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Referrals seem to have the upper hand so I figured advertising myself is worth a shot. Recent M.A grad currently based in atl, but looking to move to nyc. If anyone needs a jr. strategist or ae and would like to see my resume/portfolio, send me a note at a104352@aup.edu ! I can pinky promise to be a very enthusiastic and hard-working team member :)
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How do you combat scope creep?
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I’m getting it because I DONT have a bachelors in CS (and because my employer is paying for it / I can do it part time)
It's great to consider this question about how to continue advancing in your field! I'm no longer a developer, but just for career development input, here are my thoughts.
* If you're looking to climb the Deloitte ladder, you can ask your mentor or SM as they understand what matters most in their promotion process
* For employers or recruiters, having a masters in a specific field can help you stand out, but I think having a conversation with a recruiter might also reveal how much weight they give it (anyone care to share?)
* For skill and knowledge development, you're aware that this can be obtained outside of a masters program, but this is one way to go about it in a "curated" way
* Being part of a masters program can be a way to build your network - relationships with a great school, alumni association, peer students, and professors can be valuable
* Companies sometimes provide tuition reimbursement so it might be something to consider if your company actively encourages it and sometimes make allowances for you to spend time in class
* All of this weighed against the opportunity cost to you - could you be building your own tech or startup or working on something else that advances your skill somehow?
Pro
I've never worked at a place that assigned any weight at all to a master's degree for software engineering roles. So from that perspective you'd have one fewer year of experience and nothing to show for it but less money (due to foregoing a year of salary and paying tuition).
A big part of it is that too many universities have found master's programs to be highly profitable, especially catering to international students who want to get a foot in the door with a US company to sponsor their visa. The universities want happy customers, so they tend to turn a blind eye to cheating and poor performance. (I went to a top CS university and more than one professor told me that they were simply not allowed to fail CS master's students.)
As a result, it's pretty hard for a company to trust a CS master's degree to mean much at all. It'd be way too difficult to try to maintain a database of the good programs, so most companies just ignore them entirely.
If you wanted to stay a code monkey then there isn't much point. If you wanted to focus on something like security or AI then it could be worth it.