Should I Pursue Further Education? (Master's Degree)

Welcome to CR4, and your first post.

This questioned has been asked a number of times.... if you search through CR4, you'd find a few posts pertaining to this subject,... its pretty informative and if you still have questions, then you could ask again.

I would wait till you know exactly what it is you want to do, and what qualifications will be needed...You might find you like doing something that you have inadvertently over qualified yourself for....

You might want to check out this article from the IEEE Job Site: What's a Master's Degree Worth?

Most generally speaking, ignoring education costs for the moment, what is the nature of the work positions that you would seek?

If design/technical positions, then seek more relevant technical-design/specialisation education...

If supervision/management positions, then seek more relevant project-management/MBA education...

After working in the Aerospace industry, you should take an entry-level position within the industry, ( to get your feet wet) before pursuing a "Master Degree." There are many disciplines involved within. Which field are you wanting to specialize in? Airframe, Powerplant, Electrical, Navigation, or Education?

Education is unique, you can't really teach a subject that you don't have a personal experience with and why you need to "get your feet wet." Books are fine but practical experience is the best educator.

Aerospace is a fast-evolving industry and "space is not the limit"

Good luck with what you pursue.

For what it is worth if you have the opportunity to do a Master's, do it. If you don't you will regret it later. I regret not doing the PhD when I had the chance thinking I would do it later and of course never did. Jobs can be taken away from you, your qualifications can't.

You make a valid point about post graduate work right after undergrad completion. Once you are out in the working world, it becomes more difficult to get higher education,,, unless your employer is willing to make the same commitment. If you are fortunate enough to find such an employer it would be a lot easier. If not, based on my experience, practical experience should give you more that book learning.

While advanced degrees can help in your career path, they are not always necessary.

No education is ever wasted from a personal development perspective. However, whether it will get you a better paid position or not is a different question. With an Engineering degree (I know little of your specific degree/industry) there are very few jobs that you cannot get with hard work and experience. A masters may well speed up this process. If your ambition is along the management line rather than the technical path, I would then suggest an MBA rather than the Mechanical or industrial that you are contemplating.

Bottom line is - if you have the ability and you can afford it then do it and do it now, not later.

Get your masters in an area that is new to the field of aeronautics. Boeing for instance lays off thousands of people at a time all the time just because their fields of study has become obsolete. If you read in the news that Boeing is laying off 5000 employees, that's why. Also, a person with a masters is most likely shooting for a position in upper management.

As many of the posts mention, it really depends on what you believe (want) your future to look like. Do you want to stay purely engineering, go into research, move into management or envision doing marketing/sales at some point.

Personally, I have a Bachelors in Engineering (Metallurgy), so I went for a Business based Masters to allow working with new business development. When I went back to school for the Masters, I did not expect it would allow me to be promoted or open doors immediately. As mentioned already, I did it with the idea that it would reduce the potential of doors being clsoed because I did not have it.

Over time, it used to be that an Associate's degrees was the minimum education expectation by employers. That moved to a Bachelor's and now, depending on the field, a Master's is preferred.

That gets us back to the question.....what do you think you want to your future to look like. Good luck!

Get a job first! You don't say if you've even been employed.

You need the job hunting experience and the experience of being rejected in the real world. That first job may change your whole outlook on life!

Applying for a job is MUCH less personal than in years past. Chances are good that receipt of any of your applications/resumes/CV's will be acknowledged. Most applications are scanned for key words before passing on to a human, if at all.

You have a good, employable foundation to build upon and employment may change your entire outlook on life, and future employment. Your true learning experience begins when you get that first job. The degree is just a piece of paper that says that you have the ability to learn, not yet the ability to do that new job. That's up to you.

If you do move into management, NEVER forget that the people reporting to you are not super human, each will have different skills and different motivations and they will look to you to facilitate their individual success at their jobs.

Good luck.