What Is the Career and Pay Difference Between a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Computer Programming
Is there a significant difference in pay and career options when it comes to getting a Master's Degree in computer programming versus a Bachelor's Degree?
#computer-science #technology #programming #bachelor's-degree #master's-degree
3 answers
Ken’s Answer
The area involving computer programming is very diverse, so that it is difficult to determine what the difference might be in a broad view.
The most important thing for you to determine is how you might most effectively fit into that broad area and then develop answers for you questions by meeting and talking to people who are doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can see what they do, how they got there, and what advice and suggestions that they might have for you.
Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .
Ken recommends the following next steps:
Sanyam’s Answer
I have done a Masters and Bachelors in Computer Science and the short answer is: not necessarily. But I would highly encourage you to think about this question differently. If you are debating whether to do a masters or not then you should base your decision on the following factors:
- Do you want to specialize in a particular subfield of computer science such as Cloud Computing, Computer Graphics, Security etc.
- Do you like learning more and want to go deeper into the understanding of computer science in general?
- Do you feel something lacking in your education from your bachelors, like maybe you didn't go to a great school and want to go to a better school to have a better understanding of your field?
- Are you feeling stuck in your job and want to go back to school to further advance your education in the same or a different subfield of computer science?
When it comes to career growth and salary growth, your degree level may only help you start off at a better salary or career level (not necessarily though, since I was in a company that started all degree levels with the same salary!). But the way you grow in your career and salary going forward is all dependent on your work ethic, basically how hard and smart you work.
So don't worry about what degree you should be doing and focus on finding a field you like, because being passionate about a field will make you work harder and grow in the ranks very quickly! Good luck.
Weiqi’s Answer
I think the Bachelor and Master's Degree is not a deterministic factor in terms of the Career and Pay Difference.
The pros of joining the software industrial with a Bachelor Degree's are:
- You save a lot of tuitions and 1 -2 years time for yourself. Personally I think time is very important for young people in early Careers. You could join a company and starting contributing and promoting a little bit earlier if you found job right after Bachelor degree. After 2 years working in this industrial, I believe you will be equipped with more practical skills as a software engineer, you will also become more competitive either in the job marketing or in your current company.
- You could choose to learning certain skills which is a little bit newer and popular in the software industrial. Such as deep learning, AWS services, web framework etc. You will have a more clear picture which skills you will need to get your job done.
The pros of joining the software industrial with a Mater Degree's are:
- After starting working, it is hard to find a large chunk of time to study certain topics or knowledge in a systematic way anymore. If you are interested in deepen your knowledge in certain area. You should start to consider to get a master/phd degree.
- If your bachelor degree is not computer science, getting a master degree in computer science is helpful, it will help you have a smooth transition from other major (math, physics, engineering, business) to computer science better.
Weiqi recommends the following next steps: