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Is it worth getting a Master's degree in CS?

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Senior Software Engineer [ICT4] at Apple2 years ago

I'm working on a part-time master's degree in Computer Science while being employed. My goal is primarily just to learn for fun, but I'm wondering if there are any career advantages?

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    Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero, PayPal
    2 years ago

    Is it worth getting a Master's degree in CS?

    If you enjoy academia and are having fun with it in general, definitely! It's also an effective way to get a foothold into the American tech industry if you're an immigrant. Otherwise, I'm skeptical of the value as the opportunity cost is using that time for the 10,000 other cool things you can do in tech.

    ...but I'm wondering if there are any career advantages?

    I know some companies will level you as SW2 if you have a Master's (this was the case at PayPal), but I think for FAANG/FAANG-equivalent companies, you generally won't get a level bump from just a Master's (PhD is a completely different story though). Given that you're already a senior engineer at Apple, I don't think the Master's will generate a meaningful difference for you career-trajectory wise unless your degree has some specialization material that's relevant to your current position (which you also can't get from networking at Apple somehow).