<p>Which is better?</p>
<p>To avoid parsing confusion, the subject should have been called something like this:</p>
<p>"(BS + Experience) or (MS + no experience)"</p>
<p>Anyway, this depends on the job. Some employers don’t care if you have a master’s. I should give BS + Experience a little more weight.</p>
<p>Which is better? For you or for an employer?</p>
<p>For you: BS and then get a job is somewhat the better way to go. Getting an employer to pay (at least partially) for your MS goes a long way to getting your financial picture straightened out.</p>
<p>For an employer: My company used to figure that a master’s degree was worth about 1.5 to 2 years experience and make a job offer as such. But then you weren’t earning money for the 1.5 to 2 years to complete your masters and so ended up with the same salary (ie. rate) but less money in your pocket.</p>
<p>You do start to specialize with some MS programs as you write a thesis on a particular topic. Good if you want to do that specialty. Company would pay for all your tuition and books but not living expenses for classes in your field. A $5K bonus went with the completion of an MS in the form of company stock (which could not be cashed for a year and was forfeited if you left before that year was up).</p>
<p>Bottom line: IMHO -> BS plus experience then MS</p>