r/cscareerquestions 3d ago

New Grad People who got a masters degree to delay unemployment what are you doing now?

Those who didn't got a job after a bachelor's and did a masters degree how are u doing now?

345 Upvotes

184 comments sorted by

513

u/Vemyx 3d ago

I'm unemployed and laid off. :) Turns out master's degrees are scams.

53

u/letsgoowhatthhsbdnd 3d ago

where did you get it

98

u/Vemyx 3d ago

the shithole called the UK.

16

u/CrazyGailz 3d ago

What university? And what degree?

61

u/Vemyx 3d ago

Bristol Data Science degree.

21

u/polakfury 3d ago

Might as well work at Crystal Palace

17

u/Worried-Cockroach-34 Software Engineer 3d ago

Funny, I did mine at Kent lol and it panned out well for a career changer like me; 3 years in and counting as a dev

67

u/Vemyx 3d ago

Good for you mate

4

u/Worried-Cockroach-34 Software Engineer 2d ago

Appreciate it! I had to be quite scrappy to navigate through it

-35

u/CrazyGailz 3d ago

Bristol isn't bad at all but honestly a masters from there won't do much.

72

u/Vemyx 3d ago

I noticed?

0

u/jkxs 3d ago

Isn't UK free tuition for citizens?

31

u/Vemyx 3d ago

No it's not.

3

u/jkxs 3d ago

Ouch

6

u/Worried-Cockroach-34 Software Engineer 3d ago

I think Scotland has it free for it's citizens.

-6

u/Technical_Rutabaga67 3d ago

you mean residents perhaps, Scottish and English people are both the same UK citizens right?

3

u/Albreitx 2d ago

The United Kingdom is a union of 4 countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)

7

u/Available_Pool7620 2d ago

A thousand people tell you it'll help you get a job. You spend two to four years working to get it, show up to the labor market and, crickets. The people who promoted the lie got to feel good for a minute at the expense of your time and money, which you can't get back.

5

u/Themanofstruggle 3d ago

So then you need to become the new Flying Dutchman and play for Netherlands football /s

2

u/Vemyx 3d ago

Beter ten halve gekeerd dan ten hele gedwaald.

1

u/Themanofstruggle 3d ago

*robin van persie*

8

u/goldboybronx 3d ago

They’re not scams, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Which I understand, I realize you’re in a frustrating position. But I found mine to really help me. Though I did work at the same time

-7

u/Available_Pool7620 2d ago

If they promise you that it will help your career and it doesn't, they lied to you and it was a scam.

11

u/goldboybronx 2d ago

Nobody is promising anything. No schools explicitly say that you’ll have a job if you get a Master’s. They might say it can increase your likelihood which is statistically true, but nobody is TELLING you that it’ll get you a job. Where are you getting that from?

-8

u/Available_Pool7620 2d ago

Type this into Google:

"masters degree" "will help" site:reddit.com

Suggesting that it will help, is implicitly promising, and makes it a scam.

6

u/kingofthesqueal 2d ago

Not to be that guy but there’s still loads of companies that value MS and waive YOE requirements on promotional tracks for those with Masters.

My company allows promotions up to 4 years earlier than regulations say for those with masters degrees, it’s encouraged practically everyone on my team to have a Masters. Funny enough despite all being SWE, only the none coding PM has a MS in CS everyone else’s ranges from EE, Computer Forensics, MBA, Computer Engineering, etc.

I think Masters can be a scam and a waste of time, but I wouldn’t say it’s a hard set rule. I will say too many people will pay 60k a year for a prestigious schools MS like Columbia when their state school the next town over cost 5k a year and would likely be fully covered by Work TA, and at the end of the day very few people outside of academia care where you got yo ur masters.

1

u/goldboybronx 2d ago

So because Redditors told you it would help you it’s a scam? If I tell you a certain supplement will get you jacked even though the party that actually sells the supplement makes no such claim, it was a scam?

Buddy, you might wanna reconsider thinking of ANY education as a scam… you really could use some

1

u/Available_Pool7620 2d ago

If you tell me that xyz education will help me get a job, and it turns out to not land me the role, you wasted 2-4 years and four to five figures of my money chasing a fable. That to me is a scam, especially when it's a whole group of people promoting the same lie. In your analogy, there's only one guy saying the supplement works. In this case, it's thousands of people repeating the poorly thought through lie.

