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I am looking for some input on this. I am currently deciding on pursuing a Masters in IS or a Masters in Business. I am someone who will be ascertaining their Bachelors Degree in Information Technology here in the coming months. I am looking to get into a Masters program right away. For anyone that has a Master’s degree or will have one your input is sought after. Any advice would be appreciated or helpful. If it ascertains to a career path choice then I am also interested in that input and what path it would lead me down.

12 Spice ups
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What are your career goals?

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If you want to stay in IT work look for a Master’s in IT or IS. If you want to move up the ranks look at an MBA. If you have aspirations of becoming the CIO/CTO/COO or some other C Level that I don’t know the acronym to go the MBA route for sure. If you decide to stay in IT at a working level look for an IT/IS program that has lots of specialty options or has instructors that are fluent in them. You could do a MSIT with an emphasis in security, or a MSIS with a emphasis in UNIX Systems…the choices are endless!

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I second MBA.

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I neglected to state that I have a MSIT degree with an emphasis in Management and Education. The program I was in recognized that some people would be working in places where C levels don’t exist or are few and far between. I am setup with the best of both worlds, look for one of these programs if you want to go that route. I am currently the Director of IT Operations and still work in the data center on a regular basis and help with regular everyday tickets as needed also.

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Depends on your goals, but an MBA is good for achieving higher ranked positions.

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I have an MSIS and to be blunt, the only place it helped me was in the military for promotions, that’s it. And that’s from having it for 25 years now. If you’re looking for upward mobility into management of any sort, then I’m going to toss my hat into the MBA realm too.

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I don’t have a Masters degree myself, but I know a few people who got their Masters right after finishing their BS degree. All of them said that they wish they had waited until they had some experience first. They had a very hard time finding a job because nobody wanted to pay a Master’s degree salary with no experience. My advise would be to at least get an entry level IT job while you’re working on the Masters degree, so you at least have some experience.

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This is very good advice. I have a Masters in Computer Information Systems. I decided to go with that instead of an MBA because I wanted to have something more technical to balance out my business-focused undergrad (accounting). With the IT undergrad, I would recommend going the MBA.

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If you want to work in management, go for the MBA. If you want to stay in IT and do technical work, it might make more sense to get technical certifications rather than a masters degree, at least to start. You could always go back for the masters later. Lots of IT jobs ask for certifications.

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As others have said go for the MBA if your career goals involve management. I don’t think there is much value in a Master’s for technical IT positions. I think your time and money would be better spent on getting experience and certifications after the bachelor’s degree.

The very few places I have seen requiring a Master’s degree for technical positions are not places I would recommend working at. The pay wasn’t any better than other places and they had high turnover. This tells me they don’t know what they’re doing and the Master’s requirement was probably thrown in by someone in HR or upper management who is out of touch.

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Thanks for all the info guys. I do have my foot in the door for sure but I am not worried about the masters pay right away I know that will come. I will look into this more and it seems the MBA route is the best option due to choices of careers and using certs as my measuring stick for my specialty. Thanks for all the help. I am looking to get into management as I have been a manager in past jobs and know how the territories work I’ll just have to learn the different styles and nuances of each.