Masters Degree or Certifications

[Deleted User] · April 2015

Hey guys so I am pretty sure this topic has come up here many times and I am wanting to get some solid input. A bit about myself. 23 years old and I am finishing my BS in Information Technology and minoring in Information Systems and have the following IT certs as listed on my profile. I am thinking about going back to do a graduate certificate in cyber-security or just going the rest of the way IT certifications but no masters degree for me thanks not about to take the GRE test. I see the benefits of both sides but I also know that once you are out of school for some time, you really don't want to go back. I personally want to just do certs for the rest of my career and not going back to graduate school just because it is expensive and I want to be able to study at my pace and what I find interesting not studying project management that I could give 2 (bleeps) about. I see more value in getting certifications then just going for a masters/graduate certificate. What is your experience and input. Keep in mind that I will be just getting an entry level position with a company after I graduate.

srabiee · April 2015

It sounds like you've already made up your mind. You can go very far with a bachelors degree, experience, and certifications.

BlackBeret · April 2015

It sounds like you've made up your mind. The first thing that hits me when I see these threads is, "Why chose?". You can do both, but really a masters degree is more education for the sake of learning. I will say that after completing my AS, I immediately took a few cert tests without having to study. The same as I complete my Bachelors, and I'll probably have a few after my Masters. Really it comes down to what you want to do and learn. I'm planning on my MS in Cyber Security and MBA for the purpose of starting my own consulting business. The more I learn the better.

GForce75 · April 2015

Both, that's what I did. Hey blackberet, hire me brother in about 6 years

haha

Khaos1911 · April 2015

Also know that there are some Masters programs that do not require (or waive) GRE or GMAT. These programs are more geared towards Adult learners who have real world work experience and certifications. Penn State World, University of Maryland University college, WGU, and a few others. With a wife, a 13 month old, a full time job, fraternity commitments, squeezing time in at the gym, etc. Lord knows I don't want to go back to school, but I found a program that I really like, a school that has some "prestige" and an overall masters program that is challenging, yet has great student reviews. When I attempt to go into IT management later in life, I know it will be one of the tools I will need at some point. Besides, I want to take advantage of every benefit my company has to offer, so I refuse to leave money (Tuition Reimbursement) on the table.

srj · April 2015

Here are my suggestions:

- Go for the Master's degree part-time and certifications on the side
- Find a job that will pay $5k a year towards the tuition (they get a tax write off up to this amount, negotiate for it if you need to)
- Sign up for online training. I use CBT and I listen to the audio on the way to work every day. Bonus points if you get your company to fork over the $1k a year for this (mine did).

Remember that a Master's degree won't guarantee that you get the job, but it might get your resume to the top of the stack, or be the difference maker if it between a few candidates with similar experience.

[Deleted User] · April 2015

That doesn't seem like a bad plan at all. If I did choose to go back to graduate school, I would go to my university where I am attending now. My employer will pay up to $8000 per year for graduate school provided that I receive a B or higher in the classes. Here is the program I would pursue. The whole program is only $9000 and covers 1 cert I already did and 1 cert I don't care for and it covers the CISSP and this is a certification I would like to obtain. There is also no GRE or GMAT test required so I am somewhat considering it. The program here however covers the 10 domain and they said they will update it to reflect the 8 domains but not for a few years so that buys me time to get settled in with my job and pursue other certification until the program is updated. Let me know what you all think about the program. After I complete this program(unsure if I will though) I would be finished and would not want to pursue anything more just certs the rest of the way. Central Michigan University Global Campus

srj · April 2015

I would go for a Master's degree over a certificate program. Personally, I'd avoid any program that revolved heavily around standard certifications. There is nothing wrong with it being an outcome of the program, but the content should exceed preparing for a certification.

Is your ultimate goal to get into security? I know that a lot of people do not like programming, but it seems to be growing in every aspect of our field. I'm personally interested in InfoSec as one of the paths that I might decide to go down. That being said, I'm pursuing a MSCS so that I can prepare myself for as much as possible. The InfoSec field continues to grow and the salaries appear to be growing as well. The standards will be raised. I am trying to get ahead of this.

twodogs62 · April 2015

I vote for going for Masters.

1. It will open some doors having it.
2. In 20 years you will be glad you did it.

i think in IT the degrees are not the end.
Choose some certifications that will show continued growth.

manager positions may require the master degree or could be a potential tie breaker for a position.
you never know.
education can't hurt.

srabiee · April 2015

twodogs62 wrote: »

In 20 years you will be glad you did it.

Ain't that the truth. Get it done now and never have to worry about it again for the rest of your life.

N2IT · April 2015

I've always been a degree over cert guy. That doesn't make it right.

I always felt and have witnessed this on quite a few occasions, if you do get a IT bachelors and masters you really don't need certifications.

