[thumper]

I jumped over this fence a few times, having done a startup after college, then did consulting for years, then dove into grad school to find out what "research" was really all about. I'm still in grad school, but just really took a job working at an industry research lab.

There isn't a clear cut answer because so much depends on your personality and what you want to get out of life.

What I can definitively say: if you've been out of school for a few years, getting an MS in CS is totally worth it. I learned so much about the "new stuff" that I never got around to when I was working, and the bigger toolbox has already paid off for me.

Beyond that, I sort of agree with other posters, but I'm a little more cynical about the long-term vs short-term aims of academia. I'm finding that my startup sensibilities work well for guiding my efforts in a PhD, but this is because I've come believe that grad school is essentially a machine for conferring reputation from professors to students. Keep in mind that even when your advisor gives you a lot of latitude (and that'll take years), you're still not your own boss... and that can suck if you're older than the average student.

Of course, working in a research lab has similar issues. You don't completely get to set your direction, there's a big bureaucracy, and you have to work hard to get people to understand your work.

Out of everything I've done, being in a startup where we all shared The Dream was the best.