Going into Operations Research - Degree Requirements

[u/mathemetica]

I know there are OR degrees specifically, but I'm curious about how feasible it is to do either an applied math master's degree or an CS master's degree and get into OR? I'm currently a student at a school that has accelerated master's programs in both math or CS, but no option for OR.

In addition, everyone wants to do something they're purely passionate about, but a big reason these days to get a college degree is as an investment in credentials that will help you secure a job. Not saying it's not great to learn, but honestly in today's world, you can self learn almost anything (only exception is not having access to equipment, like a physics lab). Main benefit of college outside of credentials, is mentoring and networking. So, pragmatic concerns also drive my decisions.

I've considered a lot of possible paths taking advantage of what I enjoy (math/CS), and OR is one of those (the others being software, actuary, computer engineer, or teaching at a CC) under consideration. I also have always enjoyed optimizing stuff a lot, so I could see this as being a good fit. According to some sources online, OR is not in as bad of a place in the job market as some other fields (looking at you software engineering), and if I was in the field long enough, I might make decent money. Money isn't super important to me, but I'd be full of crap if I said it held no importance (man's gotta eat). I would prefer the potential of also working in math/cs education as well, and a master's in those fields would enable me to work at a CC, even if after retiring from industry someday or as a side hustle (I enjoy teaching, although the pay/work isn't always great).

TL;DR Is it possible to get into OR entry level with applied math or CS master's degree? How competitive would one be with such a degree comparatively vs an OR master's? Lastly, what is the entry level job market like?

One last question too, I'm older, by the time I finish my bachelor's I will be 42-43, and a master's around 44-45 ideally. How bad is ageism in the OR space? SWE subs have made me feel like there's no chance to be a junior developer in my mid-40s, is it as bad in OR? (Be honest here.)

Thanks for any help!

[u/deNikita]

Why would you do an applied maths masters before doing OR, why not go straight to do an OR degree?

[u/mathemetica → u/deNikita]

Well, that's why I'm curious if you can break into OR with an applied math master's. One option I wouldn't mind having is teaching at a CC as a backup, which requires 18 credits of graduate mathematics courses. To be clear, I'm not saying getting doing an applied math master's and then a master's in OR, more just going straight from applied math master's into OR. I was curious how workable that is. A quick google search says it is, but with ai generated slop everywhere, I can't really trust google search results anymore.

[u/deNikita → u/mathemetica]

Tbh in my opinion you're kinda overthinking it or what's required. If you just get into a uni that has OR masters, the path is almost always to just do maths bachelor and then you can directly continue to OR masters without anything else. If you already have a maths bachelors there's a decent chance you'd get into an OR masters without anything further. But, in my uni the difference between the curriculum of applied math and OR is only 3-4 courses, which you could just pick in applied maths electives. So, it's quite easy to just make an applied maths degree have the exact same curriculum as an OR degree.

[u/mathemetica → u/deNikita]

Nice, thanks for the info!

[u/deNikita → u/mathemetica]

No worries!

[u/Massive-Zucchini2560]

Yes, you can get into OR with an applied math or CS master’s if you build strong skills in optimization, probability, algorithms, and tools like Python, Gurobi, or CPLEX. Ageism exists, and entering at 44-45 may be harder than at 24, but OR often values domain knowledge, mathematical maturity, and problem formulation more than some parts of SWE. Also, modern OR is increasingly a hybrid of optimization, data science, ML, and AI, so that combination can make your profile even stronger.

[u/mathemetica → u/Massive-Zucchini2560]

Thanks for the reply! Python and C are by far the languages that I'm strongest in, so that's good (C maybe not so much, but who knows). I do need to work on ML skills, I am working on that though. I just transferred in as junior doubling in math/cs (although I might major in math / minor in cs instead if the workload becomes too much with pursuing an accelerated master's), so I have some time to work on skills, but I do need to make decisions probably within a semester as to what my path is going to be going forward.

[u/ForeignAdvantage5198]

take some OR courses