A Masters degree can mean concentration and specific skills. It's not the only way to obtain that, but it certainly pays off. It's not really the degree itself,

A Masters degree can mean concentration and specific skills. It's not the only way to obtain that, but it certainly pays off. It's not really the degree itself, it's specialization. I'd also suggest specializing in something technical (what is that you're passionate about?) rather than generic "software engineering" (i.e., UML diagrams) or management (what are you going to manager). These sorts of "professional" engineering masters degrees mean more if you've already been in the industry (much like an MBA) and want to move to people or project management. You can also work in the industry for a few years and then go for a masters. That has the advantage of showing you what you'd want to focus on and letting you take risks with your career prior to a masters (additional degree lets you reset a career). The disadvantage is that going back (especially if you are happy with your career) is hard. It's also easy to build up an industry arrogance (I found it in myself) and gloss over lectures when the way things are done in industry is different -- only to realize in a few years (when someone else builds a real-world system on an "academic" concept) that someone in academia had an answer to a problem you're only realized you're having now 30 years ago, but you dismissed as theoretical and impractical. You can also do what I did: work full time and do your masters. Just be prepared to have a limited social life and less sleep for the next 3 years (you won't be able to take a full time academic load at all times while working). Not only does this mean you don't have to go into debt (and/or voluntary poverty) to get through graduate school, in many cases your employer can pay for part of this (although this limits you to companies big enough to provide tuition reimbursement).