On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 9:57 PM, Nathan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am really going to have to disagree with the majority of people that > assume that a Master's degree is worthless. It isn't. It might be > harder right out of graduate school, if you didn't work during that > time. I have worked full-time while in graduate school, so I have an > edge up on everyone else that graduated with me. It is a tie breaker. > If I am going for a job with someone else with similar experience, I am > going to have a better chance because I have the more advanced degree. > > A Graduate degree says not only am I able to learn (bachelors degree) > but I can research and write intelligently as well. A thesis shows that > you can write and communicate what you have done to others. That is > huge in the IT field. How many tech people do you know that are > absolutely brilliant but they can't communicate that to anyone outside > the computer field. > > There are also companies that require a Masters degree for certain > senior level positions. These are still tech positions not just > management. Now there aren't many of these out there, but 10 years ago > there weren't many tech jobs that required a Bachelors either. It seems > like the trend maybe heading there. The good thing is that experience > will probably be a substitute for many companies, but not all. > > One last note, the classes I took at the graduate level applied to > industry 10x better than any of my undergrad classes. I have used what > I learned there more than my undergrad classes. I am not saying my > undergrad classes were worthless, but my graduate classes better > prepared me for the industry.
I'm glad someone spoke up in favor of graduate school. I second Nathan's comments. There are some cool jobs that require graduate degrees. I went on after my BS/CS and obtained a MS/CS. I don't know that it will ever translate into more $$, and I didn't do it with that expectation. I'm still glad that I did it. However, I balanced academia and industry by working full time as an engineer for half of my undergrad years, and all of my grad student years. I was also fortunate enough to only have to pay for one semester of schooling out of pocket. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
