I’ve heard people saying they got offers from top companies (like FB/Microsoft/Google/Amazon) with simply BS’s from schools without much name recognition.
I’ve also heard many Silicon-Valley start-ups hiring high school graduates or accountants or even history teachers who are “good-enough”–no need for even a BS in CS. In that regard, software industry is really a field with low barrier to entry and of course open to out-sourcing–anybody with normal IQ can just pick up a book or go to Codecademy and get enough practice and be ‘good at it’ (I wonder why I haven’t seen programming taught at many trade schools).
That makes me wonder…in an ever-evolving field with ever-increasing competitiveness, I would assume getting a master’s degree would really help–but I can’t imagine how disappointed I might be when I eventually get that coding job that’s given to fellow BS’s or even high school grads, with the same amount of paychecks for us all–except for me, I would also have over $60K of grad school debt to pay off…
Forgive me if my concerns sound really naive–truth is I’m still a brand-new CS major.
Get your job with a BS, then have your company fund your MS.
The companies want experience and if you plan to move up in the company, you need that experience either in an internship during your BS or after graduation. Then you get the MS.
I’m gonna go off topic here for a while since you brought this up:
People throw around the idea of “getting your company to pay for your MS” like it’s no big deal.
But how hard/feasible actually is it? (I know it probably depends on your company) Like do you need to have established yourself as an absolutely indispensable core of the company before you could claim that privilege?
A lot of companies have tuition reimbursement program as part of the benefits package.
I don’t really hear about accountants and school teachers being hired as software engineers. As a matter of fact, there is someone posting recently who has an undergrad degree, is self taught and has built some apps and things, but cannot get hired in any entry level CS job or get foot in the door, so is looking at a 2nd undergrad or MS. I’m just curious how you hear of these things.I do know startups need support staff and people with social science degrees are sometimes part of marketing or business analytics teams. Usually you need the credential or the work experience equivalent, not neither.
But since you are getting a CS undergrad degree I don’t see that really matters to you, you won’t have to defend or prove your basic credentials. You don’t need a MS for a job. I wouldn’t say ‘it can really help’ but if you do have a MS in a target area, you would open the door to a lot of interest and high paying jobs. However, you might also have a lot of jobs available to you as a BA with 2 or 3 yrs experience.
I just check your posts and looks like you are a freshman, I should have looked before long answer, so I advise you not to think too much about this right now, as you get some skills and experience you will have better perspective to decide. If you get a tech internship you can strike up conversations with engineers and your managers about the usefulness and you will observe what skills that people have that are desirable in the workplace.
I don’t know if you are international, but the job search is going to be tougher for an international student.
My dd is a software engineer, who happens to have an EE background. She also has a security clearance which means she can work on a lot of things. Her company will be paying for her MS in CS because they want her to stay with the company but they also want her to move up.
Where do you hear this from? I worked for 4 start-ups in Silicon Valley and saw only ONE such case. This person had a degree in anthropology, but she was a top-notch programmer and happened to be a company founder’s sister (this founder had left the company before his sister was hired).
In my experience, start-ups are even more selective in hiring people because, compared to an established company, each worker makes a greater impact on the success or failure of a start-up. Not only they need technical skills (there’s no time to train anyone), they also need innovation and dedication. To them, a particular degree or the prestige of the school is less important, but they hire only people that they know can deliver under demanding conditions of a start-up. Most of the people they hire are through connections.
No, you don’t need an MS degree to find a decent job. Companies, big and small, hire people with BS, MS, and PhD.