Ask HN: Should I get a master's degree or a job?

You have a lot of time to decide, so why not apply to both jobs and graduate programs.

If you can't get a job upon graduation, then go to grad school. But know that graduate degrees (in computer-related fields) offer a poor ROI. You should probably only pursue one if there is specific research that really interests you and you don't mind being in debt for a while.

Get a job. You'll actually learn more working than you will at grad school. The Harvards and Whartons of the world want applicants with industry experience anyway, so worst case scenario you go back and get a masters in 3-5 years.

I was in the same situation 3 years ago.

In short, I'm happy I chose a job. Granted, I was lucky to get one that is doing work I consider meaningful. But having that job has made it much more clear to me what I'd like to do in the future. The MS I'd apply to now is dramatically different than the one I'd have applied to before having the experience. Which is a good thing I think.

I say get a job at a startup if you want to be eventually your own founder. There are a ton of really interesting startups hiring technical folks so you would have choice. I feel that rushing into a grad degree isn't necessarily going to benefit you and you'd be saddled with extra debt. You can always go back for a Masters anytime, and the work experience would serve you well. Good luck!!

Either's good experience, just different experience. I know a number of people who did both at once.

I don't want to date myself (and so I won't ;) but I too was contemplating the same thing when I graduated (after getting a bachelor's in Computer Eng). In hindsight, passing on getting an MS in CmpE (or CS) was absolutely the right thing to do - nothing beats on the job experience.

However an MBA is a different story. Getting an MBA at a good school can be extremely expensive and only you can decide if the opportunity cost is worth it. I have several friends who wanted to switch careers after spending a few years in technology and used an MBA to make that leap. But even they will tell you today that you don't need to spend 2 years and $150K to make that happen.

Hope that helps.

Thanks a lot for the input guys. I'll probably take a job if I can find a position that I'm really passionate about. If that fails, then I'll do graduate work in an area that I'm passionate about. I think things will work out either way.

I went for a master's degree (actually two) and don't regret a day or dollar spent. The upper division CS courses are wonderful for a mathematical mind. It brought together everything learned in undergraduate CS and Math courses into practical, real world, mathematical applications such as machine learning, natural language processing, data mining and others.

Today I'm a software engineer at a company that requires MS degrees for all their developers and it's a good environment - although I'm still looking for a place where I can leverage both my master's degrees.