| I have both a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science. I didn't get my Masters because I wanted a higher pay grade (although the company I was working for at the time did reimburse a large amount of it), it was to get out of industry. From my first job, I realized life in a cube wasn't for me. I really wanted to be in front of a classroom. I realize there are problems with academia. I know you have the same squabbles and competition you have in the corporate world, and seeking certain grants to keep yourself afloat can cut into the research you actually want to do. Still, I really wanted to teach. I've seen so many professors who only work one or two jobs, or go straight from BS -> MS -> PhD with very little industry experience. I wanted to be a different type of professor with plenty of real work experience to drawn on and teach from. Grades don't matter. I've found that's very true for industry. Having a GPA on your CV doesn't really mean anything and most people leave it off. However, it has a huge impact on getting into degree programs. I only had a 2.5 undergrad and even though I got a 3.2 in grad school, it wasn't enough for most programs I looked at. I attempted and failed to get into 8 schools back in 2009 (ironically, one that I later worked for and could get free classes at. PhD programs however, are full-time). Today I have three publications that I'm 2nd author on, and in 2015 I attempted to get into school once again. I contacted several professors. Most simply don't write you back, but even when I got in touch with several schools, many simply didn't have any professors who were willing to take students in my field (environmental sensor research). It's really competitive to get back into school and there is a massive disconnect right now between industry and academia. You get out of any education what you put into it. You can leave with just a basic understanding of computer science and only know two languages leaving an outstanding program. You can also go to a crap program and push yourself to learn more on your own; using what professors teach as a jumping board for a lot more. The TL;DR I'm getting at is that masters programs do have a purpose: getting you into a PhD program. If your work pays for it, it might be worthwhile for the additional title, but if not, you're not going to learn anything you couldn't apply yourself to on your own. |