So my undergraduate degree is getting closer and closer to being finished. It’s somewhat technical, but at the same time, not as hardcore technology-oriented, as say, computer science. (For the record, my major is information science) I’m not bad with web programming, but having trouble deciding if I want to stick with web development or go into more general IT stuff, where I don’t have as much experience.
My primary goal is to, obviously, get a job after I graduate. I’m just wondering–has anyone gone/known anyone who has gone on to get a technology Master’s/PhD that’s served them markedly well?
I’m glancing at grad programs, but at the same time, I don’t know that I’d be fully dedicated to attending one at this time–and I know that it isn’t a good idea to go to grad school unless you have your heart in it. I love technology, but I’m not sure where the best place to focus that love is, you know?
One of the best uses of a master’s degree is to trade up and go to a much better school than you’re at now. If you do that, you’ll have access to their career services, which can have a huge payoff.
A master’s degree in something IT-related is not generally a bad choice. A PhD is a wholly different animal, and you need to figure out what exactly that involves before you even think of doing one.
I got an IT degree back in 2003 and it was relatively useless as no one was hiring IT guys back then. But the one piece of advice that I got then that I think still holds today is that a Master’s in IT is ABSURDLY USELESS unless you want to teach or want to “trade up” as ultrafilter suggested.
I got a PhD in CS in 1980, and I’ve never regretted it. I loved doing research, and got to accomplish something in my dissertation I really wanted to do. It got me into Bell Labs. If I hadn’t gotten it I’d have been frustrated ever since. And the experience helped me to be able to switch fields several times since then.
My daughter, who is in a PhD program now, feels the same.
But if you want a professor to tell you what to do, it probably isn’t for you.
Yeah, I enjoy research, but I don’t necessarily know that I could devote five years of my life to a particular topic; I don’t have that much passion. I had a friend who almost went straight from his undergrad to his PhD, but was snagged up by a company only about 7 months into the start of his work.
Thanks for that tidbit, Justin. I can’t see myself teaching (at college-age, anyway, and I doubt I’ll have the patience to deal with other age groups anytime soon).
Any input on IT certifications? I’m considering working toward comptia+ this summer, possibly Cisco’s CCENT as well. I just feel like there’s this whole other realm of the field I haven’t had time to dig into yet.
I’m getting my MBA right now and we were talking last night before class about other Masters degrees.
Based on the people I know with Petroleum Engineering Masters it is virtually useless unless you want to specialize into a sub field of reservoir engineering this surprised a couple of my classmates. Luckily we had a guy with an aerospace engineering masters and an optical engineer with a masters in either control systems or some mechanical engineering specialty at the table. The mechanical engineer said he enjoyed getting his as long as the classes were interesting but less than half of them were and in some cases weren’t as good as his undergrad classes he said that it hasn’t helped him professionally. The aerospace engineer said he enjoyed all of his classes and probably uses about half of them in his day to day work but hasn’t seen any career advancement over those with only undergraduate degrees. The conclusion was that I can be useful but if it’s being done for career advancement it’s not really useful.
On the other hand my fiancée is getting her PhD in Metallurgical engineering and has been able to control her career path coming out of school more then she was able to before returning to school but she got no promotion or title raise for getting her PhD she was just able to get into a more exclusive section of the company. She’s glad she went back for her degree and it looks like it will be useful long term for her career advancement.