Paddy Fagan
06/04/10 13:18
The MSc in Advanced Software Engineering first came to my attention from a Newspaper advertisement. At that stage I'd been with my current employers for six years (since I'd graduated with my primary degree) and while my career was progressing well I was beginning to feel that with all my professional experience limited to one company I was missing out on some aspects of my professional development. The structure of the course, with week long intensive modules, also appealed to me. Other part time courses I’d read about involved a few hours a week of lectures and I was concerned that with a week’s work in between, I’d spend too much time mentally catching up and get very little from the content. I really enjoyed the opportunity to study with a varied group of motivated people with a range of industry experience who always brought a new take or interesting perspective to each topic on the course. The course also brought me into contact with topics in Computer Software that I hadn't previously been exposed to in my professional or academic experience. I published a paper on my masters project and presented this at the premier international Patterns conference (PLoP), which was a new and exciting experience for me. I found the course to be a rewarding experience, both in personal and professional terms, and feel that having completed it I have a more rounded set of experience to draw on, even though I'm still with the same employer!