One angle on that: American programmers may not do master's degrees as much, for less need. You can usually get hired in industry without a master's, if you ca

One angle on that: American programmers may not do master's degrees as much, for less need. You can usually get hired in industry without a master's, if you can speak well and demonstrate your experience and portfolio enough. I'm American, with only a bachelor's in CS, but I've never felt like a master's is needed for anything in industry, only academia. A foreign-born programmer without the experience and portfolio would likely feel more need for a master's degree to demonstrate qualifications.