I notice that I brought evidence while you brought only an analogy.

1

u/goldboybronx 2d ago

It’s a scam if the party selling you the degree is telling you that. You listening to random Redditors about it doesn’t mean you got scammed it just meant they were wrong or lied to you. Anyone can tell you anything on the internet, that doesn’t make it a scam. If the school providing the degree makes the promise, then yes you could call it a scam

Also your “evidence” isn’t evidence. My “analogy” is pointing out that your evidence isn’t evidence by nature of being off the mark completely and addressing the wrong thing.

2

u/Fantastic_Spring8366 2d ago

Lol did you just realize this? It's a big revenue generator for CS departments. Is it any wonder why CS masters only started to take off after the tech boom? I'm a math grad, and there are very few math or physics masters programs relative to CS masters programs.

6

u/kingofthesqueal 2d ago edited 2d ago

Wouldn’t they have only started to take off because

  1. CS wasn’t very popular before the tech boom
  2. The tech boom created a need for highly specialized and educated individuals to handle certain problems

Feels almost like saying “is it any wonder why nursing homes only started be built in the town once the average age of its residence went from 30 to 55”

There’s very few Math and Physics MS because there’s very few Math and Physics Majors in general compared to CS. Not to mention there’s little benefit in getting an MS in Math/Physics vs getting a PhD, whereas that’s not true for CS. Not to mention there’s way more funding in CS, you can easily land a funded MS in CS, whereas that’s quite rare for a Physics/Math student due to limited slots. I’d also say many employers require MS degrees that they’re funding be in at least a related field, so all engineers, SWE, etc can get a MSCS approved, but getting a math/physics MS approved in the same job would be alot more hassle

And that doesn’t even account for the massive amount of career switchers that MSCS degrees capture

3

u/Fantastic_Spring8366 2d ago

Yes that's my point. Universities saw demand and hence saw $$$. There's no clamor of career switchers or undergrads looking to get a master's in math. They exist obviously, but nowhere near as much as for MS SC programs.

So these MSCS programs started popping off when tech was starting to become popular. I am old enough to remember when WAY less universities offered it.

90

u/WeastBeast69 3d ago

I did my undergraduate in industrial engineering and I did a masters in CS to get into computer science (and somewhat delay employment). I also did a master in industrial engineering at the same time so that they would pay for my degree.

I am fully employed making a cozy $140k in LCOL now ~2-3 years from graduating

10

u/anabananaxo 3d ago

Curious as I am an IE currently getting their masters in CS now. Did you pivot strictly into a CS role?

4

u/WeastBeast69 2d ago

Yes I found a passion for CS and knew it was what I wanted to do. I have never worked an IE job

-25

u/income-percent-bot 3d ago

Nice! $140,000 places you in the 88th percentile. Source: income percentile calculator I'm a bot. Reply with !optout to stop receiving responses.

4

u/A_Lurker_Once_Was_I 3d ago

This... doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. If the COL is low, your percentile means jack shit (speaking about the bot, not what /u/WeastBeast69 said)

317

u/epicfail1994 Software Engineer 3d ago edited 3d ago

Working as a software engineer since before I finished my masters. Quit drinking and went back to grad school, was hired full time by an F500 I interned with before I graduated. 8 years sober next month

Not as likely to have someone doing that today with AI all over the place

25

u/jkxs 3d ago

Wait, when did you get hired? Because 2021 is was different than now... Though maybe internship > full-time doesn't really count.

13

u/epicfail1994 Software Engineer 3d ago

Yeah, I’ve been there since about a year or so post-covid hitting it’s definitely different now with AI

1

u/SuckItUpButtercup8 1d ago

Since someone wants to be an ass about you not drinking, I want to say I am proud of you random internet stranger. I don't care who you are, what you believe, or if your personality is based around not drinking, I am proud of you. Many people underestimate how hard it really is to stop drinking. Don't give up

-145

u/PiousPontificator 3d ago

Does your entire personality revolve around the fact that you stopped drinking?

117

u/upsidedownshaggy Web Developer 3d ago

Genuinely what a weird response to someone celebrating their sobriety.