We just recently had a young guy join our team. Right after he completed his Bachelors and went into his MBA and was hired for a mid tier spot right away ~60,000 first job out of school. I think if you have the maturity and aptitude for it the master right after the bachelors is best case scenario.

Of course this is not a perfect strategy, but with companies decreasing their educational comps and the lack of work life balance, it's best to get it knocked out by the age of 24 - 25.

I was in my 30's when I went back to get my MBA and it was tough. You lose so much time and puts a huge constraints on other parts of your life.

@OP to your point, most of the people I network with never "made" it back to school once they graduated. You just lose to much time.

TechGuru80 · April 2015

As already said it sounds like you have made up your mind. In general, a lot of people feel like they are "done" with school once they finish their bachelor's degree. Getting into the work force at that point allows you to get even more out of an advanced degree if you go back. Not everybody is destined to have a master's degree but you have plenty of time to make that decision. You might find yourself in a few years wanting to change directions, which is completely normal.

Cliff notes: Go get some experience and see how you feel. Return to school if you see it necessary and if not, continue with a career you enjoy.

zaleonardz · April 2015

Various arguments can be made here.

1. Based on your age, you cant really have that much work experience, study in a Masters Degree really only becomes valuable when you can really use your experience on what your currently being taught.

Dont get me wrong, I am not calling you inexperienced, your certification list is seriously impressive, but to really apply that volume of work while doing the masters, it is best served with 10 or more years experience,

I went the other way, I did the Masters, have spent years in a management team, owned businesses ect, with IT being my core strength, consulting as a management consultant on ERP/Reporting/Accounting, and forgot about the certs.

Now I am in the job market, and all IT positions I look it, while I qualify at Exco, positions are few and far, and I cannot apply for a high level IT position, because they require the certification on topic specific.

So my advice, would be to forget about the masters for the next 5 years or so, carry on with your certifications, and get as much working experience in your chosen segment, but I do want to give you one warning.

Do not ignore the Soft skills, such as project management ect

ITIL for example... well no comment.

However, when you apply for a position, something as stupid as ITIL can be the difference between interview or not, if client specifies ITIL, they WANT ITIL, the recruiter does not really know what it is, and how silly it actually is, but its a client requirement, and they want it, if not, you dont make the cut

Oh, and dont do certs and the Masters at the same time, unless you plan to be single without a family, and do not need to work

The Masters degree's are a lot of work, constant work... never ending work, and the crux of the matter is, you need to get value out of it, so you need to apply yourself, if your distracted with certs in between.

Also certs are instant gratification, you work hard for a month, or two or three, and you are rewarded, instantly have a trump card to play.

A Masters is 2 realistically 3 years, with level of involvement being just as intense as with the certs, constantly, for 2/3 years...

MrAgent · April 2015

I have a ton of certifications, but I wish I would have finished my degrees sooner. I am getting ready to finish my masters next month. If I were to do it over, I'd probably finish my masters first.
No reason why you can't do both. I did CEH and OSCP while working on my MS.

aspiringsoul · April 2015

To quote this cute little girl from the Taco commercial

ccnpninja · April 2015

Go for certs, but don't **** in the exams. The opportunities are unlimited.

ajs1976 · April 2015

With this kind of question, I suggest looking at the job postings for the job you want next and the one after that and plan accordingly. In my area senior infosec jobs want 5 years exp, a cert (CISSP, CISM, or something else), a technical bachelors degree, and prefer a masters.

N2IT · April 2015

@ Agent - Agreed. If I had to do it all over it again I would of rolled up my bachelors right into my masters. 25 years old with a masters from a solid B&M I could of hit the market running. I probably cost myself 100,000's of dollars waiting so long.

I do agree that you learn more from a masters degree after you have been in the business, but the ROI is a lot lower the longer you wait. Similar to financial investing. And generally speaking as time goes on the cost of education rises while the dollar deflates. You could luck out and have your employer pay a percentage if not all of the masters but that seems becoming less and less.

Not to forget you generally become busier as you settle down and become more relied upon in your job function, which doesn't allow a lot of free time.

beads · April 2015

Your never going to be out of "school" as long as your in IT in general. I take at least one master's level course a year and plan to until retirement. So what's the big deal or the difference for that matter?

- b/eads

ajs1976 · April 2015

b/eads,

Are you working towards a degree or are you talking random classes that meet a need or interest?

Iristheangel · April 2015

Simple answer is both if you can.

If you plan on staying in IT, certifications are more valued than degrees in my experience.
If you plan on being in management or business, degrees are more valued in the long run.

Iristheangel · April 2015

N2IT wrote: »

@ Agent - Agreed. If I had to do it all over it again I would of rolled up my bachelors right into my masters. 25 years old with a masters from a solid B&M I could of hit the market running. I probably cost myself 100,000's of dollars waiting so long.

