Hello, I have completed Masters in Physics and have experience in teaching for almost 7 years from India. I live in US and now want to change my career from academics towards industry jobs. I have seen that most of the jobs related to Physics background requires programming knowledge and also other skills in computers. Can someone advice about prospects of pursuing M.S in computer science? Also is there any recognition given during job search if I learn programming like C++ online? I am almost 40 years of age and have a kid 9 yrs old. I am confused if pursuing an educational degree for two years in US is worthy enough to improve my job prospect. Please advice. Thanks.
In that case, a CS degree might help you. Physics (like so many other fields these days!) can be computationally intensive. Online courses can help you get started, but what you will need for a job hunt is a coding portfolio (on GitHub or something like that) that can demonstrate both programming skill and domain expertise. This is not always easy to do when you are working alone. Moreover, you may need access to an HPC environment that may be free at a university, but for which you may need to pay if you're using AWS/EC2, Google Cloud and whatnot. Also, note that the sort of thing a first course will teach you is programming syntax and some logic. Absolutely necessary, but for a job, what you really need is familiarity with domain specific libraries/packages/software - say for example HEP in Mathematica (not C++, but just an example), DE or linear algebra solvers or say, molecular dynamics simulation packages for biophysics. These can often be expensive. Open source packages may be hard to find depending on what you are actually trying to do. So, if you are serious about getting back into physics, then finding your way back into a university environment may be a good start. Obviously, with a family and child, your job search is not nationwide. Do you live in a metropolitan area? Are there universities near you? Do you have any idea of what sort of physics you are hoping to do?
Job prospects for an MS in computer science. Good. That said its no longer an easy road. Or cheap. Do it if u really enjoy coding. With a masters in physics and teaching exp...have u considered getting teaching credentials ? Many high /middle schools are short on math and physics teachers. Decent pay..tenure ..good hours esp since u have young kids. U can also supplement ur income by tutoring during weekends. Another option to think about.
