Is pursuing a masters degree in computer science worth it when one already has a good-enough paying job?

A few years ago I was weighing the merits of a MSCS/MCS degree and I decided to go for it.  I too had (still have) a great job in the tech industry and am currently the sole income for my family (my wife is a full time mom).  The biggest difference is I am 29, and was 26 when I started the degree. My company covers some, but not all of the cost of tuition.  Here are some of the reasons I went for it in no particular order: My BS is in IT, but I enjoy programming, so I wanted a degree that reflected that too. At the time I started we didn't have kids so it seemed like a now or much later/never kind of deal. My Mom has a Masters (not in technology) and it seemed like I should carry on the tradition As someone else mentioned, a lot of people have MSCS/MCS degrees now, so I was afraid not having one might hinder future career growth I really like OS design/systems courses and wanted to gain knowledge in that area My company will help pay for it (and they don't attach any strings to the benefit either. On the other hand, having the degree won't get me an automatic raise/promotion/etc.) I like to learn, am good at school, and wanted to challenge myself At the end of this semester I'll be one class away from finishing, having done 4 credits (one class) per semester each semester since Fall 2011.  So I can't really say it was worth it in terms of having the degree yet, but I can say I have learned a tremendous amount and that has been worth it. Also, the cost might be quite a bit less than $60k. I am attending a top-10 ranked CS Graduate program, and it looks like the total cost of my degree (before company contributions) is about $36k. Even with year-over-year tuition increases, starting now would likely be about $40k total when completed.  Still expensive, but not insurmountable.  Honestly I think the amount of time it takes is more costly than the tuition bill. The hardest part of getting this degree is the nights and weekends it has cost me from spending with my family. I would weigh that more heavily in your decision.

I would say "yes". Jobs can come and go, but your education is one thing that you can not lose. It (the degree) just serves to validate what your paycheck says about you. The degree also shows that you are a serious professional who is not just in IT for the paycheck. Lastly, the degree also shows that you're serious about keeping your skill set up to date.

Skip the degree, learn the material yourself and demonstrate your understanding / capabilities. MS in CS is too common, it used to be a good indicator of skillset / intelligent, etc but there are so many people with MS degrees that many cutting-edge companies have started looking more at the person's background, side-projects, etc. Here are some good places to start: http://datasciencemasters.org https://www.coursera.org/courses?cats=cs-ai's class on AI Also google around like crazy and you can find open source books, free classes, etc on all AI / CS topics these days I would say you should get a MS only if you plan to get a PhD after / go into academia, otherwise, you could learn everything you need to in 2-3 years and spend a lot of time demonstrating that knowledge. The only exception is if you need a structured program because you're worried you'll lose motivation! It seems like you have the genuine curiosity so start by picking up books, building cool AI programs that interest you / instead of what someone else tells you to. After you've tried learning on your own for a year and running into roadblocks, only then should you go get a MS. This way you know why you're doing it & you can optimize the learning much much better. Plus you'll have a leg-up since you already attempted a lot of the material first.

Solely from the monetary aspect it makes no sense in pursuing Masters if one already believes his employment is able to afford him the lifestyle he dreams but again Masters is not for this audience at all. Masters should be pursued by those who believe there still are matters where basic clarity is missing or have ideas that could fundamentally change the way  things worked or just like to be challenged with complex problems. All these scenarios involve dedicated Research and therefore I would quote Research is mandatory in Masters or else it serves no purpose. This is someplace I differ with the current education system which mostly tries to evaluate students based on tests and credits earned in them becomes the qualification but creativity here takes a back seat. This approach works well in creating specialists for the Industry but I high doubt if it produces any innovators. A publication in reputed forum or a patent can be a better qualifying criteria for a Master for instance and examples as such should make the benchmark a Masters aspirant need to commit himself to achieving.

It's always worth it to pursue post graduate studies specially if it's related to your current job/career. It will boost your resume and be able to work for bigger companies or higher pay. As long as you are able to keep your current job while pursuing your postgraduate studies. If it goes against the way, then it's not worth taking the rest especially if you unable to make them together and have to give up one eventually. For more work related tips, read posts from this blog from career and salary research site called PayScale, http://bitly.com/1omMNdz .