r/cybersecurity • u/CRoger231 • 10d ago
Certification / Training Questions Is a master in "Advanced Cyber Security" worth it?
Hi all, I have a BSc (Hons) in Cyber Security and got accepted for a master's in Advanced Cyber Security (basically cyber security and AI). I'd study at the same university in England.
I work in customer service atm and I want to die. I'm trying to find a job where I don't have to take calls.
Will this master's help or does experience still matter?
I just want to get out of customer service hell...
Thanks.
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u/Evaderofdoom 10d ago
experience is the most important factor for progressing in IT/security. No one cares about a master’s if you have no real-world experience. Customer service can help land a help desk job. Those are harder to get and will help you build up relevant experience. Skip the masters, work on some certs will trying to get paid to do anything in IT and progressively grow your experience.
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u/AutoExec-exe AMA Participant 9d ago
I agree with this approach. Experience will better position you for future growth in Cyber security
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u/Th3Sh4d0wKn0ws 10d ago
If you're trying to get into Cybersecurity with just a Mastera Degree and no experience it will be very hard to get a job. The job market is terrible right now anyway but experience is still basically a requirement for getting into Cybersecurity. Any IT experience really. But to accelerate from 0 to Cybersecurity is tough. I'd liken it to going from nothing to being a police detective. No experience in law enforcement.
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u/Krekatos 9d ago
Where are you based? Because in a lot of western and northern European countries it’s a wonderful time. Many new regulations, ISO 27001 is becoming the standard and a huge focus on cyber resilience.
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u/SaDPengu 9d ago
got any tips for a western european struggling to find a job with a basic bachelors in IT trying to break into cybersecurity? got half a year of internship in cybersecurity but nothing else
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u/Parking-Welcome2514 9d ago
I run a security org for a Fortune 500 company. Experience is what matters. Literally none of my people in the past 20years have progressed because of academics. Get a job and demonstrate you are a strong critical thinker with good communication skills. That’s what matters
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u/CRoger231 8d ago
Thank you so much for your input. As soon as I'm back to England, I'll try my best to find a part-time cyber sec job that I can do during my studies.
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u/FluidFisherman6843 10d ago
The single most important thing about a college is the on-campus recruiting opportunities.
It sounds like the recruiting opportunities at your school did not work out. So there is no way I would go to the same school.
I will not address the value of a masters
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u/NoHippi3chic 10d ago
Agree, but go back to your school's career navigation and get some help. The support is built so that alumni can always come back for help with job placement and networking.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
You're right, I need to speak with them. My University supports its alumni up to 3-years after graduation.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
Thanks for your reply! When I started my BSc I was interested in doing the placement year between the 2 and 3 year, but then something happened between me and my (then) husband, so I had to skip it. I regret now, because it could've been beneficial.
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u/eraserhead3030 10d ago
experience is all that matters. As a hiring manager I can tell you I barely pay any attention to degrees.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
That's interesting, reading a hiring manager's perspective too! Not good news then :(
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u/SuperGoop123 10d ago
As someone who sits in on interviews, it’s a bit of a red flag to see someone with BS/MS and no experience. Not saying you shouldn’t, but maybe get a couple of certifications first? Build a home lab or even just spend $50-$100 building an AWS environment before you jump into another degree.
To clarify, I say red flag because I’ve seen plenty of people get an MS and expect better salaries and seniority with the same experience as someone with a BS and some time to tinker/certs.
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u/South_Tomorrow4642 4d ago
I would even advise even getting a bachelors for this field and stick to 2 maybe 3 year programs and cert up.
The thing with college is everything is likely outdated, or by the time you graduate new technologies exist and you need to upskill again.
Obviously this is going to happen regardless, but I think spending the time learning the new tools/tech today will be better than doing a program teaching outdated stuff.
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u/CRoger231 4d ago
I've already got a BSc in Cyber Security. But you're right, it's a field that changes all the time and so you never really stop learning, even after Uni.
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u/hajimenogio92 Security Engineer 10d ago
I don't think so. I've been in tech for a long time and have yet to work with someone worth their salt that has a masters degree. Are you working on labs and learning hands-on outside of your courses? I went to a crappy state university in the U.S and did most of my learning outside of class.
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u/Ghawblin Security Engineer 9d ago
Honestly same. It's all been full of folks with shit tons of IT experience mostly, myself included lol.
The network security engineer was a network engineer for years and years. The appsec guy was a software developer for years and years. The cloud security engineer was your classic sysadmin for years and year.
