getting
accepted into a Masters program in Barcelona, and I couldn't turn down the
opportunity. I love Barcelona as a city, the tuition is reasonable and the
program was inline with what I was looking for - a larger focus on application
with foundation in theory as opposed to full on theoretical research.

I chose to do the conventional degree because of the above, plus the allure of
receiving a piece of paper that people respect. Regardless of my thoughts on
the real value of conventional degrees, it's hard to argue against their
societal credit.

I'm new to this industry and pretty young, so take everything I say with salt,
but my main advice would be to just build cool stuff. Whether you do it at a
university or through autodidactism (learned that one from the HN thread),
just work on cool projects. My naive hope is that people will care more about
stuff you can actually build over a piece of paper with your name on it - but
it doesn't hurt to have both."

That was in response to a thread about this guys blog, which gives some
further perspective on the self-learning route:

[http://karlrosaen.com/learning-sabbatical/](http://karlrosaen.com/learning-
sabbatical/)

I'd like to add, that I've since decided to do both. I'm using the curriculum
I developed for myself with online courses to compliment my formal education
from the master's program, which has been working well so far.

ps. If UPC is the program you're looking into, it can be completed in 1.5
years (3 semesters) instead of the full 2. The last semester is dependent on
how long it takes to finalize your thesis. Also, if you have questions about
the program (again, assuming it's UPC's), my email is available from the site
in the first link.

*[http://masters.fib.upc.edu/masters/master-artificial-intelli...](http://masters.fib.upc.edu/masters/master-artificial-intelligence)

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tedmiston
What is your goal, as in, what type of job would you want to have post
finishing either option?

