Is the online Masters degree in Computer Science to be offered by Udacity and Georgia Tech likely to be treated with respect in the industry?

To add to Karthik's great answer, I wanted to clarify that graduates of this program earn a FULL Master of Science in Computer Science degree from Georgia Tech. The word "online" will not be on the degree. It is the exact same degree as the on-campus degree. Students achieve the same learning objectives and learn the same material. Update (12/19/14): Prof. Ashok Goel (GT) and Dr. David Joyner (GT/Udacity) have a fantastic brown bag seminar about their OMS course here: http://gvu.gatech.edu/event/brown-bag-archive/gvu-center-brown-bag-seminar-series-ashok-goel-and-david-joyner Relevant to the question asked here, this presentation makes it clear that online students get the exact same assignments and are assessed with the same rigor as on-campus students (they employed blind grading, so graders did not know whether assignments came from on-campus or online students). One can infer from this that students who matriculate from the OMS receive the same credential and should be viewed with the same level of respect as on-campus graduates.

As you state, we do not know enough about the program, and it is too early to say. That said, there are two things in the FAQ that raised a flag in my head: How long does it take to complete and receive a degree? We anticipate the typical time for students to complete the OMS CS will be about three years, though we will allow for longer enrollments— up to six years—for those students who need greater flexibility. However, they also state the below: How does the student workload compare to a residential degree? How many hours a week will students spend on it? The total workload is the same as the residential program; the weekly or hourly workload depends on how quickly students wish to complete the program. There are two broad categories of people that I can think of who may enroll for this program: Fresh college graduates who can't afford to actually make it to the US, and want to gain a graduate degree. People who actively hold a job (or two, or three) who can't afford to take that time off from work to get that graduate degree. If you are right out of college, and are taking this program, if you take anything longer than 2 years to finish the program (barring any research endeavors, and other such things, of course), then I would question the effectiveness of the program. One of the things that were particularly challenging during my time there was the constricted timeline we had for most of our work there. It was a constant struggle to meet deadlines, to just keep up with the pace, and most of us worked almost round the clock. Why do I say this? Because it teaches you how to work smart, and makes your brain automatically faster in the process. To the extent that when I took up my first job, I could do 40 hours of work in 20 hours, and I had to look for more work. On the other hand, for the second class of people I was talking about - if they finish the program in 3 years or less, I wouldn't hesitate to say they are on par with the people who complete the residential program, perhaps even better than that. The other factor that comes into mind is the environment that I was in, and the people I worked with. I can easily say that I learned much much more from the people I worked with, than just attending the classes, doing the homework, or working on the projects. There's also the fact that you will be missing out on doing any research assistantships, (or potentially special problems), depending on how they handle this for the online programs. Those are obviously easier to overcome if you have the motivation and the inspiration to do so, but that's definitely going to be a factor too. At the end of the day though - you're learning from the best of the best. GT has among the best MS CS programs out there, and no matter how you obtain it, its going to mean a lot. Not everybody is going to be able to complete the program, and make it to the end. The fact that you make it, however long you might take, proves that you have the skills and the knowledge to be valuable to any company, and it will expand your future opportunities in a very big way. FINAL NOTE: This isn't a big factor, though it is something a lot of people consider at this point. To me, it is a good thing that Georgia Tech is stating the below, but keep in mind that a lot of uninformed, brand conscious people (especially from my end of the world) are going to scoff and say "Oh, its not an actual MS CS, its only a Online MS CS." An MS CS is an MS CS, no matter how you take it, but the outlook of a certain set of the populace is something to be cognizant of. Is there a cap on admissions? Our goal at full scale is to admit all applying students who satisfy the basic admissions prerequisites and qualifications.

This is a great discussion about one of the million-dollar questions facing the program. Those of us in the College of Computing would likely agree with everything Karthik said in his response, and we'd also point out that there is nothing inherently different about OMS regarding the time needed/allowed to complete the program. On-campus students also have several years to finish before their credits begin to expire; it's just that, given the expense of enrolling full-time, most students choose to complete their degrees as quickly as humanly (or, in the case of GT grad students, superhumanly) possible. There can be little doubt that--all else being equal--completing any degree program one course at a time is much easier than overloading or even taking a normal load every semester until you graduate. We do not anticipate that the majority of OMS students will take this leisurely path to graduation, unless all else is not equal--meaning they face other time pressures, such as a full-time job. In the end, we believe that as long as the quality and rigor of OMS is consistent with Georgia Tech's long-established standards, the rest will take care of itself. The Institute enjoys an excellent reputation with employers all around the world, and from the feedback we've received so far, industry seems quite willing to engage with us on this new approach to education.

Here's the thing: you'll still get an MSCS from Georgia Tech. I see little reason to think that GT will force you to have a tag of any kind on your degree. I haven't looked into it that well yet, so if I'm mistaken, let me know. Secondly, has ANYONE ever taken a CS course, and been like, "man, I'm so glad I was in class instead of telecon'ing this class!"? Ever? Me, either.