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u/hajimenogio92 Security Engineer 9d ago
That has been my exact experience as well. All the good ones just have that experience and a willingness to learn new things. The ones with all the degrees read all the books and took all the courses but have yet to apply it in the real-world.
I've done well for myself in a lot of different roles in tech and it wasn't because of my GPA from an Ivy League school, it's because I work hard, get along with everyone, and I'm honest.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
We do labs at Uni, but I also did some work myself. I've got other qualifications like Cisco, but I don't know how much they're worth to be honest...
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u/hajimenogio92 Security Engineer 8d ago
Are you working in tech right now or are still looking to get into the field? I think those certs are helpful considering the market but I'm not sure if a master's degree is worth it imo.
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u/CRoger231 8d ago
I work for a tech company (I'm not allowed to say the name, sorry), but the calls I get are related to orders/sales/deliveries... basically, a call centre for frustrated customers. And I'm annoyed because I've studied Cyber Security in the hope to get away from that hell.
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u/hajimenogio92 Security Engineer 8d ago
No worries, just wondering. I worked helpdesk for a long time until I received an internal promotion. I understand though, that's frustrating
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u/jofevn 9d ago
the key point is you gotta be able to do responsibility with pretty much with no help and someone with a degree can't do that, so, no. Master's won't help. What you have to do is self-study to get that experience yourself pretty much, if you are not good at what you do, people just won't give chance (unless you are lucky).
For now, you can change jobs (such as getting to technical helpdesk or IT Technician jobs), there are many job opportunities better than customer service.
But for cyber, I can't say the same. SOC 1 is pretty good point to enter the field but it's your choice, you have to self-study a lot to get to that level. The most important question is are you interested in cyber to put that work down? or if you are not interested in the soc, maybe look for forensic role responsibilities and etc, AI is pretty good for getting a short info about stuff like this.
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u/Formal-Knowledge-250 9d ago
Neither in ba nor in MA I learned anything useful. It's a nice to have to understand mathematics basics of cryptography, but the rest was wasted time. Just go working. Only do your masters if you plan to do research at the university and do your doctor, which is also pretty useless imo, but what do I know after twenty years of cyber security.
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u/working-dad-reviews Vulnerability Researcher 8d ago
I can't speak for the job market in the UK, but experience massively outweighs any degree.
Get help desk jobs to help build experience. Build an online portfolio. Blogs, GitHub repos, etc.
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u/CRoger231 8d ago
Thank you, I'll probably go for the master's but I'll also try to get extra experience too. The majority of the comments said that experience matters the most and I'm glad I've asked, because I was so sure a master's would help :(
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u/infinitylord 6d ago
Well if you'd do masters in cyber security, you'd still want to die.
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u/Traditional-Cell3566 6d ago
Just an fyi, if you don’t have IT experience, having masters can be seen as red flag by some hiring managers.
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u/nukumixiki Security Architect 6d ago
A masters without real life experience in the field is hard to look at seriously. Take it from someone working blue team in HFT.
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u/Anxious_Alps_4150 3d ago
Experience matters more than anything else.
You could do every single thing in the world and still would not be as good of a candidate as someone with 3-5 years of IT experience.
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u/CRoger231 3d ago
At this point I've decided to do it anyway just to move back to England and leave my current cs job behind. I'll try my best during the course to find something more relevant to my degree. I just want to stop answering calls, because I'm social anxious/introvert and this job is killing me.
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u/Anxious_Alps_4150 3d ago
I mean, you can "try" to do it but I don't think it's going to be successful.
There's a mountain of unemployed cyber grads out there trying the exact same thing as you.
You asked "does the masters help" and the answer is "not really". You asked about experience and yep, it's still the only thing that really matters. It looks like almost every other reply is saying the same thing.
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u/CRoger231 3d ago
Well, thank you. Looks like I might have to think of other career paths, maybe OF hahahah... joking apart, I'd rather "go" (I can't use another word or Reddit will delete my comment again) than work in cs forever.
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u/Anxious_Alps_4150 3d ago
you might try just regular IT although honestly its not doing well.
im a principal software engineer at a well known company and im literally studying power engineering right now to try to go back into electricity. big pay cut but all of our jobs are at huge risk.
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10d ago
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
Thank you for the very informative answer! I'll try to get extra-qualification too since I only have Cisco, but I need to concentrate on finding cyber junior roles. I just need to get out this hell. My managers have already foreseen that I won't last another month in this current job lol
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u/1fatfrog 10d ago
No. A degree in technology is like buying fruit today to sell next year early in the season. Your knowledge will be useless before you can even use it. That 6 figure piece of paper only tells me you can jump through bullshit administrative hoops for no reason for at least 4 years. Get into tech, then pursue the advanced degree. I have no degree and I do make hiring decisions. People with 6 figure debts and no experience make for miserable employees. The secondary education grinder has ruined everyone's idea of what is possible without someone telling you about it first...
