- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Messages
- 26,594
- MBTI Type
- INTJ
- Enneagram
- 6w5
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/sp
![timthumb.php](https://filmracket.com/wp-content/themes/construct/plugins/timthumb.php?src=http://filmracket.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/backtoschool.jpg&w=660&h=&zc=1)
I've decided to go back to school to get a Master’s degree in Data Science because I already have two computer science degrees and why not get three? Actually, this is something I've been interested in doing for a long time but I have been so busy with work that I didn’t have time for it. I found myself researching these programs again last week and then I just started applying for one. I've got two other applications that are almost done. I’m trying to find the best programs in the country that I can do online but it is hard to find objective and sensible ratings that compare the different programs. I've always been a numbers person and the idea of analyzing data and obtaining insights from it has always fascinated me. As an example, one day I randomly wondered if there was a correlation between Enneagram and MBTI type and then I spent the next week doing this, making things up as I was going along in terms of how I was approaching it. It may sound strange but it is a form of creative self- expression in a way. I'd like to run some analysis on the forum's personality test data to see how well the different questions work but I've got no idea how to do it. I'd be able to after learning some of the stuff in this program.
These college applications are more work than I thought with all the essays and stuff. I’m shying away from schools that require a GRE because I don’t feel like spending 120 hours preparing for an exam that has little to no practical real-world value. I mean is Carnegie Mellon really that much better than Berkeley? It seems doubtful.
There seem to be a few fundamental things that it would be good to know before doing one of these programs – statistics, linear algebra, calculus and object-oriented programming using Python. Though I was a computer programmer for five years at the start of my career, I have been in management and leadership positions for so long that my programming skills are sorely out of date. I took two years of calculus and two statistics classes but remember little of either. I've never taken linear algebra. I guess I'll need to spend some time preparing, taking a Python and Linear Algebra class and brushing up on the other things.
It should be fun. I'm looking forward to learning about things like machine learning, text data mining, visualization and so forth.