Benefit of Master's Degree?

I was wondering if it is worth obtaining a Master's Degree in the networking field? Currently, I have a 4 year Bachelor's in I.T. and a CCENT certification. I am working on my A+, and then CCNA after (I know, weird order).

I am just starting my first I.T. job Monday, which is only an entry level help desk job.

I'm wondering if going for certifications would be more beneficial at this point in my career, or what?

Thanks in advance!

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Comments

markulous

I would get more certifications and not worry about having a master's degree right now. Certs are pretty valuable and at this stage of your career, a master's degree is unlikely going to do much over what you already have. Once you have a good amount of experience and a solid set of certs, then I would possibly look ahead at what your long-term goals are and see if a master's degree is required for that role. You may never really need one depending on where you go.

jamesleecoleman

I've gotten interviews because I'm working on my Masters.

If you like to learn then why not? You can work on your masters and certifications.

Polynomial

I have a legitimate chance at management positions at my company as soon as I hit the 1 year mark as a 24 year old.

jvrlopez

Seen some pretty hefty differences in pay with the major factor being a masters.

Dakinggamer87

Master's degrees will help significantly especially if you are going into management positions. I plan to pursue mine after I finish my Bachelor's at WGU as I'm working my way into an IT Manager/Director role. Plus I like the sense of accomplishment of holding a Master's degree.

anoeljr

I don't think it would hurt you getting a masters degree. What you could do is work for a year or so first and then start the degree. I'm not in the networking field so I don't know which would really be better for you. But for the most part I'll just give the safe answer: get both and you won't have to worry about choosing.

bankintheroll

Thank you all for your responses!

TechGuru80

A Master's degree is great for getting into management and or switching careers. The main problem you will run into working while trying to get a Master's is that you will have little time and energy to work on certifications at the same time. A Master's degree is usually at least double the work of an undergrad degree and more difficult in grading because more is expected. Early in a career certifications play a huge role in advancing some of the positions such as networking and could be more beneficial. With a CCNA you could go several years getting more experience before attaining a higher Cisco Certification, while working on a higher degree. There are increasingly more programs that offer Master's degrees...but in general you want one that will provide you with management level courses...unless you want a pure research position.

bryguy

If you're looking to work the government, a masters degree will help meet some of the educational requirements for the upper level GS positions...

abyssinica

I think...you wouldn't want to be the "IT Guy" forever. For many managerial positions, you need a Masters. If you can get it now, then you should.

Polynomial wrote: »

I have a legitimate chance at management positions at my company as soon as I hit the 1 year mark as a 24 year old.

Exactly, I think it's good to do the Masters

srabiee

I think besides the benefit of having a masters degree to open doors into management positions, a masters degree may be beneficial, period. For example, an MS in IT may put you ahead of the pack into systems engineering or network engineering positions (coupled with experience, of course). That's not always going to be the case, but it's certainly a possibility.

On the flipside though, I've been told that the bad thing about candidates with masters degrees is that they generally expect more money than those with bachelor's degrees, and hiring managers anticipate for this and may not be willing to pay extra to hire the person with the masters.

So I think it can definitely be a double-edged sword.

markulous

I'm surprised at the responses. While I agree a masters would be beneficial long-term, I would think certs would be much more beneficial right now. At the moment he doesn't have any certs at all. Not having a masters degree isn't going to disqualify him from any entry-level or even level two jobs whereas not having certs definitely can. If he can do both then great, but if it's one or the other I don't think it's close right now.

srabiee

Here's another thing to consider though that may apply to younger people. If you're 22 years old for example and just finishing up school and are interested in getting a masters degree, then by all means stay in school and get it done before starting your career.

My brother planned on getting his masters, but after completing his bachelor's at age 22 he wanted to "take a break" from school and work, make some money. It's 4 years later and he has his own place, a good job (career), a car, financial responsibilities, etc. He doesn't feel it's feasible to back to school at this point. My father warned him this would happen but he didn't listen.

So yeah, take into consideration that "life" can easily get in the way of education, especially as you get older. If you're young and with relatively few responsibilities compared to us older folk, by all means get your education now!

LinuxNerd

Experience + Degree.

Don't need low level certs.

pinkydapimp

You will get more of a benefit from your Masters studies having some experience first. In my masters program most people have like 5-10 years experience. In many cases they expect you to have that experience. I think you will get more out of it if you wait. Plus you may find a company that will do tuition reimbursement. And as others have said, early in your career certs will be more beneficial. So i would work on those, then after about 2-3 years revisit the masters.

GoodBishop

Hey, I just got a MBA, and now people are contacting me for director-level positions. Graduate degrees don't hurt.

TechGuru80

GoodBishop wrote: »

Hey, I just got a MBA, and now people are contacting me for director-level positions. Graduate degrees don't hurt.

That does not mean you are actually qualified...recruiters on talent acquisition websites mass spam emails.

JoJoCal19

TechGuru80 wrote: »

That does not mean you are actually qualified...recruiters on talent acquisition websites mass spam emails.

It's all about opening doors. A cert or degree isn't a golden ticket, but they absolutely do open doors that were closed before the cert/degree. It's up to the person to walk through that door and sell themselves and close the deal on the job. That's precisely what the CISSP did for me. In my case though, I had a lot of experience, albeit not the most optimal for positions, but as soon as those five letters hit my resume/LinkedIn/Indeed, I was flooded with opportunities to sell myself, and then landed my current position, which is a huge step up from where I was at.

GoodBishop

TechGuru80 wrote: »

That does not mean you are actually qualified...recruiters on talent acquisition websites mass spam emails.

Actually, I am.

geekgirl74

I would go for the Masters. I have my Bachelor's in IT also and am kicking myself for not just sticking it out and going straight through to my Masters because I'd be done by now. My last employer was the local government and the minimum qualifications for the IT department was a Bachelors with experience or a Masters with no experience. I chose at that point to leave my government administrative position so I could get some IT experience...but I stopped school when I got my Bachelors. Now I'm looking at going back for my Masters and will have to get back into school mode if I do - and that's not easy to do.

TechGuru80

GoodBishop wrote: »

Actually, I am.

It wasn't a specific comment directly at you but people put resumes up with under 5 years experience and receive emails about director positions when they have a Master's degree.

exspiravit

A MS is a lot of work, however, it is focused on just the subject area. So a MS in Internet Engineering or Network Engineering would be just that. None of that low-level, fundamental, type stuff. I found my MS to be very rewarding from both an achievement and educational perspective. Since you are still in "school mode" it might be a good idea to take a class or two at a time. Assuming traditional 4-month semesters it's not that hard, check the class schedule from the school you are looking in too.

I was having a conversation with someone about WGU in regards to IA, they accept certifications in lieu of taking the class. I WGU does this for network engineering then maybe you can earn a cert, transfer it in, effectively killing two birds with one stone.