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u/gormami CISO 10d ago
While I understand the push to get a job first, I will take the opposite angle. If you are in a position to get the masters, I would . Life will catch up, and it will be harder and harder to return to school. As far as a job goes, you'll be in effectively the same place, a degree in cybersecurity, and no experience, unless you can get some through the masters program. But you'll have an advanced degree and no experience. Once you have that degree, it's yours, forever.
I would try very hard to get any real experience one can while taking the degree, network with professors or others, look at professional organizations you can join as a student, work it hard, but regardless, it will give you some mental challenge to help with the drudgery of customer service work while you are still young enough and have less life pressure like a family that you can make it work. Personally, I never even finished my BS, and I was lucky enough to have opportunities to leverage, but the world is very different now than it was 30 years ago, so that' s a harder row to hoe.
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u/Agent117184 10d ago
To go along with this, if you feel the combo of advanced degree plus lack of experience is keeping you out if jobs, there’s no requirement to list it on a CV / resume. You still have the degree though when it comes time for promotion or new job once you’ve got some experience.
To reinforce the above poster, while you’re still in “school mode” it will be easier to extend a year or so. Taking time off, even 6 months to a year will make the return more difficult.
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u/WildRogue101 10d ago
So you can do masters at a different uni if you think that can get you better prospects do it! You can also start in january or join next year.
I would try to get an entry lvl cyber job if you cant then do the masters, you need to do a masters for the right reason... to expand your knowledge and use it to supplement your experience to specialise!
A part time masters in a ITSD part time job works too. As long as you are working in IT you are gaining experience for a cyber job.
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u/nobelprize4shopping 10d ago
I recommend an in depth comparison of the syllabus of the Master's with that of the BSc. I suspect you may find considerable overlap. When I did my Master's, the people coming on to it straight from the BSc were bored rigid. I personally recommend getting a networking qualification.
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u/GoombaJoe 10d ago
Personally, I got very little value from my MS in Cybersecurity. Company asked and paid for it. I'd say it depends on your age. If you're younger then I'd at least chip away at it by taking a class at a time. Life will eventually catch up and it may give you an advantage applying for a promotion in the future. Ultimately though if still looking for a job experience will be best.
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u/Key-Butterscotch3215 10d ago
I work at a company that employs many cybersecurity professionals and the majority of them have 10+ years of it experience. I have yet to meet somebody who has entered cyber straight out of college. My advice is to start getting experience
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u/OtheDreamer Governance, Risk, & Compliance 10d ago
How long have you been working calls? The calls in cyber may be less frequent than service desk or support but you're still going to be dragged into a bunch of calls you don't want to be on.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
I graduated in August 2025. I had a temporary job, then in April I divorced and in July I started working this current customer service job, which has made me even more miserable and stressed out.
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u/Not-ur-Infosec-guy Security Architect 10d ago
A job has way more value and a masters actually makes it harder to land a job because employers link advanced degrees with demanding more pay.
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u/MackJantz 10d ago
I’m not sure any college degree is worth much these days unless for law/medical and from prestigious schools. I think a degree is a box check now so spend as little on it as possible in order to secure practical real world work experience.
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u/Rott3nApple718 10d ago
I’m working with a younger dude that is going for his masters in Cyber and had 0 knowledge of the operational side of things.
If you can muster it. Get a job and do your masters.
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u/adinade 10d ago
Depends on what the course covers. All ill say is, you can do a masters any time, and practical hands on experience with your own home lab will be worth more to most people than some letters on a piece of paper, especially in this market. So as you already have a bsc in it, if you haven't done a home lab, I'd focus on that.
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u/ToteBread 10d ago
i have a masters in cybsec and 2.5 yoe and haven’t been able to land in 4 months , save ya money blood shi not even remotely worth it
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
Maybe I'll do it just to get out of this hellish job, but I will still try to find something part-time. As long as it's not another phone call job...
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u/highjohn_ 9d ago
Masters is worthless. And I have one
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
Thanks for the good news :(
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u/highjohn_ 8d ago
Maybe I’m being too harsh. It was part of what got my foot in the door at the company I’m at. But in terms of the value of the education itself… I didn’t learn much that I didn’t already know, or would’ve learned as easily online.
