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Today I want to talk about Master’s degrees. One of my first “popular” tweets was about low key bashing one:
Unfortunately, many people go straight from a bachelor’s degree into a Master’s program thinking it will get them better job prospects. Others get derailed from the IT and Cybersecurity path because they think they have to have one.
This isn’t true it all.
It’s actually a great way to put yourself in unneeded debt. So let’s talk about why I will never do a Master’s degree. By the end you might not be bothered to ever get one too.
In today’s issue I am going to cover:
Why my mentor with a PhD told me not to get a Master’s
What makes many college programs a scam
And when to get a Master’s even though I’ll never bother with one
Why My Mentor With A PhD Told Me A Master’s Was A Waste
I was a college graduate not (too) long ago. Like many I was figuring out what I wanted to do next. The number 1 thing on my mind was getting on a career path that would get me to six figs, a nice house and a comfortable life.
My first logical thought was to get a Master’s. It seemed easy enough. I did well in school and a Master’s program wouldn’t be any different. My plan was simple:
Continue to intern somewhere
Finish my Master’s doing the 1-year program
Go find a job that would pay more than I could get today
I went to go tell my boss this, who I consider my first mentor and good friend, and he gave me a response I did not expect. “Why would you bother wasting your time like that?”, he asked.
Now that surprised me. Someone who has supported me and has a PhD in engineering just told me I would be wasting my time with a Master’s. He then asked, “What are you hoping to learn in the program?”
I figured that was obvious. More IT and cybersecurity stuff. That’s when I realized I didn’t know what I was planning to learn. I hadn’t worked full-time in industry yet so I had 0 clue what I wanted to specialize in.
He then asked, “How many teachers have actually worked in industry within the last 7 years? Do the classes still teach industry best practices?”
Yikes. I never really thought about it that way. I pulled up the classes for the Master’s program. There were some things I could specialize in but I had no idea what I wanted to do. I also couldn’t find any mention of recent technologies in any of the classes.
That’s when I thought back to my bachelors…
What Makes College Programs A Scam
During my bachelors degree I had the same problems over and over again. The content I was learning had these characteristics:
The content wasn’t relevant to what’s happening in the industry today.
It was taught by someone who made a career out of being a professor. They had no industry experience.
By the time we got to anything useful I had already learned 10x more during my internship.
So that got me thinking…
I could either go work for someone with my Information Systems degree right now and make $55k a year. Doing this would put money in my pocket, get me exposure to what happens in industry and I could start figuring out what I want to specialize in.
OR
I could stall my career another year. I would have to spend $15k+ and wipe out my savings. I would also be taking the risk that the classes I would be taking would be useless once I got my first job.
Which one would you pick?
Obviously I picked the first option.
I went straight to industry and never looked back. To me the second option felt like a scam. Why would I ever pay $15,000+ to learn skills that aren’t going to help me?
There is a time to get a Master’s though. Let’s talk about it.
When You Should Bother Getting A Master’s Degree
There are 2 situations that would make me think about getting a Master’s degree.
The first situation is if I could attend a top 5 school in the nation. At that point I wouldn’t even be there for the program but to connect with high value people that have connections.
The second situation is after I had at least 5 years of work experience. You should have a solid grasp of things you like and don’t like after 5 years. You’ll be financially stable (I hope) and can pick a degree program that will let you specialize. Five years of experience with a Master’s degree would be rocket fuel for your application.
I’ll Never Go Though
I would choose neither of the above situations. I have a CISSP certification that makes me eligible for future jobs I want. And it only cost me $750 and a few months of studying.
I’ll never bother with wiping out my savings.
Or spend a year learning things I could just learn on my own and apply to industry.
Or learn from people that made a career out of teaching.
Or deal with the despair that is writing a thesis.
That’s why I believe certifications are so powerful. They are cheaper than getting a graduate degree and you know you’ll be learning something practical.
The courses to learn certification material are a fraction of the cost of tuition. You also have to spend 1/3 to 1/2 of the time studying for them too.
These reasons are why a certification holder will beat out a Master’s Graduate every time. A certification holder can move faster and at a fraction of the cost.
Make sure to do your due diligence before you get a Master’s degree if you decide to go for one. Otherwise just knock out a cert and some portfolio projects to get that job you want.
When someone tells you that you have to get your Master’s degree just ask them how useful it was for them. I wonder what they’ll say…
Talk again soon,
Tanuki