As someone who really got off on the "deep dive," I gotta second what Uday says below. The strongest factors for me were (in order):
#3, the Deep Dive. #1 & #2: Networking, and name schools. I come from humanities, and never had the kind of engineering connections I craved, because in my undergrad world, engineers and CS folks just didn't talk with humanities people. You gotta get to the grad level, where they foster cross-discipline collaborations, or odd multi-disciplinary people like me show up and seek out those conversations. So once I got in the mix, I saw how much real humanities talent is hidden in the bodies of many engineers, AND how many MORE opportunities flow through the science and technology side of schools that NEVER show up in liberal arts or humanities-focused areas. My strict liberal arts buddies have no idea, and they almost NEVER get visits from REAL recruiters (other than the kind that want you to stuff envelopes or be a financial advisor with no training). That was a massive perspective shift for me, and it blew my head off. Odd, the specialization of graduate school reveals more of the shortcomings of undergraduate silos and specialization. Paradoxical, eh? #4 is important if you've never been exposed to that approach before. For myself, I think it was superior teaching at the name research school that affected how methods and research projects were approached, and later presented at conferences, etc. That was very empowering, to understand learning as the process of making knowledge, a sort of distributed, democratized process, thinking idealistically. Chris On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 3:07 AM, Uday Gajendar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Jun 19, 2008, at 9:08 AM, Connor, Adam wrote: > >> The recent thread on the SVA program and subsequent writing about online >> programs has got me wondering - how important is a Masters Degree in a >> > design related discipline to the success of one's career? > > Speaking as a Master's degree holder, i'm biased but I'd say the advantages > are primarily: > > 1) Cross-college connections and alumni networking, especially if you go to > a "brand-name" school. Sorry to offend or seem elitist but it's true. > > 2) The opportunity to do creative, exploratory projects and re-kindle the > imaginative spirit that the working world may have killed off (Like Jack I > went straight thru from Undergrad to Grad, for various reasons, but I > remember my CMU adviser saying he liked folks who returned to school after > spending a few years in the "real world" b/c they were sufficiently angry > and jaded and primed to crank out amazing stuff--i'm simplifying a bit ;-) > > 3) The opportunity to get deep into thinking, reflecting, and diving into > the theoretical and intellectual issues that enrich the practice, but we > often don't have time for when we got a 12pm deadline for a client and then > a proposal due at 5pm. Spending the year or two doing that deep dive (if you > really enjoy it--alot of folks admittedly don't) may help cultivate a > valuable habit that will make returning to the real world a bit more > tolerable and satisfying. The intellectual fodder you gain does provide > valuable perspective. At least that's what I tell myself when engineers are > clammoring for specs yesterday and I have to design for the PM's delusional > use cases :-) > > 4) And if you've been fumbling around learning it as you go along, grad > school offers the chance to learn methods/approaches in a more organized > guided fashion (presuming the curriculum is sound and robust!) to push > yourself further...and perhaps discover something about yourself you didn't > know! > > Also, in terms of career growth, AIGA and IDSA usually publish periodic > studies of salary increases, etc. More and more I see job descriptions (like > posted on ixda) that require or recommend Master's... > > That all said, in the end it's a personal choice and has to be measured > against your passion and what you really want to get out of the degree. And > if it's right at your stage of life, career, etc. > > Finally, this article/interview may be of help: > http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/is-there-a-doctor-of-design-in-the-house > > (It's about PhD in Design but there's some reference to Master's and > advanced degrees in design overall) > > Thanks, > > Uday Gajendar > Sr. Interaction Designer > Voice Technology Group > Cisco | San Jose > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
