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BS in Electrical Engineer. Full-time employee. Is it worth doing Masters ?
July 30, 2012 at
05:17 PM
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I've a dilemma. Hope someone can point me in the right direction.
I've a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and i've a stable full-time job. Is it worth quitting my current job to pursue masters in either ECE or Computer Science ? It will cost me ~$22k ($8.5k per semester *2 + summer tuition).
Are there any advantageous ? I've 2-3yrs experience in this field and most people i've talked to advice me not to do it because my experience has "more value" than a MS. But then, some have advised me to do it before "you're too old".
Does an MS degree give me any advantage when it comes to promotions and stuffs or will they look at your experience and skill sets only ?
Any help is appreciated.
Edit: I work as a developer. (not sure if it matters)
I've a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and i've a stable full-time job. Is it worth quitting my current job to pursue masters in either ECE or Computer Science ? It will cost me ~$22k ($8.5k per semester *2 + summer tuition).
Are there any advantageous ? I've 2-3yrs experience in this field and most people i've talked to advice me not to do it because my experience has "more value" than a MS. But then, some have advised me to do it before "you're too old".
Does an MS degree give me any advantage when it comes to promotions and stuffs or will they look at your experience and skill sets only ?
Any help is appreciated.
Edit: I work as a developer. (not sure if it matters)
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I got my doctorate right after BS (chem eng) and right now my employer is paying for my MBA (PT, almost done). I have contractual obligations with them afterwards (2 years from completion) and I am off scot-free.
if you can continue to work and get the MS, do it. Otherwise it may not be worth it.
I got my doctorate right after BS (chem eng) and right now my employer is paying for my MBA (PT, almost done). I have contractual obligations with them afterwards (2 years from completion) and I am off scot-free.
if you can continue to work and get the MS, do it. Otherwise it may not be worth it.
thanks for the reply.
I discussed career options with my advisor at school quite extensively. He possesses a PhD (obviously), and he has fully recommended furthering my education as much as possible. It has certainly paid off in his case, as well as a good friend of mine who just finished his M.S. and obtained a nice job.
However, this is more in radar signal processing/atmospheric science, which is quite different from your career field. When I worked for a conveyor manufacturer, I don't think ANY of the engineers had M.S. degrees, be it the company president or the mid-level supervisors. My opinion is that the more academic/scientific the career field, the more one stands to gain from having an M.S. The more traditional industry positions (from my experience) seem to place less value upon an M.S.
On another note, some practical questions you might ask yourself are:
1) Do you enjoy furthering your education? If not, I would view it as working at a job but paying them to do so.
2) Where you live, are there several engineering jobs available? This isn't the best economy and although you can't predict the future, you certainly don't want to end up with an advanced degree with no job opportunities.
3) Will you be taking out loans for the tuition?
I've a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and i've a stable full-time job. Is it worth quitting my current job to pursue masters in either ECE or Computer Science ? It will cost me ~$22k ($8.5k per semester *2 + summer tuition).
Are there any advantageous ? I've 2-3yrs experience in this field and most people i've talked to advice me not to do it because my experience has "more value" than a MS. But then, some have advised me to do it before "you're too old".
Does an MS degree give me any advantage when it comes to promotions and stuffs or will they look at your experience and skill sets only ?
Any help is appreciated.
Edit: I work as a developer. (not sure if it matters)
Experience is more important at the beginning of your career, but a masters later will be beneficial. Unfortunately, getting a masters now may be a net negative for you, unless the company you work for will pay your tuition and guarantee you a raise afterwards. Otherwise, a young new grad with a masters will just not get paid much more, if any more at all, than a young new grad without a masters. The masters starts coming into play about ten years into your career or so, and even later.
But don't take my word for it, I'm just some random guy posting on the interwebz. This has, however, been my experience.
1) Do you enjoy furthering your education? If not, I would view it as working at a job but paying them to do so.
2) Where you live, are there several engineering jobs available? This isn't the best economy and although you can't predict the future, you certainly don't want to end up with an advanced degree with no job opportunities.
3) Will you be taking out loans for the tuition?
1. Yes and No
2. I think its hard to get a job in Electrical engineering where i live but i see openings for developer though i don't know what it will be like when i graduate.
3. Nope.
Experience is more important at the beginning of your career, but a masters later will be beneficial. Unfortunately, getting a masters now may be a net negative for you, unless the company you work for will pay your tuition and guarantee you a raise afterwards. Otherwise, a young new grad with a masters will just not get paid much more, if any more at all, than a young new grad without a masters. The masters starts coming into play about ten years into your career or so, and even later.
But don't take my word for it, I'm just some random guy posting on the interwebz. This has, however, been my experience.
I may look for tuition reimbursement for my next job.
Thanks for the input.
I may look for tuition reimbursement for my next job.
Thanks for the input.
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I'm finding the masters program to almost be a vacation!
Not quite, but it's not bad at all, actually. I think I'm more focused now than I was when I was younger.
But I'm also curious why in the heck you'd consider quitting your job to go back to school? The only advantage to doing that is if you just can't afford tuition & want to work your way through as a TA or something. If you have the tuition money, keep working! There are plenty of part time programs, and even accelerated full time programs if you don't want to stretch it out to 3-4 years.
In any case, good luck!
I agree that it's not really worth it to get a technical Masters. I have an MSCE (Civil Engineering) and I think it bumped my salary by about $3k annually. 62/3=20 years return on your investment. Unless you're getting some sort of reimbursement (TA - Teaching Assistantship/RA - Research Assistantship/Fellowships), you should keep your current job. I got an RA opportunity when I did my Masters and couldn't find a full time job (Graduated in 2009) so it was a no brainer. I did it in 3 semesters + 1 summer = 3x$2k + $1.5k = $7.5k and was getting paid around $1.8k/month for working as an RA and saved like mad to make it "enough".
I'm thinking about doing an MBA but after looking at the tuition fee: $120k for the whole program, I think I'll wait...