<p>I'd only be doing it for financial gains and better job opportunities. However I've heard that many companies are becoming skeptical as to whether cs masters are better hires than cs bachelors. However this probably only applies to people who didn't get a bachelors in cs in the first place. If I do get a bachelors in cs are the benefits of a masters worth staying in school and delaying industry experience? This would be important for me so I can decide whether to focus on co-op/internships or research in undergrad.</p>
<p>It’s typically not if you are graduating with a BS in CS. Industry experience will be much more valuable right out of school. Perhaps later down the road it may make sense to go for a masters (higher pay, employment opportunities, PhD test run, etc…) if you find yourself being limited.</p>
<p>I think a better route would be to get a BS CS and then work for a few years and then pursue an MBA so you can go into management for software firms.</p>
<p>You won’t be paid more because you have a piece of paper that says Master of Computer Science. If you actually learn something of practical value in the Masters program, that should at least give you an edge over other job candidates, and possibly more money.</p>
<p>Unless you plan to do research and get a PhD, then I personally do not see the need of a MSCS. My reasoning is based on:</p>
<p>1) A typical MSCS degree program will be 10-12 courses and NO CS focus area is that many courses.</p>
<p>2) Many MSCS programs will require you to take graduate-level courses in the SAME core areas of the BS program. If one happens to start a MSCS program after a few years of real-work experience, a graduate-level “Data Structures” course probably will not teach you anything more that you have already seen (and done) in industry.</p>
<p>I would opt for a M.S. in Systems Engineering or even Engineering Management where either program will still allow 3 or 4 courses in a CS focus area while giving you the project management and “total engineering process” training that may come in handy in more senior positions.</p>
<p>Would it be beneficial pursuing a MS in another area after obtaining the BSCS and if so, which would be the best choices?</p>
<p>At my company, software engineer openings are usually advertised as “BS required, MS preferred”. I think this is true for most of the selective tech companies.</p>
<p>@GLOBALTRAVELER: Most graduate CS programs don’t offer a graduate-level data structures courses, and most MS programs don’t have many required “core” courses (I only have 3). Instead, you gain depth in subjects like machine learning, computer vision, parallel computing, distributed computing, crypto, and so on. In other words, subjects that are only lightly introduced in undergrad courses.</p>
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<p>And…</p>
<p>If I was a working software engineer (which I am) and went for a master’s degree, I would NOT go for a full MSCS, I would just take the advanced courses in machine learning, computer vision, parallel computing, distributed computing, crypto, and so on while wrapping all of those in a Systems Engineering/Engineering Management type of degree.</p>
<p>While it is true that many senior software positions will ask for a M.S. degree, they do not specifically ask for a MSCS. Most employers will just ask for an M.S. I did the B.S. Math/M.S. Systems Engineering route. Since my primary expertise is databases, I took a little 3-course/9-credit group of database/data-mining courses and the rest of the systems engineering degree which included project management and quality management courses which come in handy for senior team-lead positions.</p>
<p>I just do not think one needs 10 CS graduate courses.</p>
<p>I have to agree. Typically, industry experience > type of degree in C.S.</p>
<p>@GLOBALTRAVELER: It’s not just the more senior software positions that ask for MS degrees – I’m talking about entry level positions. </p>
<p>Of course, it all really depends on where you work. At my current company, Systems Engineers are expected to have EE backgrounds and the Software and Systems groups are pretty much orthogonal. So it wouldn’t really do a software engineer as much good to take a bunch of systems engineering courses.</p>
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You usually do get paid more for having a masters.</p>
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<p>Please wait until you graduate and spend some time in the workforce before you make a statement like that.</p>
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Let me clarify. The initial base pay is usually higher for masters students. After that, who knows.</p>
<p>The norm is that a bachelors will suffice and this depends on where you work, but what you actually know is more important than your degree. Hell, there are tons of engineers working without a degree in anything. </p>
<p>You have to factor in the tuition getting your masters for 1-2 years as well as not being able to work for that amount of time and since that figure is rather large, don’t get your masters in CS unless you sincerely want to specialize in something further like AI</p>
<p>Interesting discussion on the merits of an MS in CS. Son#2 will be able to earn his undergrad in a total of 3 years and his academic advisor suggested he do an accelerated MS. For CS majors that qualify they can substitute some graduate level courses for 4xxx courses and earn the MS in one year. So, theoretically he could graduate with a masters in four years. While the one year of extra income for leaving with an undergrad is significant I’m thinking that an extra year of maturity (and college fun) may be worth it. Of course, if he doesn’t wind up liking research he’s not going to go for it.</p>
<p>The only problem is that I don’t actually want to do research. I’d rather go for internship/co-op. If I just go for the Bachelor’s and later(as in years into career) find that would need a master’s, can I do that w/o any research?</p>
<p>There are lots of Masters programs in CS & Engineering that don’t require a thesis. In fact, that may be the norm.</p>
<p>So if they don’t require a thesis they won’t require research?</p>