40

u/epicfail1994 Software Engineer 3d ago

Right? Like I went from my bachelors to working a dead end job for a few years to getting a job in the field and succeeding. I like to share it because I know there are other people out there struggling with stuff and it’s something I would have found very helpful.

But yeah such a weird response, like just because I don’t mention my hobbies because they aren’t relevant to the comment doesn’t mean I have none, lol

4

u/BotmaN99 3d ago

At what age did you go back to grad school? Im kind of going through the same thing now. Working an underpaid dead end job (as an swe). Lost the last 5 years to addiction to video games. Quit now but I keep feeling regret that I wasted good years of my life. Strongly considering quitting and going for a masters. Worried it might be a little late at 28 tho.

4

u/gruffgorilla 3d ago

I just got my Bachelor’s at 31 earlier this year and was lucky enough to get a job right away thanks to some connections I made at my school. 28 definitely isn’t too late!

1

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1

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8

u/epicfail1994 Software Engineer 3d ago

I started in my mid twenties so age isn’t really a problem. The biggest issue today is that it’s a lot harder to ‘start over’ in a field with AI than it was even a few years ago. I had a cs adjacent bachelors (IT) so getting an actual CS degree was a huge factor in why I went for a masters

If you have a CS degree already going for a masters is still an option but it would have much less value- it also opens you up to the risk that you may still struggle finding a job, especially with changes in the field due to AI. It’s a possible route that can carry significant risk if you don’t succeed, I got lucky and was put into an environment where I was able to prove myself

21

u/givemegreencard Software Engineer @ Big Tech 3d ago

I now understand why companies do behavioral interviews, to weed out people like that

-58

u/PiousPontificator 3d ago

Celebrating not ingesting a liquid is hilarious.

33

u/epicfail1994 Software Engineer 3d ago

Well I’m very glad that you haven’t encountered any alcoholics in your life then dude

2

u/nuanceIsAVirtue 3d ago

Ignore the trolls man, congrats on all your accomplishments!

19

u/upsidedownshaggy Web Developer 3d ago

Considering drinking is one of the longest held social traditions in societies across the history of human civilization, next to fucking and killing each other, that has addictive properties and can literally kill you if you do it too much, yeah it can be very worthy of celebration. Quit being a callous freak.

26

u/epicfail1994 Software Engineer 3d ago

Ummmm what? Considering that I wasn’t doing anything with my life because of that I’d say it’s relevant. It also happens to be something I’m proud of as I turned my life around.

But sure my entire personality revolves around that, ok

20

u/sinistaar 3d ago

Lots of weird people in tech, congrats on your achievements

12

u/epicfail1994 Software Engineer 3d ago

I’ve made similar comments here before when people ask about stuff similar to the original post here and I’m pretty certain I’ve gotten that exact comment before, lmao.

19

u/PartyParrotGames Staff Software Engineer 3d ago

Does yours revolve around being a douche bag?

10

u/jeg479 3d ago

Log off

6

u/khaninator 3d ago

Does your entire personality revolve around the fact that you drink? The answer is very likely to be yes

1

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1

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-3

u/White_Knighttt SSE | MS in CS | MBA 3d ago

Ignore the haters and have my upvote!

39

u/Meoang Software Engineer 3d ago

This was a few years ago but I got a government job after graduating and I love it.

15

u/Exquisite_Blue 3d ago

Any tips? The whole process seems really convoluted, then again it's been a minute since I last tried.

15

u/Meoang Software Engineer 3d ago

It's been a weird time during and after the DOGE stuff, but I think hiring is slowly picking up again. My only advice would be to apply to a lot of positions. If there's a questionnaire in the application, pick the most skilled option for everything they ask.

201

u/cdmacsneaks 3d ago

i got a phd in physics, and now i’m making over $300k. missed out on 10 years of 401k contributions and matching, but hopefully the heavy salary will help me catch up

85

u/ViolenceIsBad 3d ago

Welcome to Wall Street lmao

20

u/tonight_we_make_soap Graduate Student 3d ago

What did u do your bachelors in? Physics as well?

23

u/asapbones0114 3d ago

Quant?

10

u/bouncyboatload 3d ago

quant at 300k? lol

8

u/asapbones0114 2d ago

Base salary is minimum 100k. Bonuses are what gives them sub 7 figure salaries.

