I recall reading a study showing that a master's degree hurt total lifetime earnings rather than helping them. Having a few years paying large sums for a boost

I recall reading a study showing that a master's degree hurt total lifetime earnings rather than helping them. Having a few years paying large sums for a boost in initial pay was not worthwhile because experience eventually put the two at parity. This is all from memory though. I do not have a link to reference. However, it does make sense given that the capabilities of people with bachelor's degrees and master's degrees become equal at some point, assuming all other things are equal. I do not think a master's degree is a ticket to a lifetime of greater competence in CS and salaries ought to reflect that. The same could be said for PhDs too given the quality of work that we saw come out of places like Sun. There are plenty of CS people that I believe have only bachelor degrees that are not in any way inferior to holders of PhDs and in some ways, are more capable because their solutions are demonstrated to work in the field. I imagine some of them will receive honorary PhDs for their work. This is not relevant to someone without a bachelor in CS though. I will post my opinion on that separately.