My thesis can be found here. I won’t talk about the content; you’ll have to read it. Instead, I’ll share a quick reflection on the value of writing a thesis.
A Master’s thesis is not a ground-breaking contribution to the academic literature. For the most part, a thesis is read by its creator and (occasionally) by its creator’s advisor(s). After that, it collects dust on a digital bookshelf. If there’s anything good in there, it will probably be extracted and published in a journal. A few more people may read it in journal article form. At some level, the only requirement for a thesis (at least at MIT) is that a qualified faculty member signs off that it has met the graduation requirements.
The true value of the thesis is the learning experience for the individual writing it, supposing he actually tries to do a good job. Here were my takeaways:
- This was the first big individual project I have ever worked on. I spent two years on some parts and it was a constant progression and iteration. To stick with something for so long takes a lot of discipline, planning, and effort. So, that was one of the good things: learning how to conduct a large, long-term individual project with little accountability.
- It gives you a small taste of what real academic research is like. That is, you spend a lot of time reading literature (which can be a real slog) and you spend a lot of time doing things that will never be published. Many ideas turn out poorly. I think there’s an important distinction between enjoying consuming academic research and enjoying producing academic research. The master’s thesis is a good way to learn which of the two you like without wasting too much time doing a PhD. Hint: many people like consuming research much more than they like conducting research. How much time have you spent cleaning/collecting data? It sucks.
- I learned a lot of little things. I became a much better software developer. I had to dig into literature to fill in the gaps of my coursework and what not. Because I tried on it, it was rewarding (duh).
- I am going to publish some papers out of it (at least one, hopefully two). This may help me in some obscure way in the future.