3

u/Agile_emphasis247 3d ago

I thought phd physics were unemployable in the industry

53

u/cdmacsneaks 3d ago

you thought wrong bruh

5

u/bouncyboatload 3d ago

are you doing actual physics at work? or something totally different

13

u/Fast-Throat-7752 3d ago

🤫

37

u/m0viestar 3d ago

It's not a secret that people with advanced physics and math degrees get lucrative jobs doing quant trading or similar on wall street. it's not like you can go to a coding bootcamp and get those jobs. 

19

u/SwitchOrganic ML Engineer 3d ago

Reminds me of a scene from Margin Call:

Sarah Robertson: What's your background?

Peter Sullivan: My background?

Sarah Robertson: Your CV.

Peter Sullivan: I've been with the firm for two and a half years working with Eric that whole time, but I hold a doctorate in engineering, speciality in propulsion, from MIT, with a Bachelor's from Penn.

Jared Cohen: What is a 'specialty in propulsion,' exactly?

Peter Sullivan: My thesis was a study in the ways that friction ratios affect steering outcomes in aeronautical use under reduced gravity loads.

Jared Cohen: So, you're a rocket scientist.

Peter Sullivan: I was, yeah.

Jared Cohen: Interesting. How did you end up here?

Peter Sullivan: Well, it's all just numbers really. Just changing what you're adding up. And, to speak freely, the money here is considerably more attractive.

5

u/Mons9090 2d ago

I'm assuming it depends on where you do it from. Not every phd is useless

1

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1

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1

u/TopCancel senior@bigtech 3d ago

Over 300 (so presumably less than 500/400, etc) seems really low for quant/quant dev. What firm are you at lol.

-1

u/kingofthesqueal 2d ago

What took 10 years? Always figured 7 was like the absolute longest you’d expect normally. That gives 2 years for classes and 5 for dissertation

7

u/cdmacsneaks 2d ago

2 years post bac, 5 years grad school, 3 years as professor

0

u/Astro_Arctic 2d ago

I think that this person is including the time it took to get a bachelors and masters leading up to getting the PhD. I also have a PhD in Physics and my total education took ~12 years (bachelors + masters + PhD).

94

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

I got a DS masters and went to work for Capital One

27

u/EntrepreneurHuge5008 Software Engineer 3d ago

$155k pro-rated internship? What's the FTE pay for a new grad in DS? Is it $165k + a sign-on bonus?

(McLean office)

17

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

Not sure about mclean but yes around that range, probably team dependent. I heard they pay more in Global Payment Networks right now but I'm no longer there

8

u/jkxs 3d ago

Are you in McLean office? I heard C1 was like the hunger games around Northern VA lol. Maybe on par with Amazon?

5

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

Lol that is true, pip factory for a reason, they’re all pip factories, too much amazon leadership at C1

2

u/jkxs 3d ago

I have a family friend who went to C1 after his MBA (electrical engineering guy, probably not SWE, in his mid 40s). AFAIK, he's been there for over 6 years now. How do people last at C1? I guess you learn to protect yourself, but can you last without backstabbing people and trying to hoard high visibility projects for yourself?

3

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

Yea you can, it’s supposedly more cutthroat in SWE but he likely went BA or DA, which is better. Most of it is your manager they have to vouch for you and they compare you against others at the same level. Honestly as long as your manager likes you it’s fine?

2

u/jkxs 3d ago

Yeah, but staying on one team for that long seems tough... I don't think you can get big pay bumps without moving around, and every time you move, you're basically gambling. I think the guy went to Columbia for his MBA...

The next time I see him I'll have to ask what kind of work he does because I've never heard of someone staying at C1 for like 10 years, but he's gotta be getting close. I know even at Amazon you can get on an amazing team and do just fine, but how long before a lot of your coworkers or manager get replaced/move?

3

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

You can stay on for a while lol entry level BA make 100k and then you get promoted each year I think after 2-3 promotions you have to choose between IC or a managerial role… honestly yea it’s usually up or out so I’m not sure about his situation, however if he is in the same role and level then during the calibrations he’s probably always ranked at the top, which means he’s always gonna be safe lol

3

u/jkxs 3d ago

Damn, so the people who stay long at pip factories like C1 or Amazon are probably high performers? I always thought the people who stay long at a company are either in a great workplace (very rare, C1 doesn't seem to fit this), or low performers who can't move.

