Should I pursue a Masters degree in computer science, considering that I have a mental illness?

[teo123]

This guy has grad school experience, maybe you should ask him for advice about it.

Well, he told me that Masters degree is easier than the 2nd year and the 3rd year of the Bachelor degree. That there are fewer lectures and exercises and that many courses are requiring you to write a paper rather than pass an exam.

Then try again.

And what if I am not meant to be a programmer? What if I will never be a good programmer? What if my father is right and I should have studied Latin rather than computer engineering?
I have mixed feelings about what my father tells me. I think that, had I studied Latin, I would never publish my paper about applying information theory to the Croatian river names, because I would (like most people who study Croatian toponyms) know zilch about information theory.

[Red]

Well, he told me that Masters degree is easier than the 2nd year and the 3rd year of the Bachelor degree. That there are fewer lectures and exercises and that many courses are requiring you to write a paper rather than pass an exam.

If it's less stressful than undergrad, maybe you ought to consider it.

And what if I am not meant to be a programmer? What if I will never be a good programmer?

Well you won't be with that attitude.

The key to getting good at anything is to suffer through sucking at it. If skills were easy to obtain then they wouldn't really be all that impressive or valuable. If you want to get better at programming, you have to be able to put up with not being good at it; You'll be better for the pain.

What if my father is right and I should have studied Latin rather than computer engineering?

What job opportunities can you get with a degree in Latin? Maybe it's different in Croatia, but over here in the US, a degree like that counts for very little.

I have mixed feelings about what my father tells me. I think that, had I studied Latin, I would never publish my paper about applying information theory to the Croatian river names, because I would (like most people who study Croatian toponyms) know zilch about information theory.

Parents aren't always right, in fact they're often very, very wrong. They do want what's best for their children, but they don't always know what that is.

[teo123]

Maybe it's different in Croatia, but over here in the US, a degree like that counts for very little.

Well, I guess it counts for more in Croatia, because, in Croatia, around 16% of population aged 25 and older has higher education, whereas, in the US, that percentage is 44%.

[brimstoneSalad]

The advice to get out and do thing is good, but if you're not going to realistically do that and if you're otherwise going to spend the year wallowing and shut in, I would say apply to school right away and start as soon as possible to keep yourself busy and avoid that outcome.

Good luck Teo.

[Red]

Well, I guess it counts for more in Croatia, because, in Croatia, around 16% of population aged 25 and older has higher education, whereas, in the US, that percentage is 44%.

What do job prospects look like for these people?
I would assume it counts for more having some form of higher education like that in a country where it's comparatively rare, but as higher education becomes more widespread and more people enroll in that, it's value will diminish.

[teo123]

Well, I guess it counts for more in Croatia, because, in Croatia, around 16% of population aged 25 and older has higher education, whereas, in the US, that percentage is 44%.

What do job prospects look like for these people?
I would assume it counts for more having some form of higher education like that in a country where it's comparatively rare, but as higher education becomes more widespread and more people enroll in that, it's value will diminish.

My father thinks that too many people go study STEM fields which they aren't talented in, which he calls "STEM Craze". He thinks that this "STEM degrees guarantee a successful career, while humanity degrees don't." is a myth. He tells me that all of his classmates in his history and archeology class had a succesful career.

[Red]

My father thinks that too many people go study STEM fields which they aren't talented in, which he calls "STEM Craze". He thinks that this "STEM degrees guarantee a successful career, while humanity degrees don't." is a myth. He tells me that all of his classmates in his history and archeology class had a succesful career.

I believe this is what the kids these days refer to as "copium."
It's not necessarily that STEM guarantees a career and humanities don't, it's more that STEM is much more likely to land you a lucrative job. All of my classmates in engineering, soon after graduating, were landing jobs that were salaried at $50k-$75k a year (and that's just to start!). Statistically, STEM majors almost always make more. The joke where the person who studied theater is working at Starbucks exists for a reason.

But archaeology and history can be viable career paths in a country where higher education is limited. Folks with History degrees can easily find work as teachers/professors, as can archaeologists in a country where there is likely less archaeological advancement compared to other places. Interesting how your father has cherry-picked these two degrees over many others.

A humanities degree in Croatia may be worth more there since higher education isn't as common and thus more valuable, but again, as higher education keeps spreading and more people go into liberal arts, that will diminish. But with STEM, those things you'll always need in abundance, including all types of engineers (civil, mechanical, electrical), chemists, physicists, biologists (both for practical and R&D purposes), and especially computer scientists, in our increasingly technological world. People are much more likely to gravitate towards degrees they find easy and fun than STEM, and often after the first semester people swap from STEM to something else since the former ends up being too hard.

If there were a surplus of STEM your father would have a point, but we aren't anywhere close to that yet, especially not in Croatia. "Going into fields they aren't talented in" is sort of the point, you go to college to get the basics under your belt.

[teo123]

"Going into fields they aren't talented in" is sort of the point, you go to college to get the basics under your belt.

Well, I think many people, including some professors at my university, think like my father. I was once singing that chant I made up, "Difficult, difficult, difficult, unfathomable!", in the hall of the university. And my Signals and Systems professor told me: "I hope it's not really." ("Ma nije valjda."). After we conversed a bit, I asked her: "Well, why did you decide to study computer engineering? And why are you doing a PhD in computer engineering?". She responded: "Because I like computers. And why did you choose to study computer engineering?". And I told her: "Well, they say it pays.". And she told me: "Colleague, that's not how one chooses his major.".

[Red]

I was once singing that chant I made up, "Difficult, difficult, difficult, unfathomable!", in the hall of the university.

Dude... stop- stop doing that.

And my Signals and Systems professor told me: "I hope it's not really." ("Ma nije valjda.").

I do remember you saying that you don't really study for exams, that may be why it's so hard for you.

After we conversed a bit, I asked her: "Well, why did you decide to study computer engineering? And why are you doing a PhD in computer engineering?". She responded: "Because I like computers. And why did you choose to study computer engineering?". And I told her: "Well, they say it pays.". And she told me: "Colleague, that's not how one chooses his major.".

She's talking about getting a career you enjoy, and she isn't wrong on that. I was under the impression you went into computer science because you enjoyed it, given your programming experience.

You may need to do some soul-searching, Teo.

[teo123]

I do remember you saying that you don't really study for exams, that may be why it's so hard for you.

Well, I did study a lot for my Signals and Systems exam.

I was under the impression you went into computer science because you enjoyed it, given your programming experience.

Well, back in the middle school, I was interested primarily in computer science. But, in high-school, I found out that I enjoy reading papers about the names of places way more than I enjoy reading papers about computer science. However, my mother was often telling me that there is no bread in studying names of places.
That's, of course, not to say those things are mutually exclusive. I think that informatics actually has a lot to say about the names of places, but that people don't realize that, because people who know something about informatics mostly know zilch about names of places, while people who know something about names of places mostly know zilch about informatics.