Software Engineering
Marvin Jacobsz
Name: Marvin Jacobsz (1982)
Class of 2009-2010
Prior education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, UvA
Which aspects of the Master’s programme did you find most appealing?
'Mainly the fact that it’s genuinely geared to day-to-day practice. This Master’s programme is also basically an abstraction at informatics level. If you study informatics at a less complex level, you focus on coding and creating algorithms, whereas this master teaches you to view challenges from a more overarching perspective. You learn how to make well-founded design choices, recognise processes, etc. That really appealed to me: my previous courses also involved writing software, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. There wasn’t much structure involved. This is still a very new discipline, and we know relatively little about effective software construction. That process is described in great detail over the course of this Master’s programme.'
Were you obsessed with computers as a child?
'No, I wasn’t really into computers at a young age. Some of the guys here have been programming since they were four or five years old, I wasn’t like that. To be honest, I didn’t really become passionate about informatics until I started studying mathematics. I had to write programmes in order to answer certain questions, and I noticed I found that process very enjoyable. Programming a computer is basically a form of mathematics, albeit a very applied one. You can see the results of your efforts immediately, which is much more appealing than spending five weeks on a boring mathematical problem.'
Was your background in mathematics an advantage or a burden?
'Coming from an exact sciences background, I had a hard time doing the assignments at first. After all, there are no standard solutions in this field. To be perfectly honest, I really disliked some of the courses because they seemed so vague! In retrospect, though, I was very glad I took them, I really learnt a great deal. The Software Architecture and Requirements Engineering courses were really tough at first, you have to find solutions without any help. In the end, though, that’s a good thing: it really pushes you to solve problems on your own. It helps you figure out why specific problems need to be tackled in a specific way. It can definitely be frustrating at first, but it pays off in the end: you really learn how to substantiate your choices.'
How would you rate the supervision by lecturers?
'The lecturers act as sparring partners. Once you’ve started on an assignment, they drop by every week to ask whether you need help with anything. They also give great feedback: I thought the team of lecturers were truly excellent. You get very personalised supervision, it’s almost as if they’re keeping an eye on you at all times. They know what you’re doing and intervene when things start to go wrong. That was an entirely new experience for me: during my previous study programme, they’d simply give you a practical training assignment and leave it up to you to seek help if you needed it. We never really got any proper supervision. I should know: I used to be a student assistant myself. I didn’t receive any training, and they didn’t tell me how to go about helping my students. They basically threw me in at the deep end, without any real structure to fall back on. Here, you know there’ll always be someone to help you when the going gets rough.'
To whom would you recommend this Master’s programme?
'If you want to get ahead in the software industry, this is the perfect study programme for you. The curriculum is more geared to the commercial sector than other comparable study programmes, and there’s more interaction with lecturers and fellow students. There are plenty of stories in the newspaper about failing software systems, wasted millions and programmes that don’t do what they’re supposed to. If you want to understand why these things happen, this is the place to be. This Master’s programme teaches you what can go wrong, and which pitfalls to avoid.'