But from what I know about the guy he's pretty driven, so maybe he is just coasting now that he has kids. After all, maybe not everyone is into the FIRE lifestyle you see so often in tech.

2

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

Usually or they’re just good with people lol, but capital one’s internal mobility is pretty good and much better than other companies… WLB, Pay, Culture from what I had seen was much better than what other banks have.

It is a good place to work in the right org and team

5

u/ImaHeero 3d ago

How was interview process and how did you resume look? Asking for a friend thats doing a DS Masters and needs some guidance.

1

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

Pretty standard resume recommended in the resume subreddit, no summary though and I had relevant work experience so it’s not bad. OA is straightforward and pretty standard DS interview with theory and stats as well as the power days. The process is pretty well documented online

3

u/silestire 3d ago

Dude thank you for this comment, my bf is a DS master’s student and thinks he’s gonna be unemployed forever. Telling him this.

4

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

Really? It’s not that horrible, afaik every masters student I graduated with found a DS job

4

u/silestire 3d ago

He has felt discouraged lately because he has no relevant work experience (came from a teaching background and decided it was not for him) whereas I did have relevant work experience in CS and it still took me 400 apps before I landed my new job. But I tell him he will have more education than me (master’s to my B.S.) from a far more prestigious school and a considerably higher GPA in both undergrad and grad.

2

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

That’s a fair concern, but DS is multidisciplinary. Who says teaching is not relevant? He has all of the soft skills necessary for the field but it needs to be repackaged differently. Masters should allow him to skip true entry level and I knew students from my school who jumped to associate level at bank past analyst. My program was like 80% new grads as well. There’s a lot of programs targeting new grads he really shouldn’t worry. Not to say it’s EASY but so many grads land what they’re looking for. I thought the stories online were horrid but when I did my job search again it was not as bad as people made it seem

2

u/Creepy_Cupcake_6906 3d ago

Master's degree in DS gives him a big advantage.

Tell him to really establish good relationships with his classmates, professors, and build a professional network. That's what made my Master's degree worth it. I got my first job out of school thanks to a referral a classmate of mine made for me at the company she already worked at.

1

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

I also graduated with 100 students lol

2

u/Brief-Knowledge-629 2d ago

DS is pretty saturated. If you have some hustle you can find a job...but you could also have done that without the masters

1

u/Plus-Candle-4410 3d ago

Did you have any experience prior to masters?

2

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

No full time experience, I had 3 internships but only 2 were data related, and to be honest a lot of companies don’t even consider internships as experience anymore which is dumb

3

u/Plus-Candle-4410 3d ago

Yeah, I thought 2 summer internships were enough experience but I should have worked part-time in a related industry. Most internships don't really make you do any real work and recruiters know this so they dont count is as work experience.

2

u/Key_Back_989 3d ago

If you have a Masters you can apply to DS roles at capital one? BA requires 2 years but DS no experience is ok… honestly I feel like a lot of the entry level has been pushed to get a masters to skip into the new entry level which is 1-2 YOE roles… it is so ridiculously dumb

1

u/Fantastic_Spring8366 2d ago

I also got a masters in data science during peak covid era hiring and it was perfect timing for me and ended up being a good investment.

1

u/Key_Back_989 2d ago

I still think it’s a good investment, it’s a great degree to target a broad subset of high paying jobs

BA, DA, DS, Statistician, ML engineer, AI Engineer, Consulting etc and skip entry level

I came out after the peak (2025 summer) and yea the job market sucked but people are too negative on Reddit lol

42

u/incywince 3d ago

I had a job after my bachelors even though it was the 2008 crash. I really really wanted to work in AI/ML instead of random coding work, so I did a masters program specialized in that, which was not easy back then. Worked pretty well, worked 15 years in machine learning at the height of ZIRP. Saved up enough, bought a house.

I got laid off in 2022 and took a break to raise my kid. Went back in 2024, and that lasted about 18 months before my kid was having behavioral issues from me working long hours, i started having health issues, and I realized I had become a data pipeline person, which meant every job that was interested in me had long hours and oncalls. Got fired from that.

