Everything below is my own personal opinion and doesn't represent Google, etc. Hard to say, since I don't have one. It probably helps if you want to join a re

Everything below is my own personal opinion and doesn't represent Google, etc. Hard to say, since I don't have one. It probably helps if you want to join a researchy team at Google, but if you just want to be a SWE then I doubt it makes much difference (though I can't speak for HR of course). In terms of maintaining a job, that's all about what you do at the job...once you're in, your degree probably doesn't matter at all.