Is there a Job for Computer Science Graduate that does not do programming?

Can a student without a CS/Engineering degree qualify for the Georgia Tech online Master's in Computer Science program through Udacity?

• From the website: Preferred qualifications for admitted OMS CS students are an undergraduate degree in computer science or related field (typically mathematics, computer engineering or electrical engineering) from an accredited institution with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, however work experience will not take the place of an undergraduate degree. The following are required for admission: Evidence of award of a 4-year bachelor's degree or its equivalent (prior to matriculation) from a recognized institution, demonstrated academic excellence and evidence of preparation in their chosen field sufficient to ensure successful graduate study For international applicants, satisfactory scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) I am an international student and I have a BS (First Class Hons) degree in Biology which had some coursework with CS elements (Perl programming for bioinformatics, genetic algorithms etc). I've also dedicated many months to self-learning CS fundamentals and programming, through MIT OpenCourseWare, Stanford's online lectures, online tutorials and books, and of course through Udacity as well. My last job was as a medtech analyst where I used scripting to automate part of the workflow and to analyze scenarios. I also recently finished one of the programming bootcamps here in the States, and have a few personal projects / applications that I built myself. Based on the admission criteria, what are my chances of gaining admission to the OMSCS program?

• Answer:

  I have been inquiring about trying to do it with no BS degree at all; I do have a deeper math background and long experience in high-performance computing jobs such as lead developer and systems architect, plus original work in using databases as AI engines, and high GRE scores, so it's not ridiculous. In asking most people about it, they object that I would need algorithms, combinatorics, complex analysis, graph theory, and a host of similar higher mathematics courses to be able to complete a CS Masters' curriculum. I don't know if these remarks are the basic defensiveness of folks with a Masters acquired after a BS not wanting someone without the latter to have access to the former, but the curriculum at the Georgia Tech program does not support their claims. Not much beyond a basic CS curriculum and basic math like algebra, calculus, and set theory, seem to be pre-requisite. On the other hand, I asked the Georgia Tech whether online CS BS programs (UoPeople is the only recently accredited one under $25K) were acceptable to meet the BS requirement. The answer I got from Alison Kaiser at graduate admissions was this: "No, we do not recognize University of the People as equivalent to       Georgia Tech for graduate studies." Follow-up emails asking whether that means that degree is not recognized for the BS requirement have gone unanswered. So it seems the policy is not well-defined. I would recommend reaching out, if possible, to current students or teachers for specific courses where you're not sure of your background, and ask directly. They may have clearer and more relevant information.