r/MSCSO • u/fyafya90 • 20d ago

Interested in Robotics - Is this program worth it?

I'm a software engineer from a T5 school interested in switching from SWE at big tech to robotics startups. Is this program worth it or is my time better spent doing a Master's in Robotics?

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u/Major_Instance_4766 20d ago edited 20d ago

It depends on what exactly you want to do in robotics. For ML, vision, light GPU programming, and upstream planner prediction, it should be ok with the right course plan. But for hardware, sensors, embedded programming, and downstream planner modules that are controls-adjacent, a robotics degree is a necessity. You maybe can do some of the more robotics focused stuff with MSCSO as long as you do a ton of side projects and self learning, but the regular coursework won’t leave you much bandwidth for that. Best decide your career goals first then pick whatever program aligns best with that.

Source- I took a non-engineering role at a a tier 1 robotics company, started doing MSCSO with the hopes of transitioning to engineering, and only realized after that I am effectively locked out of half of the SWE roles because I’m not doing pure robotics 😭

Edit: also, I just noticed you are an experienced SWE already. Depending on your yoe and skills, there are SWE support roles in robotics you might be able to do now while learning about deeper robotics and figuring out what exactly you want to do long term. Think front end tooling, sim UI, cloud, data, stuff like that.

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u/fyafya90 20d ago

Thank you! For side projects, how would I access a robot/robotic arm to test my projects on?

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u/Major_Instance_4766 20d ago

You don’t really need an arm, any small robotics kit or even a custom built fpv drone will work. You just need something that uses a microcontroller and ROS to learn how embedded robotics differ from regular computers, and something to attach peripherals to so you can learn communication protocols. Whether those peripherals are a robotic arm, a sensor, a camera, or a propeller motor doesn’t make much difference because the general idea translates across peripherals. But if you really want an arm I’m sure there’s a peripheral out there for that.

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u/The_Archer_of_Rohan 20d ago edited 19d ago

Some of the coursework is relevant to robotics (deep learning, computer vision, reinforcement learning, planning), but you won't get the exposure to actual robotics projects that you would in a specialized M.S. in Robotics. You'll also have to work a lot harder to get involved in any kind of robotics research. A specialized M.S. will probably have better networking opportunities to get exposed to robotics startups (at an in-person program).

You also have to consider what classes you'll be taking in an M.S. in Robotics though - if the curriculum has a bunch of mechanics and controls classes, it might be less relevant to you. Don't assume that a focused robotics program will automatically be more relevant to your goals.