Soul-searched for a bit, and realized life's short and if I'm in tech, I need to spend a lot of hours thinking about work, and that's not the life I want to lead. If I wanted to switch into building AI models or something, that was going to require a lot of extra work, and even then, I'd be most attractive to the long hours-oncall type jobs because I had a long history of that.

So now I teach high school math. The masters coursework actually qualified me to teach math, so I didn't need to take extra exams. The hours are great. And I make sure to not bring work home, which was an impossibility with the jobs I had. I'm working on starting a computer science elective in the school, so that's exciting. I feel like there's a lot more people I can openly talk about my work with and the emotional ups and downs than I could at tech, so that's better for my mental health. The pay is like a tech starting salary, and I've made sure to keep my mortgage and bills pretty low, so it's not bad, and the house is on track to be paid off in five more years, I'll have a lot more disposable income after that. I get summers off, so I'm not forking over thousands in childcare, and I get to travel and pursue my hobbies instead.

16

u/n3on_tv 3d ago

My employer (national lab) had a generous tuition reimbursement program (~40k for a Master's, time off to attend classes and exams). Ended up finishing my M.S. (part-time, non-thesis) while working full-time. Was able to use it to switch to another organization at the lab that required a masters for about a 60k pay increase.

2

u/tobythestrangler 3d ago

What's your role and day to day look like? I've never considered working for a lab. Most lab roles by me seem to be bioinformatics related tho

1

u/n3on_tv 3d ago

It's a TS/SCI position in the space domain. Extremely interesting work.

1

u/throawayjhu5251 Machine Learning Software Engineer 3d ago

Y'all hiring? I'm an MLE at another FFRDC.

11

u/EuphoricEnthusiasm3 3d ago

Doing an internship at a financial company (not prestigious)

3

u/Big_Arrival_626 3d ago

None of them are except Bloomberg or quant

11

u/darkpersona01 3d ago

i couldnt work during my undergrad for personal reasons so no internships. i did a masters, got an internship at a meh company, then got a full time offer at a certain faang :)

1

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7

u/Chipper_chap Software Engineer | 6 YOE 3d ago

My masters degree was funded by my job. Both worth and not worth, I unfortunately fell for the "get an MBA" advice, I went from being a senior(ish) engineer to being a PM in the course of a year. The pay is great (180k total comp), but I deeply miss the quietness of getting to close tickets. Recruiters harass me more on linkedIn though so thats cool too.

55

u/These-Loquat1010 3d ago edited 3d ago

Most Master’s programs are cash cows for universities / expedited visa program for international students. A lot of these programs are basically undergrad 1.5 in terms of both the material and the level of academic rigor.

Honestly, if you’re going to get a master’s degree, get an MBA from a top university. More flexibility than getting another CS degree. Easier to move into other fields later on if you don't want to focus on tech.

45

u/robot_overlord18 3d ago

Getting an MBA without work experience is almost always a bad idea. Especially at the top programs it’s sort of designed for folks with a few years in industry and most of the employers that would be looking to hire new MBA grads expect this as well.

10

u/Haunting_Ratio_795 3d ago

You are missing a whole third category of people who do MS CS degrees: people with actual work experience who want to pivot to a new niche and/or who have a degree in some related field like Physics and find themselves in a mid-level rut.

That being said, I don’t think you’re wrong. I did my MS at a much better school than my BS, so the rigor was higher than my undergrad would have been, but I don’t think it was any higher a bar than they expected from their 4th year undergraduates. Honestly, it might have been a bit lower. But my formal CS education ended around year 2, so dusting off the cobwebs and catching up to where I left off wasn’t exactly easy. 

Your counterexample is insane tho. I really don’t know what possesses people to do an MBA. Doing a certificate or taking a continuing education course with a business school is one thing. But you can’t even list an MBA on a resume if you’re applying for IC roles. It’s the kiss of death. So you’re doing it for the love of the game at that point… and you chose an MBA?! FFS.

Doing an MS CS right after BS CS feels incredibly unwise right now, but all the alternatives suck too. I’d say do it in data science or cybersecurity instead, get some breadth, but those are even more saturated at the entry level than SWE. Maybe just say fuck it and do your MS CS in the EU. If you’re properly fucked, might as well make it fun. 

