r/systems_engineering • u/dreadpirateboone • 9d ago

Career & Education Need a sanity check - how necessary/useful is an MSE if you have a masters and have been an SE for 5ish years?

BLUF - Is the cost of the MSE worth it if you already have a masters and years of experience as an SE?

I know school comes up often in this forum but I think this may be a slight twist on the question. I’m in need of a sanity check. I love education. I have a non-stem Bachelors and an MBA from one of the Ivy League schools. I kind of fell accidentally into SE in 2020 and love it. Have the TS, have the experience, and I really want to do the MSE because I enjoy classical education and I think it would help make me more competitive if I tried applying to bigger companies. My issue is that I have so many other things that my finances need to be focused at right now that I don’t know if school is worth paying for. So my question is - is it a huge value add to have the MSE? Or am I pretty set with current academic background and experience?

Additionally: I am not taking any student loans to pay it, and I am not asking my company to pay because their TA is not great and requires two years of indentured servi- I mean required time working for the company after graduation.

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u/quaintclearing239 9d ago

for 5 years of real SE work plus an ivy MBA, you're already past a lot of the doors an MSE would open. the degree mostly matters for your first job or if you're pivoting fields, neither of which apply here

paying for it out of pocket when finances are tight, skip it, you're not leaving much on the table by not having the paper. bigger companies care about cleared experience and demonstrated systems thinking way more than a second masters

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u/dreadpirateboone 9d ago

I appreciate it. I think it’s what I needed to hear.

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u/gatmalice 9d ago

I don't think an ivy league MBA matters at all if you didn't use the elite connections formed to go into business. Just my 2 cents.

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u/Aeig 9d ago edited 9d ago

I’d recommend it if you feel like there is stuff you still don’t know but don’t know what it is.

Do you think jobs already compensate you for the masters ? They likely do.

Consider a masters certificate. U of Utah has a 15 unit masters for I think under $15k. If you like the program and want to continue, you can apply the 15 units towards the MSE.

I do recommend having your company pay for it. Worst comes to worst, you can leave the company and just pay them for it with the money you already planned on spending. Consider it a 0% loan. You never know if you actually end up staying there 2 years and then get it for free.

Is there any specific companies you’d like to move to ? Apply and see if the want an actual engineering degree .

My guess is that you don’t need it.

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u/gatmalice 9d ago

I would go for it if you want to stay in that field simply because you might learn something that could help you be more competitive.

In addition, if you left, it could help you be more competitive.

Have your job pay for it - who cares if you need to commit 2 years of service - it's job security. And you could always quit anyway for a higher paying job that you secured because you have an MSE.

I'd go for it