True but if I recall some of your earlier posts, you no longer consider yourself in IT and now are on the business/management side, right? Certifications probably are of less value to you but for someone working directly in IT, especially on an engineer level, certifications like MCSE, CCNP, CCIE, etc are going to be a lot more valuable and relevant to the day-to-day job than what you learn during your degree in most cases.

It all depends on where the OP wants to be in 5-20 years.

discount81 · April 2015

This is just my opinion from experience, I advertised a job for a help desk employee a few months back.
TWO candidates with Masters Degrees applied, both were very skilled but it proved to me a Masters can't mean that much any more if they are applying to work in a help desk.

Unless you have a Masters from a prestigious school I don't think it guarantees a job/wage.

However every CCIE I've ever met, is 1) In extremely high demand and constantly head hunted 2) Being paid very well

I feel like a very high end certification like CCIE is better proof of a skill set, and demands a higher wage than a Masters degree.
It also requires a similar amount of work to achieve a CCIE.

N2IT · April 2015

@ Iris, correct I am in a hybrid role at the moment. I'd say 50% IT and 50% business with momentum leaning towards the business side.

I also agree depending on which technology you are talking about. Such as networking and security those certifcations can act as master degree especially certs like the CCNP or CISSP, those are huge. I will say though system engineering and administration, tech degrees are just as valuable as vendor certifications. ***Again this is just my experience and what I have seen.

But in project management from my experience, an MBA or business experience out weights the PMP. Which makes sense because you learn management in those classes and at the end of the day management is management is management.

My conclusion is there are no right or wrong answers. Well, maybe some wrong answers.

@ Discount, from what I have seen graduates of master degrees whether it's an MBA, Finance, CS, MIS etc usually skip 1st line and 2nd line support.

For instance if you graduate with a BS in CS from a solid university you will most likely get a job in design, development or engineering. Same with an IT Master with a business lean. You will most likely end up being a junior BA or PM, maybe a vendor manager or financial analyst.

Either way you don't go to the desk and if you did you did something went really wrong. IMO

That's the point of expending all the time and resources in front loading your education. So you get recognized to get into a decent job.

zaleonardz · April 2015

Only problem is, once your in upper level management, and something happens, and you have let your certs lapse or did not bother, you cant fall back on IT, because you dont make the cut in terms of the Acronym Recruitment Data search.

Top Management Positions in current economy is hard to find, with no certs, you cant fall back on IT.

And its true, spent time in management, especially if you have a few departments, and you do lose touch..

Discount81, I echo your sentiments exactly

Thus the answer is, who is going to secure the methylamine?

Edit : To OP : Was just thinking about this, if you can pull off both at the same time, go for it.

GreaterNinja · April 2015

The short answer to your question is you should do Both plus more. To market yourself well you will need great experience, interview skills, resume writing skills, certifications, and a Masters degree.
15 years ago in 2000, there was only 15-16% who had a bachelors degree. Now, over 33% of people 25+ have bachelors degrees and over 11% of people 25+ have Masters degrees. Competition increases faster as our population grows.

10 years ago it was almost uncommon to find people with Bachelors degrees working in Helpdesk lvl 1/2. Now its something I see here and there depending on the company. "Bachelors Degree or related years of experience required" will be something you see more and more in IT jobs.

If you want money, then go for certifications like : MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, CISSP, RHCSE, RHCSA, PMP, etc. Go for the Industry recognized Vendor certifications. Google it and do your research first

. Certifications have the fastest and highest ROI if you do the right ones. I would only advise school if your work pays for it OR its cheap like WGU or Georgia Tech OSMCS. If not budgeted correctly, school can cause major debt. Its a huge problem with a lot of people in the USA.

markulous · April 2015

I asked this a few months ago and decided to go with certs, even though my company would pay for part of it. The biggest reason being is that I don't have a ton of IT experience (~1.5 years) and I'd probably do better getting a MCSA/MCSE for immediate ROI. A master's degree is good to have, but really depends on your goals. I can see a lot of great career paths that it really wouldn't help a much in.

xeruan · April 2015

I plan on going for both. I recently applied to Georgia Tech for the OMSCS program. With it requiring 30-36 hours of course work, I feel that I can (even at minimum) take 1 course every Spring/Fall and graduate in 5 years. For the more introductory courses, I can double up courses just to make it go by faster. My thought for Spring/Fall, is that would give me the Summer semesters off in order to work on a certification. Better still, even if it takes me a full 5 years to complete my degree, it will still cost me <8k$, not including scholarships/financial aid.

At this rate, it would still be gaining 1 certification a year, which I feel should be easily doable, and I would also be working toward a Masters degree.

Masters Degree or Certifications

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