masters in philosophy, good for private sector?

<p>Just wondering if this was actually true. Would a company value some one who had the skills necessary to do a masters in philosophy?</p>

<p>I found this on a university website. </p>

<p>"In the private sector, employers are often looking for people with excellent writing, reasoning, problem solving, and communication skills. Students with undergraduate degrees often excel at these jobs; students with Masters degrees can do even better. "</p>

<p>Currently I am in IT... but not sure if it would be useful in the private sector at all... I am guessing an MBA would be the best bet, but what if you never want to manage or pay l the huge B-school debt. Is it good for something like project managers, technical writers, etc?</p>

<p>I have been fiddling with the idea for awhile, but my research in teaching prospects is dim. And I am pretty pertinent about where I will live, flexible to live in several cities, and salary. </p>

<p>Would it be a useful pursuit at all?</p>

<p>I figure I could always make a little more on the side teaching at a CC along side my normal 9-5 plus it is personally fulfilling and would never have after thoughts of not trying.</p>

<p>Also the links here: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/philosophy/WhyStudy.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/philosophy/WhyStudy.html&lt;/a>
(Case for a Career)</p>

<p>Also after the terminal masters, would it be possible to continue into a PhD in another subject such as Economics, Political Science or Public Policy? Looking at think tank/research jobs here… mostly DC/NYC? Not sure how they would look on that.
I know law is an option, but wouldn’t want to practice.</p>

<p>Possibly, but the topics would have to be connected somehow.</p>

<p>Think thank/research jobs in DC/NYC involving poli sci/public policy usually want poli sci/public policy graduates, and in this economy, they’ll be fighting tooth and nail for those positions. You could (with the right twist on a philosophy degree) do something with peace promotion/ethics/nonviolent conflict or something like that, though.</p>

<p>thanks for the posts, I am weighing out my options and will have to make a decision in next few months for fall 2010 programs.
what is the long term projections for the dc/nyc jobs kigali? Sounds like not too good. :I
blah maybe I should just stick with IT and write philosophy on the side :I</p>

<p>Well, the jobs are there, but there are also a lot of people who want them… a lot of whom have relevant advanced degrees and work experience in these areas. I’d imagine it would be much more difficult for someone with a philosophy degree to get one, though I’m not ruling out the possibility by any means. Keep in mind that you would probably be able to make more as an IT specialist, and I don’t think there’d be anything keeping you from working for an organization (government, non-profit, etc) whose work you’re interested in, but as an IT specialist, so you’d essentially get exposure to your fields of interest while sticking to your primary specialization. Everybody needs good IT specialists :)</p>

<p>A company is not going to want o pay more for an applicant with an irrelevant degree. In the sciences, when Phds get desperate or just want a tech job, they are often forced to leave the Phd off of their resume.</p>

<p>However, I imagine a bachelors in philosophy is also not very marketable so who knows.</p>