Is there any benefit for Product Designers to do a Masters degree? In potentially HCI, or maybe an MBA?

My parents want me to do one, but I'm thinking it's not really going to help me, especially in terms of getting more comp. My manager straight up told me that YOE is more important that a graduate degree.

Thoughts? Or experience you guys can share?

Thank you!

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I have read dozens of senior UX roles. Few to none require a masters degree. YOE is more important.

It’s not worth the cost, time, effort, nor opportunity cost to get a masters degree.

Historically, most educational institutions are painfully outdated as they’re relying on textbooks written two or three years ago. At the speed at which the industry moves, the best practices touted in books will be outdated by the time they’re published or taught in class.

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Yeah, I kinda came to the same conclusion. I looked at a bunch of senior designer roles and most of them just asked for YOE.

And yeah the cost of a Masters is something like $90K and it doesn't seem like a worthwhile investment at all

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Your manager is correct. I completed one of two years for an MS in Design degree from a top tier school and I didn't get much out of it, which is why I didn't complete the program. When I started I had 5+ years that were dedicated to UX (~8 years total in UI/UX/prod design) and found that I was a more experienced professional than most of my counterparts. For me I could see there wasn't going to be a return on the investment. However, if you are more junior I think you'd probably get more out of a formal curriculum than myself, and it could make you more marketable. I would still hesitate to encourage an HCI or MBA degree because there are so many newer disciplines (AR/VR/Crypto/etc) that designers can pursue where learning resources are plentiful outside of a classroom setting. At the end of the day an education never hurts and it really depends on what your future goals are. Good luck!

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I’ve been considering it as well but want to make sure I’m investing in education that’s actually current.

It seems like if further education is a goal, ad hoc online courses could be the way to go. I’ve heard of folks going for Masters in complementary skills like you mentioned

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Yeah, but even with an MBA, it's not really a requirement to become a Product Design Manager

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