I am thinking of going back to Grad School and I found a new program at DePaul called “MS in Product Innovation and Computing”.
It seems to be a dual degree that encompasses both CS and Business classes. It sounds really interesting, but I don’t know much about it and since it is new I am afraid it would be risky.
What do you guys think? How marketable does this degree sound? Does anyone have any experience with similar degrees at other schools? Would it be better to just go into a more traditional degree like Software Engineering?
I’d turn it back on the program. Do they have placement statistics or employment statistics? Where do graduates get jobs, and what kinds of jobs do they hold? Even if it’s new, you can ask what niche was the program created to fill? Where do they see their graduates fitting in?
There have been a lot of these programs popping up recently, taking advantage of the flourishing of the tech business. My guess is that their utility is kind of determined by the strength of the programs/universities that make the program. For example, a technology/innovation program at University of Washington - which has both strong computer science and strong business - would probably be very well-regarded. (In fact, they do have such a program. https://www.techinnovationdegree.uw.edu/). DePaul…I’m not really sure what the reputation of their grad programs is like among tech recruiters and such. I mean, it’s not bad or anything, but also not as a powerhouse of tech as far as I know.
There’s also the problem that all interdisciplinary programs have, which is does the program teach you enough of either for you to be useful? Some interdisciplinary programs are really good at giving you enough preparation in both fields that you really are well-poised to take positions that require knowledge of both - like being a business leader at tech companies or an entrepreneur in the technology industry. Some programs, however, only give you a little dash of both but not enough to do the jobs that really require knowledge. (One example is that a lot of business analytics programs don’t have enough statistics or computer science to allow people to go into data science, even though some of the promise those kinds of careers.)
“Better” is a subjective estimation. Do you want to be a software developer? Because my guess is that the kinds of jobs this DePaul degree would prepare you for are different than what a software engineering degree would.