Master Computer Science

After receiving my bachelor’s degree, I continued my studies with the Artificial Intelligence track of Leiden University’s Computer Science program. While typically seen as a way to specialise, I personally reflect on this pursuit as broadening my horizon due to my background in astronomy.

Why Computer Science?

I was glad for being able to enroll without the need of a pre-master program. The first year consisted simply of following courses, six credits each, half of them mandatory and the other half hand-picked (I did have to stick with courses focusing on programming in Python, as I did not have a lot of experience with other programming languages). The courses turned out to be relatively easy to complete even with deviating background knowledge. Whether this is purely thanks to my own efforts and not in part due to the assessments’ setup in this program, that’s something I discuss in my critique on my master’s education. Such remarks notwithstanding, the various assignments and projects were generally interesting, and I did not regret stepping away from astronomy.

Going abroad and writing a thesis

During the first year, I applied for an exchange in the autumn semester of my second year. I had already tried to do such a semester abroad during my bachelor’s, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Just like then, this second attempt I aimed to go to Stockholm, Sweden. More on that amazing experience can be read in the post about my exchange. While the courses I attended there were not necessarily AI-related, I thoroughly enjoyed them and learned a great deal.

Once back home in Leiden, my master’s thesis was the only component remaining for my degree. Wanting some experience outside of academia, I decided to do an internship at Koppert, a company that produces biological solutions for agriculture. The project I worked on was aimed at improving the data quality of their pest monitoring system, and the thesis I wrote about it marked the end of my studies at Leiden University. While I have ambivalent feelings about the program, I do believe that the entire process has enabled some important personal and professional growth in various ways.

About the image:
The header image is a procedurally generated Minecraft building based on the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht. It was part of an assignment for the course Modern Game AI Algorithms. I don’t have a lot of pictures relating to my master’s degree, so this programmatically generated building will have to do.