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A master's degree will not materially improve your employment prospects but will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. You should devote approxima

A master's degree will not materially improve your employment prospects but will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. You should devote approximately one week to reading about how to interview better and practicing and then get as many interviews as you can at companies which are large enough to offer a competitive benefits suite. If I were in your situation I'd optimize for brand-name ones first, since the last name on your resume dominates people's impression of it. ("Worked for ten years at university IT departments and small software companies then Yelp" rounds to "ex-Yelp employee" according to basically every recruiter I've ever spoken to, and there are a lot of companies which round to Yelp.) Even if one thought that one was below the supposed bar for large companies, they're sufficiently imprecise regarding interviewing that you have at least a 20% chance of an offer given ability to get onto a phone screen and pass the local version of FizzBuzz. Make it your mission to get failed out of their interview loop twenty times; it's virtually impossible. P.S. One does not have to change one's personality to present differently for twenty minutes on a phone call if one believes that one's perceived personality is causing the phone rejections.

taurath 8y ago
1 week isn’t enough for big companies. The person is 10 years out of college - 1-2 months would work a lot better.
amazonavocado 8y ago
>A master's degree will not materially improve your employment prospects but will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. I don't like "don't do it" advice without any compelling reasons. It is better for me to try and fail than to regret not having tried it. I am going to seek people who will support my desired path. What if I wanted to work at NASA or Intel? Getting an internship from one of these companies is hard enough. But not impossible, and worthwhile building valuable connections from your internship for referrals to a full-time job. But going to work there with no formal CS background, no inside referrals, with a non-STEM degree, with tenuous experience is much, much harder. So there is my argument for wanting a higher education. At least I stated my argument.
- csa 8y ago
  > I don't like "don't do it" advice without any compelling reasons. The compelling reasons 'patio11 offered were that it will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. If you don't find those compelling, then that's your prerogative. The whole NASA or Intel thing... I think you hit the nail on the head with "building valuable connections". I think you need to do this regardless of where you want to work. If you decide you want to work at one of these places or some place like it, make sure that you understand what is and is not required for the job. A certain degree may be required (explicitly), there may be age expectations (most likely illegal, but it happens), and/or there may be soft skills that you may not have yet and may never acquire (a very real requirement to get hired that is often overlooked by many people looking for specific jobs). FWIW, 'patio11 has some high quality experience with the engineering hiring market and has written some seminal texts about it. Rather than blithely reject his advice (as you seem to do here), I humbly suggest that you engage with him in a more constructive way, perhaps by engaging with questions (e.g., about his thought process, about specific details on career direction that you failed to mention in your original post, etc.). Also note, as a general rule, people with highly-informed and high-quality advice typically aren't looking for an argument, a debate, or (worse) a moving target of discussion -- you seem to have taken your reply one or more of these directions. The way you engage with people matters, and I wonder if this is a limiting factor of your career development. Regardless, best of luck in your search. I hope you keep us updated with your status.
  - ccajas 8y ago
    >The compelling reasons 'patio11 offered were that it will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. Your return on investment on a Masters CS degree will come over time. For example, once you finish the degree, you should be in a better negotiating position in your current company when discussing promotions as you have demonstrated a willingness to follow through with personal development in service of the company. If you lose your current job, having a CS degree is great future risk mitigation. While a portfolio and experience sounds good enough, you'd have to jump more hoops through HR without a CS degree. But once you have it you could get a job almost anywhere you want. >FWIW, 'patio11 has some high quality experience with the engineering hiring market and has written some seminal texts about it. This is important to know. However, I think it would be better of patio11 to open his comment by stating a short summary of this experience in order to lend more credence to his suggestions. >there may be soft skills that you may not have yet and may never acquire I'm curious about this. Especially on the "may never acquire" part. You mean that there are some soft skills that some people would never attain? That's interesting to me and I'd like to know why.

taurath 8y ago

1 week isn’t enough for big companies. The person is 10 years out of college - 1-2 months would work a lot better.

amazonavocado 8y ago

>A master's degree will not materially improve your employment prospects but will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. I don't like "don't do it" advice without any compelling reasons. It is better for me to try and fail than to regret not having tried it. I am going to seek people who will support my desired path. What if I wanted to work at NASA or Intel? Getting an internship from one of these companies is hard enough. But not impossible, and worthwhile building valuable connections from your internship for referrals to a full-time job. But going to work there with no formal CS background, no inside referrals, with a non-STEM degree, with tenuous experience is much, much harder. So there is my argument for wanting a higher education. At least I stated my argument.

csa 8y ago
> I don't like "don't do it" advice without any compelling reasons. The compelling reasons 'patio11 offered were that it will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. If you don't find those compelling, then that's your prerogative. The whole NASA or Intel thing... I think you hit the nail on the head with "building valuable connections". I think you need to do this regardless of where you want to work. If you decide you want to work at one of these places or some place like it, make sure that you understand what is and is not required for the job. A certain degree may be required (explicitly), there may be age expectations (most likely illegal, but it happens), and/or there may be soft skills that you may not have yet and may never acquire (a very real requirement to get hired that is often overlooked by many people looking for specific jobs). FWIW, 'patio11 has some high quality experience with the engineering hiring market and has written some seminal texts about it. Rather than blithely reject his advice (as you seem to do here), I humbly suggest that you engage with him in a more constructive way, perhaps by engaging with questions (e.g., about his thought process, about specific details on career direction that you failed to mention in your original post, etc.). Also note, as a general rule, people with highly-informed and high-quality advice typically aren't looking for an argument, a debate, or (worse) a moving target of discussion -- you seem to have taken your reply one or more of these directions. The way you engage with people matters, and I wonder if this is a limiting factor of your career development. Regardless, best of luck in your search. I hope you keep us updated with your status.
- ccajas 8y ago
  >The compelling reasons 'patio11 offered were that it will cost a lot of money and years of opportunity cost. Your return on investment on a Masters CS degree will come over time. For example, once you finish the degree, you should be in a better negotiating position in your current company when discussing promotions as you have demonstrated a willingness to follow through with personal development in service of the company. If you lose your current job, having a CS degree is great future risk mitigation. While a portfolio and experience sounds good enough, you'd have to jump more hoops through HR without a CS degree. But once you have it you could get a job almost anywhere you want. >FWIW, 'patio11 has some high quality experience with the engineering hiring market and has written some seminal texts about it. This is important to know. However, I think it would be better of patio11 to open his comment by stating a short summary of this experience in order to lend more credence to his suggestions. >there may be soft skills that you may not have yet and may never acquire I'm curious about this. Especially on the "may never acquire" part. You mean that there are some soft skills that some people would never attain? That's interesting to me and I'd like to know why.