Yes it will. In the past universities had some kind of monopoly on knowlegde. But because internet knowledge is everywhere, free and in huge amounts. This resulted in information-inflation. A kid can learn to code , fix a car or even invent a medical device purley based on information find on youtube and other sites. This is incredible and wasnt even thinkable 15 years ago. The next step of this evolution is recignition. This will come in a lot of ways , like repetation (stack overflow) and certifactes (coursera). Building a online master will be the bridge between the old educational system and the new one. The impact these online education has had on the way we learn in just the small time they exist I predict a huge influence in the next 5 years

I'm a first-semester student in OMSCS. I got my BS CS in '97 and have been working as a SW Engineer ever since. I have not yet interviewed anyone with an online degree. Anytime I interview anyone, I expect them to be able to answer the questions, and don't let the degree speak for itself.  I would have assumed an online degree was less rigorous than an in-person degree, therefore I might have expected lower odds of him/her being able to do so. But I'd like to hope that wouldn't have influenced my decision. Now I'm 2/3 of a semester in. I intentionally chose an easy course for my first one, just to see whether I can really do this plus continue to work full-time.  I will definitely say that I found the first several weeks of this class to be incredibly easy.  Since then, it has been...weird. One assignment worth 10% of our final grade will take 30 minutes, another with the same weight will take 30 hours.  So I guess the rigor of the course is there, just inconsistent. At the beginning of this semester, I actually signed up for 2 courses, fully intending to drop one just before the deadline.  The one that I did drop did seem very rigorous, and much more consistent.  But of course that's from limited experience with that course. So to answer your question, I suppose this experience so far has made me respect the notion of online degrees more...though as I said above I'd like to hope that's not relevant to how I would have evaluated an interview candidate.

Prospective OMSCS applicant here:  from what I hear, most graduate programs are designed to funnel students into completing their PhDs, with masters requirements just a stepping stone along the way.  Thus, the grading may not be as rigorous as it is even at the undergraduate level;  the purpose is really just to get you ready to focus on your research, where you will have to eventually stand on your own legs.  I'm a Princeton BS grad myself and recall that some of the mixed-undergrad/grad level courses, while difficult in subject matter, had professors who really didn't care about grading that much unless you really blew off their class;  overall the grading seemed easier than the strictly undergrad courses. If this system is as I describe it, then I can see how a terminal masters ( online or residential ) *is* in some ways a rubberstamp type degree;  it's just having the online version just exposes you to that perception right away more than the residential one does, rightly or wrongly.   However, given the rise of tech and fields like machine learning, it's hard to imagine that several employers wouldn't take a chance on you----at that point, it's up to you to demonstrate mastery in the interview.

It all depends on several factors: Is the degree identical to the on-campus degree? Answer is yes, it has been confirmed in several places officially many times. Is the degree as rigorous as the on-campus degree? Answer is yes as far as I know. Source - I spoke with the dean in person and this is what he told me that was one of his and the faculty only conditions to start this program, also I'm a OMSCS student, but I haven't taken an on-campus course so I can't answer. All I can say is that the first course I took had 150 or more on day one, and only 35 finished it. I don't think they had any compromise on rigor in that course (it was taught VERY well, it's just that the topic is hard, it's a graduate course in a top 10 program after all, it's not codecademy intro to javascript) Is the admission process and program itself selective? I don't know for sure, I think the funnel is a little wider in the entry point, still not sure at the graduation point. For admissions it is more of "proof your worth and you can stay with us" which I really like, but this might lead to incorrect lines of thought such as: "I'm less special because many got in too", or "it's easier to get into GT OMSCS than to Stanford hence it's less good". They don't require GRE for the online program, only need to pass two fundamental courses with B and above. Which is pretty doable, so I don't know how it will affect graduations. I think that people who took 2 most "easy" courses and managed to scrape a B and get into the program fully, might not be able to finish it at all as there is a limit of "reasonable effort to get a B" courses. Will the market be flooded with GTOMSCS graduates and will they do well in interviews / later on the job? Answer: no one can tell, All I can say is that the program is built to be as hard and as rigorous as the on-campus program, and that Georgia Tech alumni are doing very well in the industry (considering hiring rates at top tech companies from GT, GT is doing pretty well, more than 300 GT alumni at Google for example...). But here is a hard question - what if the fact that companies like to hire GT graduates is not ONLY because of the rigorous GT program? what if it's also a combination of very selective admission process (Some employers admit that hiring from top 25 ranked schools is more due to the fact it's very hard to get in and if you did, it already says a lot about you, regardless of the actual material you learned which is not that different than the 100-25 schools in that field), since GTOMSCS has a slightly less selective admission process, perhaps it will have some effect down the road. I surely hope not, and I think it's not justified. No one knows how things will progress, there are no GTOMSCS graduates yet (first this December TTBOMK). Only time will tell. My only worry is if there will be a flood in the market of GTOMSCS graduates, the mere supply / demand will have some effect. As long as GT CS graduate program is ranked #9, and the GTOMSCS program has no special "online" indication, then I think any employer would love to hire a GT MS graduate, online or not.

What I can tell you is that generally the calibre of students that are enrolled in the online program is very high; they are the type of students that will do well in ANY top five computer science masters degree program. I suspect though for the professional and corporate circles that do not have any direct contact with the OMSCS or its graduates, the benefit of the doubt will be against the program itself until the evidence proves otherwise.