5
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My master thesis is in ramble.
What I thought to be an achievable task in the beginning turns out to be very challenging.
My skill is not up to it.
The assistant prof I worked with is also not very helpful. I thought he's already familiar with the lib I will work with, turns out he's not so I have to study it by myself.
Me : **Asking question A**
Him : **Explaining B, C, D that's not really related to A. My question went unanswered.
Him giving me explanation on things that I already knew**
Me : "How about this code? Can we please focus on the code?!"
Him : **Finally explains the code so I can move forward a little**
Apparently I have to grow fangs and horns to scare people to give me what I want. :/

He and my prof are not in sync about how to solve the task.
They told me that even though I was behind my deadline (30% progress at 50% time), I still have some time before the deadline of the thesis.
The truth is, if I no longer believe that I can solve it, even if they gave me a time extension, it's going to be useless.
My motivation of finishing it is fading away. It's not a subject that I enjoy, the people I work with are not helpful.
I have been in depression for 2 months, and it's taking a toll on my health.
I am seriously considering dropping it and just let go of my master degree. There are many people who can work in IT even though they don't have proper formal education eh?

Comments
  • 1
    These people don't want your good. I would rather say, leave it and do the something which you like.

    Degree and Certificates don't matter, the real thing is experience and acquisition of wisdom.
  • 6
    You're almost there. Just get something done and get it over with. Unless you're incredibly overwhelmed, leaving at this point would negate all the effort you've put into your degree and thesis, which (as a former masters student) I know is quite a lot of work. Your call, though.

    @Eklavya that's a fairly narrow viewpoint. For one thing, degrees get you into a lot of places much easier than other ways. Whether you can get to a place you want without a degree is questionable at best and very situational. And you learn a *lot* in a degree. For another, universities in my experience do actually care about their students doing good stuff, if nothing else then because it helps them brag about it.
  • 1
    @mysth I did elaborate on my comment a bit. My experience of degrees has been fairly different from yours then, because my professors (in undergrad too) have cared quite a bit about the work I do and I've had (and have) quite nice working relations with many of them. It also depends heavily on what you're doing. Applied technology stuff like apps, web, game, sure it's possible to do those without one. Stuff that deals with the tech itself like distributed systems, embedded, computer engineering, OS, compilers, or robotics, your degree is going to help you a lot. Is it required, no, but it definitely helps.

    I do agree that just the degree by itself doesn't count for much and nobody gives a shit about your grade. It's more about what it *enables* you to do. University (even a "crappy" one) is a great environment for doing stuff and meeting people because that's kinda the whole point. Tl;dr: getting the degree is kind of the low bar, it's all about what you actually did in it. It's also very useful for switching countries or work areas.

    I don't unconditionally support or hate degrees, it's very situational. Hence just hating on it is a less-than-complete view because everyone's situation is different.
  • 0
    It's your advisor's job to guide you if you don't know how to get to the end result you want. Ask for help now to make it super clear.
  • 0
    @mysth "Professors really do not give the slightest shit about your project".
    Yeah I have this suspicion too. When we had a call with him about my progress after 3 months letting me do everything by myself, it's obvious that he doesn't really know about my project and daily struggle. It was his assistant's project and he let him steer it.
    You're lucky to have a very understanding supervisor. My professor is a strict person and isn't going to bend the rule even for his student in his department

    @electrineer Yeah, but what I need right now is not a high level vague guidance given from a general sitting on top of a high horse, but an advice and guidance from a fellow soldier who has been through the same mud and dirt with me, i.e like a pair programming.
    Of course he couldn't do that, that's why I was also considering switching subject and supervisor. If they won't allow it then I will just say goodbye to my degree.
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