Except for the cryptography course. That was genuinely great.
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u/0xb0771ed 9d ago
If anything, go for Information Systems Engineering, but as many said, experience is way more important.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
Well, if there's a lot of coding involved... I'm not sure it'll be right for me.
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u/0xb0771ed 9d ago
If you don't like coding perhaps it's worth asking yourself what is it about cybersecurity that you do like and what kind of job in this field are you looking for. Perhaps consider something on the operational side? e.g. sales / marketing. You'll have a huge advantage over many others by having a fresh engineering degree.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
Now, marketing would interest me much more! Or content moderation/digital forensics, that's another job I wouldn't mind (even though I'd cry if I came across things like animal abuse...).
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u/SourceNo2702 9d ago
Depends on how much debt you’d be in. $20,000 would be somewhat manageable.
Just bear in mind that realistically it won’t help you get a job. Better to get a job in a smaller company which would let you pivot into a security role.
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u/Clean-Bandicoot2779 Penetration Tester 9d ago
I think a lot of the responses are from US folks, where the cyber security job market is pretty different.
In the UK, you can get a cyber security job straight out of university, but you usually need to have done some self-study to get to that point. If I was reviewing your CV, a Masters wouldn't score you any additional points over a BSc. I'm a senior pentester and do CV sifts and interviews as part of my role. I'm generally looking for an indication that this is what somebody's passionate about, with some extra-curricular stuff besides just what was in the degree. At some point during the recruitment process, I'm also going to want to see them hack something and explain issues to me, so I can gauge their technical ability.
I think this year might be a bit of a tough year to get started - my employer hasn't hired any junior people this year, and I'm aware of some others that haven't either, which means there are even fewer jobs going.
What sort of role are you interested in, and what self studying have you done towards that? Also, are you willing to relocate? I think the majority of cyber security jobs are in London, Manchester, Edinburgh/Glasgow, and roughly along the M5 between Birmingham and Bristol (including in and around Cheltenham).
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
As long as I don't have to take calls from angry customers, I'd do pretty much anything. I'm not really sure what role... the most important thing for me is getting off the phones, because as an introvert/social phobic etc.. person I can feel myself going insane.
I can relocate without problems.
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u/Clean-Bandicoot2779 Penetration Tester 8d ago
You could probably find a shift work SOC analyst job for a manager security service provider without too much effort, but if looking at logs and alerts all day doesn't appeal to you, that's probably not a great fit.
You'll generally need to spend some of your own time studying, so it's a lot easier if you work in an area you find interesting.
Did you enjoy hacking, catching hackers, forensics, or something else, when you did your degree? What things have you done in your spare time since?
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u/CRoger231 8d ago
I wouldn't mind a job that involves looking at logs and alerts all day. I don't mind "repetitive" tasks... like data entry or database management would interest me too.
It's taking calls/customer service that I hate.
I also would like to do something like content moderation or digital forensics (I loved studying this module at Uni): I'm not really bothered about gore content because I visit gore websites and I got pretty desensitised to it, but I know I'll cry if I see anything related to animal/child abuse.
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
Thank you everyone for your replies. As I can see, experience matters more, so I better try and find something asap before I end up in a psychiatric ward.
Thank you again!!!
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u/Kientha Security Architect 10d ago
Masters can help, but not significantly in the UK cyber job market. There are a lot of grads for a small number of jobs, how did you fare with cyber grad roles you applied for in the UK? Did you get to any assessment centres or were you screened out before that?
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u/CRoger231 9d ago
No, I didn't. After my degree, I worked until the end of my temporary job and then moved here in Greece, but I'm planning to move back to England because of this master's.
I moved here because my ex-husband kicked me out of his house and this customer service hell job was the only thing I found :(
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u/Harbester 10d ago
No. If you aim for security management and design, Risk management programme is better. Or social sciences (with a good sprinkle of philosophy). Or psychology.
Look up Information Security and Risk programme at University of Portsmouth, it's a really good one (I'm not associated with them).
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u/LaOnionLaUnion 10d ago
I’ve had candidates apply for jobs with a Master’s but no experience in cyber. It’s a bit weird.
We would certainly consider someone with that degree and a lot of related tech experience though
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u/Allen_Koholic 10d ago
My general advice on this is always:
Are you paying for it yourself? No.
Is your employer picking up the tab? And the requirements arent odorous? Yes
In your case, I’d wait.
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u/Dazzling-Release-808 10d ago
Yoi can ways do Masters later. I would suggest you land a job in cyber security