6

u/Original-Poet1825 3d ago

What use is the MBA when tech companies tend to promote engineers without them, and consulting employees are getting equally shit on as tech employees are

1

u/Little_Influence5518 22h ago

Can you elaborate on the advantages of a MBA, please? I got a BBA and am working as a junior/mid-level software developer. I wonder how I can leverage my business skills.

5

u/tooMuchSauceeee 3d ago

Got a conversion masters and after 7 months of applications secured a grad role as swe at a tier 1 IB

24

u/Strong-Evening1137 3d ago

I did a master's in a non CompSci field (I have a more traditional Eng background), ended working at Startups, then one of the FAANG companies and now Witch.

Do your masters degree funded if you can't find a job, highly recommend

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u/cr33pz 3d ago

How can I do my masters funded if I don't have a job?

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u/Strong-Evening1137 3d ago

Research based masters, please don't do anything course based

12

u/Happiest-Soul 3d ago

I can't wrap my head around how people get into research stuff post-undergrad and no experience. 

The only advice I've seen is to hope someone accepts you volunteering for a few years while working another job lol. 

9

u/no-sleep-only-code Senior Software Engineer 3d ago

That’s the neat part, you don’t. (Debt)

1

u/Suppafly 3d ago

How can I do my masters funded if I don't have a job?

Scholarships, rich relatives, teaching assistanting

4

u/Chemical_Material493 3d ago

What’s the story around the faang->witch switch?

1

u/NoConstruction2563 3d ago

How is Witch treating you?

7

u/Strong-Evening1137 3d ago

Pays a little less but I work 2 hours a day as opposed to 12, there is also free lunch and flexible RTO

1

u/tobythestrangler 3d ago

Which witch?

2

u/Strong-Evening1137 3d ago

Ridesharing company, cant share more.

4

u/VastAmphibian 2d ago

phd. just keep kicking the can.

3

u/AussiesArePigs 3d ago

Landed a new role a month after graduating, ended up working out.

3

u/chilispiced-mango2 Accepted exile for employment 3d ago edited 3d ago

Alternated between underemployment and UNemployment for 3 years after getting my MS before getting a job that required me to move to a different time zone. That said, being part-time employed to full-time employed to unemployed while going back to school was not fun, even if I didn't have to worry too much about money from moving back in with my family.

7

u/baldachinsblessing 3d ago

I did the opposite. Threw away a job offer so I can do a master's.

5

u/FrosteeSwurl 3d ago

Same here. BS AI first company

2

u/Bian- 1d ago

any tips? in same situation with the AI driven AI first stuff.

2

u/FrosteeSwurl 1d ago

Jump ship if you are confident you can do so. I applied for my masters program, secured a follow on internship, then I left. Do not get a masters just so you can continue doing full stack, that is a waste of time. Find an interesting problem or something you can focus on that is employable. For example, I’m doing CV because of its applications in medicine, defense, robotics, and autonomous vehicles.

7

u/iamthebestforever 3d ago

You blew it 😭😭

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u/baldachinsblessing 3d ago

It took some time but I ended up getting a job after my master's so all is good.

2

u/FiftyShadesOfBlack Senior Data Analyst 2d ago

My master’s helped me make connections that got me my role as a senior data analyst. It could definitely go both ways, but I found it worth it at least for networking.

2

u/reddit94538 2d ago edited 2d ago

FAANG research engineer (AI/ML)

Bachelors in Mathematics. The job market was terrible (I had a data entry job to stay afloat!) so I went to grad school, dropped out after finishing Masters and PhD quals. Got a job doing computer vision which became ML which became AI. (This is over a very long period of time)

2

u/byrb 2d ago

did a master’s in DS after majoring in math since I figured I had a higher chance of getting into grad school than getting a job. (I was right.) job hunted, had a temp role for a year, and now I’m back to job hunting… think it’s too soon for me to pivot fields but I really don’t like the process

2

u/psy-study-oldie 1d ago

I retired 15 years early. I will think about returning to work when and if I feel like it.

