How far into your career should you begin thinking about getting that Masters degree?

Nyblizzard

After X amount of years working in the field or when you are trying to move up to position X?

MiikeB

As a Sys Admin or Network kind of guy I would say 5-6 years experience is appropriate. I feel like one does not learn these jobs in a classroom so much. There is no harm in doing a masters earlier but its not going to carry very much extra weight without some experience.

A programmer I think sees much more immediate value from a masters degree.

broli720

I started mine as soon as I graduated last year. You never know what may come your way in life (wife, kids) so I decided to do it now. I just want to get it out of the way really.

Polynomial

broli720 wrote: »

I started mine as soon as I graduated last year. You never know what may come your way in life (wife, kids) so I decided to do it now. I just want to get it out of the way really.

Agreed. There was one semester between my BS and starting my Masters.

JasonX

Same, took the summer off, then jumped into my MS right afterwards.

pinkydapimp

keep in mind though some programs are more beneficial if you already have real world experience. Even better some programs will give you class credit for real world experience. So i would recommend having some experience before doing a masters. but really it comes down to what works for you. Another reason to wait is that some places will pay for some and possibly all of your masters.

powerfool

When you have an employer that will pay for it (or at least most of it).

paul78

I'm at 25 years in IT. I'm still working on when I'm going to finish my bachelors

ptilsen

I don't think you should think about it at all unless it makes sense for your plans. I tend to think it's a good idea, but it really depends on where you want to go and want to get out of it. If you want to be a highly technical infrastructure professional, you might not get much from a master's. If you want to transition into management, it's probably a great idea.

Even if you know what you want and what you want's a master's, I don't think there's one right answer. If you have certification goals or any other life goals you want to do first, then delay it. If you've got loads of free time and know you want to do it, there's not reason to wait. I'll most likely be getting mine as soon as my undergrad is done, but I started my career years before I started college.

MrAgent

Ive been in IT since I was 18, Im 35 now. I completed my BS May 2010. I just started my MS this semester (Jan 2013). Ive got a ton of experience and certs, which I think is why I am not having a hard time with this MS program. I think if I didnt have the experience I would definitely have to study a lot harder, and read a ton more.

RoyalRaven

I'd say mid-level (4-5 yrs+) would place you in good condition to start a Masters program and have a very good chance of succeeding. Speaking in terms of an IT-related degree, you want quite a few years of real-world experience behind you so you have a feel for what's out there. Having that background contributes to the whole grad-level experience and will enrich your learning.

I always reference my experience in grad school as more like project management. Having a decent understanding on how typical projects flow in an organization makes grad level work "make sense" as you go through it. I would expect this to be much harder for the person fresh out of the undergrad programs without a lot of real-world experience.

DevilWAH

you should be thinking about getting it, as soon as you think its some thing you want to achieve. And you should start working towards it ASAP.

I don't mean booking the course and going for it, but looking at what areas you want to go in, and finding out what it will take to achieve. Then aiming your work/study/experience in that directions. and as soon as you feel you could achieve it and have the time to dedicate to succeeding then going for it.

Some people will do it right away, others may have a few years experience firs and some might wait till the end of there career when they all ready have a success job as some thing that they are just doing for purely personal achivement.

No one can tell you when is right for you, or indeed if you will need it to succeed in your career. Many people who have masters still don't get any were, and as has been said before many who don't do very well.

getting a masters starts well before you start the course, so my advice is if you want to achieve yours, start looking in to it now, look at what else you want to achieve in life and decided how much time you want to dedicate now to moving towards it. What ever you do if you really want to get there, is don't simple place the idea on a shelf and expect at some point later on it will be there waiting. If you do you will find your self in 40years time asking your self the same question about when you should start it.

nerdydad

broli720 wrote: »

I started mine as soon as I graduated last year. You never know what may come your way in life (wife, kids) so I decided to do it now. I just want to get it out of the way really.

This.

There are few things worse than your child asking you to not go to school, or stop studying and play with them.

MiikeB

There is definitely something to be said about going right after undergrad. While I don't think its the best value, you are already in that school mindset and after 5-6 years out going back to studying and writing papers is hard.

GoodBishop

The stuff that I am learning in my MBA program now, I wished that I had learned earlier in life.

Do it earlier rather then later, when you have kiddos, are married, etc...

vCole

I need to get a Bachelors degree first.

I think 5-6 years (which I'm at) is when you start to really know which route you're going - so I think it's at least the time you should start thinking about it.

YuckTheFankees

I think having at least 2 years of work experience would be nice before getting your masters. After the 2 year mark, you will have real-life experience and that will help you abosrb/relate to information, rather than just reading from a book and hearing other people talk about their experiences.

DevilWAH

I would also say as a scientist and working in a research laboratory, that it is expected that you never stop studying and never stop trying to achieve the next goal.