Furthermore I would never encourage anyone to do nothing but stay in achedemia for long periods of time. That is unless the job demands it (my wife is a Speach

Furthermore I would never encourage anyone to do nothing but stay in achedemia for long periods of time. That is unless the job demands it (my wife is a Speach Language Pathologist and cannot work until she has a M.S. in SLP period) however I don't have a masters. I was considering getting one eventually in a field like AI or something but I would want to ensure I go to a very respectable school where I am guaranteed to find some awesome research projects to work on. End-of-the-day a Master is for a specialization you want to work on for specific type of jobs. Generally past a B.S. is not required in 99% of the market especially if you are good.