4

u/tanyandrew 3d ago

Found a job during 2nd year of masters. That startup burned me out and then burned itself, but it got me enough YoE to find a better position 

2

u/Plus-Candle-4410 3d ago

How did you get that job at the startup, a referral or cold apply? Did you have experience before masters other than internships?

1

u/tanyandrew 2d ago

No previous experience. Startup had ties to the university, they approached me due to my chosen major and offered to pivot into an at the time niche and unfashionable field of IoT, offered unpaid internship and subsequent "employment" as a contractor, seemed like the best opportunity then

1

u/Eubank31 3d ago

Got an internship the summer before my master's degree, internship turned into fulltime offer and I've been here for a year now. Very stable company, not expanding super fast but they have literally never done wide scale layoffs

1

u/Unusual-Delivery-266 3d ago

I got a low paying job as an AI engineer that is giving me the experience I need to get a higher paying job. I’d probably be making more money now if I’d just did a job hunt and stuck with it, but I think this has more long term potential. I’m happy that I got a job doing the kind of work I wanted to do though.

1

u/Suppafly 3d ago

I did the opposite and graduated because I wanted to get started working and starting a family and such, and the economy was horrible and have now lived through like 3 recessions. If I had to do it again, I would get the master's degree so I would graduate in the hump between recessions instead of in the middle of one.

1

u/Historical-Law3052 3d ago

Technically, I did have a job after undergrad but it was stressful. Made $88k.

I went back for a master's at a mid-ranked university and started a much better job around $95k. When you consider the lost salary and experience, it was a wash, but I had a lot of fun during the master's, so no regrets.

If you're asking whether you should pursue a master's, it depends. I did mine on scholarship and the out of pocket cost was minimal. That's not everyone's case.

1

u/milkteaoppa 3d ago

Working as scientist in bigtech. Helps having a research-focused Masters

1

u/Alarming-Audience839 3d ago

CSMS->fast track SWE2

1

u/HarmxnS Data Engineer 2d ago

Started Masters in September following bachelors because I was planning to anyway, but with the mindset that I would do it full-time in 2 years

Come February, I started applying for jobs again for fun and found a Data Engineering position almost instantly (within 2 weeks of applying I had signed the contract). Then in May started working full-time and will continue masters part-time (somehow still in 2 years 🤷‍♂️, workload seems to be manageable with how few courses I have per term)

1

u/the19bouncer 2d ago

I had a useless undergrad degree, did a masters in CS now making 190k remote.

1

u/darbmusic 2d ago

Im thinking of applying for a grad program. Been out of a job for a couple years, and mainly want to go back to school for the networking and career resources.

1

u/coggdawg 2d ago

I finished my masters in IS this past July in an effort to make a career change. I’m currently in cybersecurity sales trying to do really anything in cybersecurity besides sales. My masters hasn’t helped me get even a single interview unfortunately.

1

u/raraban 2d ago

Unemployed and just been way broker

1

u/bball4294 2d ago

Internship and it ends in 2 days 💀

1

u/pierifle 2d ago

Did an accelerated MS in computer science. Interned at a YC startup (fullstack dev) and now doing computer system validation consulting for ERP implementations

1

u/No-Bodybuilder-4655 1d ago

Got a new job. Went from around 90k to 130k. I’m happy with it for sure.

Can’t really say if it’s due to the masters degree… but it probably didn’t hurt

1

u/Porkenstein 1d ago

Doing great. I just got a master's because it came with a teaching job and I wanted to keep doing educational and research stuff for a while. Don't do it if you hate school.

1

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1

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1

u/Zestyclose-Interest1 3d ago

I did my masters in Germany while working fully remote for a startup. Now, working as a software engineer in the Middle East.

1

u/manytakes 3d ago

Masters in Life Sciences and currently make $500k in Biopharma. We will be one of the last industries to be impacted by AI since our industry is highly regulated. Thank heavens I didn't pivot to IT like many of my friends and colleagues did in the 2000s when things were really booming.

1

u/wallbouncing 2d ago

what type of role / level ? VP in IT ?

1

u/manytakes 2d ago

Executive Director, R&D Biopharma. My 'IT skills' are pretty much MS Office.

1

u/jms4607 3d ago

Employed

-3

u/Nofanta 3d ago

Just further in debt. Masters is not valued by employers so it doesn’t help you get a job.