What does the career of a SWE with a MS or PhD in CS look like?

Question

I don&rsquo;t think anyone I&rsquo;ve worked with has either of those. I&rsquo;m wondering what they do differently than a boot camp grad or a self taught dev or even BS grad? Do they specialize in something very niche? Do they just end up working on very technically difficult projects? Do they even get promoted faster and make more money on average?

detaro · Accepted Answer

Is there a "standard career" for a BS grad?
But very vaguely: MS alone IMHO doesn't add much - doing something specific cool can of course open doors, and the MS potentially can provide an environment where that's easier than doing it on your own.
A relevant PhD gives you a much more direct path into research groups at many companies, or into teams otherwise working on the specific topic.