HACKER Q&A
📣 sky2224

Is a Computer Engineering masters worth it?


I'm in my undergrad for Computer Science and have about two semesters left before graduation. I'm working in the power industry right now as a software engineer (C#/.NET mostly), and I got this nagging feeling that I should have gone for Computer Engineering instead of Computer Science.

If I'm interested in getting into lower level systems programming/firmware (and maybe even doing some hardware stuff), would it be worth it to go for a MS in Computer Engineering or could I learn most of what I need to learn on my own? If I do go for the degree, I likely could do it part time while working.

There isn't necessarily anything in particular that I want to work on right now, but I feel like having a stronger background in lower level systems and hardware would prove beneficial for me in the future.

  👤 dlcarrier Accepted Answer ✓
College is for the paperwork. Learning happens in the field. Don't spend more time in college than you have to, to get the paper. Each year of experience is far more valuable than a year of college would ever be.

Changing your major from computer science to computer engineering may be worthwhile, but with either major, a masters degree has effectively no more value than a bachelors, unless you work for a bureaucracy where the extra paper automatically increases your pay, regardless of how productive you are.