Unless you are wanting to get into compiler development, get certain government positions or work in specific scientific fields of development 5-8 years of expe

Unless you are wanting to get into compiler development, get certain government positions or work in specific scientific fields of development 5-8 years of experience is worth more than the MSCS. Unless someone has < 3 years of experience in the field I basically ignore the education section on their resume. I will look for relevant certifications, and any job/technical related training, but experience is worth so much more than a degree in my book. As for getting recognition for your skills, you'd be better of doing any of the following: 1. contribute to open source projects 2. start a blog, write guest posts 3. contributing to conferences as a speaker. 4. publish white papers on work you have done/been a part of (with permission of course) If you just want it for personal development though, go for it, I can't think of any reason it would hurt anyone.