Where would a masters degree in CS help for someone with 20+ years of software experience? Genuinely - I have no clue.
I don’t have a masters. I’ll likely never need one. If there was a specific field that required intense learning and was cutting edge (computer vision or something) then I’d understand a masters (or especially a PhD) but for general work…? Don’t get it.
You’d certainly be better off financially from doing more leetcode or system design prep instead.
Unless it's for something specialized (CV, machine learning, etc.) then an advanced degree doesn't seem likely to help, career-wise. For personal growth, sure. But it probably won't open much up or affect your pay.
I've done almost all of my learning either on the job, or through extracurricular reading (e.g., lots of conference proceedings, and textbooks on interesting subjects). If you read just one paper a week, that's 500 papers in a decade, and you'll have a good grounding in large swathes of CS (or at least you'll know where to go for ideas on hard problems). Two papers a week and you will be wise beyond human measure.
I dropped out of college 40 years ago and the lack of a degree has never been a problem. It's getting that first job that's probably the biggest hurdle; after 4-5 years, few companies will care. And if they care, you may not want to work there.
The problem is most Masters programs don’t give you much expertise. Ever tried depending on someone’s skill in a topic they have a Masters in? Real crapshoot.
To who though? A lot of people won’t care if your masters is in education if you’re gonna work in most fintech.
I think it pigeonholes you further if you go down this route. If you want that then go for it but I’ve seen many wasted masters and PhDs in Silicon Valley. Many.
I did my MS in CS roughly twenty years after my BS. I can’t prove causality, but my pay went up about 25% with my first job after graduating, and it’s only gone up since. I found that the coursework re-kindled an abiding interest in the “science” in “computer science”, which may not always have direct application in my day job (Sr. SDE at Amazon; opinions my own, etc.), but is gratifying nonetheless.
I mean - were you working at companies like Amazon before..? That's gonna influence it a lot more heavily than anything else. You can certainly get a job at FAANG without having a Master's degree.
I was not. My coursework did require me to understand things like algorithms and Big-O notation much better than I had as an undergrad, so I think I was better prepared for Amazon's interview. I also think the degree made me more attractive to ThoughtWorks, which was my first job after graduating with my MS, and the experience I got working there helped prepare me for (eventual) success at Amazon. Again, I don't consider any of this causal; it's just how it happened to work out for me.
I've seen requirements for a master's in CS or related disciplines on job descriptions for technical leadership roles, mostly at larger, older, more conservative organisations.
My work experience gets me roles as director of eng, vp eng or CTO at most startups, but for the national rail company here in Canada, I have a hard time getting considered for any jobs.
For two cents, I’ve been in leadership roles (VP, or VP-equiv) at three big/huge companies now (Oracle, Amazon, Microsoft) and I don’t even have a Bachelors degree. This is somewhat unusual but not a one-off by far.
Job descriptions often say “or equivalent experience” (meaning professional experience) and in probably 1-2 cases during my career, a requirement to have a degree with no “or” clause included still hasn’t been a huge issue.
Impressed with all the research you did here and and your being intentional about objectives and how to get there, good luck!
My experience is identical. I’ve worked for people with no degree, and, outside of my friend group, I have no idea of the formal credentials of most of my peers.
I’ve hired folks at all levels. Degrees are one data point among many when I decide to interview a candidate, rarely discussed when making a hiring decision, and _never_ a factor when making a promotion decision.
If considering formal education to unlock promotion, I would strongly suggest speaking with one or two people with recent, direct experience in the promotion process at your institution. Get familiar with the functional reality of the process (it’s usually more subjective than advertised), ask how credentials are used (they usually aren’t), then go from there.
I will say that I have required education as evidence of commitment when considering applicants who were looking to change careers (that is, I see you have had success in your current role, but go get a cert to demonstrate basic aptitude and show me you are serious about doing this). This was only relevant for the most junior, entry level positions.
As an aside, I’m currently pursuing a teaching credential through WGU, but I have zero expectation that it will provide additional income (quite the reverse!) Rather, I’m pursuing the credential as a forcing function to engage with topics outside of my professional experience, and to provide access to opportunities that are actually formally, legally gated by credentials (teaching in public school in California).
I recently gave up trying to get a masters (because I couldn't get admission to any program), but I wanted to get one because I wanted to work in research and development. Work on kind of out-there problems. To get hired to do something like that... to even get past the HR screening... you need at least a masters degree pretty much anywhere.
If you don't have a goal like that, and you already have that level of experience, I agree it's dubious what a masters would do for you.
In your case only if there's a topic you'd like to spend your time researching and writing a thesis on. Doesn't have to be cutting edge though, there's plenty of value in iterative improvements.
Take it this way: two candidates for the same position. Both have +20 years of experience. Both pass the coding interview just fine. All things being equal, the only difference is that one candidate has a bachelor and masters degree in computer science but the other doesn't. I know who I would choose.
If you decide to go part time / start teaching at the local community college, then the accreditation agencies are starting to require a Masters to teach undergraduate courses. Experience doesn't seem to matter.
I don’t have a masters. I’ll likely never need one. If there was a specific field that required intense learning and was cutting edge (computer vision or something) then I’d understand a masters (or especially a PhD) but for general work…? Don’t get it.
You’d certainly be better off financially from doing more leetcode or system design prep instead.