MSc in Computer Science

Hi,

I'm the Director of the MSc Networks and Distributed Systems.

I'm happy to try to answer any questions put to me, either here, or if you want to discuss personal detail, send me an email.

regards,
Stephen.

Hi again,

to find out about the NDS MSc (and the other programmes we offer) and what it covers, you're best off looking at the relevant web link off the SCSS web page (I can't post a link here for some reason) . we offer 9 postgraduate programmes of various kinds.

The NDS programme is focussed on service driven computing and covers state-of-the-art concepts in the design and implementation of large scale software solutions. Our students do two semesters of taught modules, amounting to 60 ECTS effort. This should not be underestimated - there are far easier MSc programmes out there in terms of necessary commitment, but what employers tell us is that there are few that deliver the scale of technical content in a year.

A unique component of our programmes is the research dissertation, which is a serious piece of research work of up to 6 months of effort, conducted in one-to-one collaboration with one of our professors and potential their research teams. This gets you about as close to pure research MSc/PhD type work as is possible in a taught programme. What might you work on? The beauty of our system, and the scale of our school, which I believe is the largest in the country, is that you can work on anything that any of our professors are doing research in. Indeed, we've had students come to us from overseas specifically to do research work in some of the areas we have an international reputation in.

Overall, I would say that we have four themes that we try to build skills in during the NDS programme (a model reflected in other programs also). First, to equip our students with a capacity to analyse and design systems with the key and emerging technology in the NDS domain. Second, we develop software engineering skills, in the individual but more importantly in the team setting. Third, we focus on the practical application of the scientific method - how research questions are identified and answered. Fourth, we build practical entrepreneurial skills - in conjunction with our partner Citi in the upstart programme.

I gave an interview to the Sunday Business post recently that covers much of this ground and gives more information about our other MSc programmes.

Hope that answers your questions. If you've any more feel free to email me.

Joya wrote: »

thanks for your long reply (but i could not find much specifics in it though), e.g.

anything that any of our professors are doing research in
and that would be for example what

i am looking forward to masters that would have more to do with programming in particular, and application of software development i presume for learning purposes, and hope to find one that suits me

thanks again and have a nice day!

without writing literally pages in reply, i cannot answer this. we have over 60 professors, so that is a lot of ground to cover.

my advice is to go to the scss.tcd.ie web site and look at the research pages. There you will find research groups focussed on specific research domains, and professors within those specialised to a further degree. You will find research papers, descriptions of research projects, details on academics and PhD students and so on. You could easily spend a few days working your way through that.

If you want to Skype or call to chat after that, feel free to make contact and we can set that up.

to give you a few titles of reasonably recent NDS dissertations by NDS students:

1. Optimising Charging of Electric Vehicles through the use of Genetic Algorithms
2. Innovation through a crowdfunding platform for independent video games
3. Probablistic Post-Facto Detection of Man-in-the-Middle Attacks on Unauthenticated Diffie-Hellman
4. Sarcasm Detection on Twitter: bolstering lexical features with contextual clues

Most of our programmes, NDS included, are very practically focussed and involve a lot of programming (individual and group projects), but only as a means to an end - ie. to build domain specific software systems, whether it be client server or peer systems in DNS, embedded controllers and the like in MSc MUC, and so on.

Programming really is the basic skill all software engineers must have. We wouldn't be interested in offering a place unless an applicant already can program well in a generic domain, except in exceptional circumstances. Architecture and Design in the domain of study are the higher order skills you need if you want to have an impact. That, in our view, is what an MSc should be exposing you to.

There are some great resources out there to learn how to program. Some great online courses, and then there is Knuth's "art of programming" if you're really up for it:) Languages everyone should build at least 6 months experience in my view include Java (because you just need it, sadly), php (for Java like reasons), Ruby, Scala, Haskell, javascript, and C. I used to think C++ but I think the world is going functional in a very practical sense and you've got to drop something. I lived through the OO revolution, and was an OO guy, but I'm not sure personally what all that was about at the end of the day.


regards,
Stephen.

a fat guy wrote: »

That high of a fail rate? Is that due to the difficulty of the course, or is there some other main reason, like financial difficulties?

I know Dublin is an expensive place to live, and I've saved up plenty to do a course, but I don't want to attend a course that most (Really good) students scrape a pass out of or fail entirely.

Also stephentcd, if you have any insight into this, I'd appreciate it as I'm deciding where to do my masters at the moment.

I have a 18 months industry experience in software development and did pretty good in my undergrad, but I'm very wary of picking up a course where great students can't even get a pass.

I might be holding my expectations a bit high of the students themselves, of course (Since Dublin is such a big place, I'm also assuming that the students are of a very high ability). This could just be students dropping out due to financial reasons, or perhaps they tried to hold down a job while doing the masters full-time, etc.

Happy to respond, although i am sure you will appreciate that with a class size capped at 24 in any year, I have to be very general.

failure rates: in a class of 24, we tend to see a few individuals not achieve the MSc. perhaps 4-5 although some years, none. Of those, most will achieve a diploma, passing supplemental exams. In a smaller class (we have run the programme with a class size of 14-15), we still might expect to see a few students not achieve the MSc.

Why do students fail. the long answer begins, how long have we got to talk about it. the short answer is a combination of personal circumstances for students all the way to the heavy workload/ability. Some fail exams. Some drop out due to personal difficulties. Some choose not to complete due to job offers etc. It really is a mixed set of reasons.

We accept about 1 in 5 applications and unless there is something very and special and unique about an application, we expect a 2.1 or a 1st from a strong university. We interview most if not all candidates we consider for a place. It is my belief (in the sense of expectation rather than hope) that every student we accept has the strong potential to pass. We do not offer a place to those we are concerned about, so do not worry on that score. If you apply, we will most likely end up in interview discussing these very issues. We do not have to fill quota - we only take on those students we have strong expectation of.

Incidentally, your background with a solid undergraduate coupled with industry experience would mark you out as interesting for interview.

The programme is very tough. We fit 60 ECTS and a 4-6 month dissertation into a single year. We try to prepare students for this, and the commitment needed, but undoubtedly some students arrive unprepared.

Separate to NDS, and speaking generally about taught MSc students, we have from time to time experienced problems with students taking on part time of even full time work while attempting to complete the programmes. this never works out well. these are very much full time (ie. 40 hours and more) programmes. So, it is possible that financial issues have impacted on students.

I have also noticed over the time looking after NDS that there is a certain examination/expectation culture at TCD on our MSc programmes that can be different elsewhere. We expect our students to be able to take on new challenges and devise solutions in the exam hall. We have a low tolerance for bookwork. This can be a challenge for students used to a different examination style, especially when arriving to us from abroad.

Hope that helps. feel free to ask more questions or email me directly if you prefer.