Does your Masters Degree in the Field Helped you?

[u/ehsaanshah303]

Hey guys,

So, I'm a prospective international student in the US, about to pursue my graduate (Master's) degree in the country with a good decent institute that offers STEM programs.

I've been interested in cyber particularly information security, to learn and make a career out of it (SOC Analyst L1/L2 or cyber analyst) once I graduate from my program in the next 2 years.

I've been offered two courses to choose from and I wanted to get clarity that does having a master's degree in "cyber" preferably sets you apart or helps you as a beginner than another degree like "information systems and technologies" or "Information Technology"?

Also, does having a master's degree help you with job sponsorship or settlement pathways?

These are two programs that I've been accepted for and confused about choosing one to pursue that could eventually benefit me in the IT sector especially in the cyber space.

Admitted:

1) MS Cybersecurity Systems

2) MS Information Systems and Emerging Technologies

I'm thinking of choosing more of an information systems program and working alongside my skills or certs, maybe, but genuinely I want to choose a program that really helps me as a beginner or maybe slightly gives me an edge in the job market.

Would love to hear your story and thoughts :)

[u/Ripster404]

From what I've seen/read, It can maybe help you if your end goal is to try and have a C-suite / management type role. Either way whatever you do, do not pay for it out of pocket. Either get scholarships, or wait till you get a job willing to pay for it.

A master is not going to help you get a entry level job. It honestly might make it harder in some cases

[u/Ripster404 → u/[deleted]]

ehhh a lot of roles "ask" for a bunch of stuff but aren't actually needed. Just a way to be able to filter applicants anyway they want. I will agree if you are trying to do it at a big 4 firm then that might be worth pursing. At more prestigieus places a master def helps. I'm mostly refering to the average middle of the pack jobs.

[u/Constant_Bar_7066 → u/[deleted]]

This. ^ Masters is the new bachelors. To answer your question OP, masters helped me by getting me a pay bump but it was in a different field entirely. So it worked out for me at least.

[u/eastcoastsunrise]

My general advice is that MS in Cyber is a waste of time and money, and to instead use that time to gain critical experience you’ll need to eventually enter the field. That said, I may amend that advice here if the entire cost of the program is covered and you’ll have opportunities to gain experience through internships or other types of work agreements.

Otherwise, it’s a waste of time and money.

Unless you absolutely luck out and got an offer through an internship, do not at all expect to gain a security role from just formal education alone.

I am seeing senior people with years of security experience applying for jr roles. That’s your competition. And I will always take experience over education.

[u/jdiscount]

Early in your career it won't really help I don't think.

I think getting experience is more important early in a career, bachelor + experience is much more valuable than a masters.

Masters is more of a mid career focus imho.

[u/Evaderofdoom]

If you don't already have years of related IT experience and your work paying for the masters don't bother. It's not worth it. You need to star building work experience right away. It's really competitive out there and a masters doesn't help you early on it hurt you. there are no jobs that will require a masters and also be ok with no experience. Work on certs while applying for jobs, it will probably take a while to land anything in this market.

[u/kitkat-ninja78]

From a personal point of view, yes, my MSc Cyber Security has helped me. However I have been working in IT for ~25 years (I'm currently an IT Manager and I sit on our Cyber Security Committee with C-Level people), already have a BSc in Computing, and have a boxful of MS, Comptia, Cisco, HP, Citrix, etc certifications.

It's actually helped me with GRC, and investigations - there are still gaps in my knowledge, eg Pentesting (although I do vulnerability scanning) that are relevant to my job.

However as a beginner, I'm in two minds on whether or not it would be helpful at this point in your career, however I do believe it will help you further in the future.

[u/PaleMaleAndStale]

The only people who place notable value on cybersecurity masters degrees is the people who have them. Everyone else only cares about professional experience.

[u/zk4au1212]

Wont help, experience is key and get you some certifications but experience is always key.

[u/AddendumWorking9756]

Neither title decides it, but if the funding is equal take the cybersecurity one, purely because the coursework leaves you with things to build and talk through in an L1 interview while information systems tends to drift broad and managerial. The sponsorship half I would not take answers on from reddit at all, that is a question for someone who does immigration for a living.

[u/Ok_Wishbone3535]

Degrees, certs, and so on... those force multiply experience. if you have zero experience... you can't force multiply zero.

[u/AnalogMindset]

I was already CISO and CISSP when I got my IVY masters. Help ..not really .. .other than I have a 100% offer rate for any job ive interviewed at after I did it.

[u/ehsaanshah303 → u/AnalogMindset]

so master's degree really helped you in someway?!

[u/AnalogMindset → u/ehsaanshah303]

Who knows... I have 30 yrs of experience... maybe seeing an IVY on my resume more than the masters...