BASc or MASc? 6

[mudandsnow]

Decision time is approaching so any input is appreciated.

I worked for 6 years as an Electronics Technologist before my recent return to school. Now I am in 4th year of BASc Electrical Engineering, graduating May 2016. I originally planned to get BASc and go back to work asap but profs keep telling me I should stick around for a masters. I'm enjoying school and would like to work on power systems with some of my profs but I'm not sure a masters would be worth another 2 years of being a very busy, broke, home renting, girlfriend ignoring, student.

I might stick with the electronics industry since I already have experience there and have a tentative offer to be CTO of a small tech start-up but I'd like to move towards the electrical side of things since it seems there are more opportunities.

Ideally I'll work near a small or medium city in western Canada. I'm happy in an office but if I can get outside and work with my hands, that would be a bonus.

I worry a masters will steer me towards an office job in a big city and might even limit my opportunities.

Will a masters help me get more money and more opportunities or will I be over qualified for some jobs and end up with less opportunities? Are there jobs that require a masters? Do employers prefer it and or pay more for it?

Any thoughts on this or pros or cons of getting a masters in electrical engineering would be appreciated.

 

[mudandsnow]

Thank you everyone for your input. I decided to skip the masters and get back to work asap. Now I have to decide between a few offers from tech start-ups, a big money offer in a lousy city and some other maybes. I'm leaning towards the start-ups because they'll let me work from home, I've always wanted that and this seems like a good time to try it.

 

[HamburgerHelper]

Working on a masters while employed imho is the best of all worlds. No lost wages. A better idea what to focus on and what has real application. I did 36 credits in I think 3.5 years. There were a few classes I took during that time that overlapped heavily with what I was working on. By the time, I finished I had 4+ years of experience, a masters degree, and my PE license.

 

[KENAT]

Think hard about working from home as a new engineer.

I realize you have experience from being a tech, but it's amazing what you can pick up just by 'Osmosis' from being around more experienced folks.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[tstructural]

I agree with KENAT's comment above.

Working from home is great but I would have missed out on so much learning if I started out doing that. One of my former Senior Engineers (SE) made a point of seating Junior Engineers (JE) next to SE for that very reason. The JE picks up information just by overhearing a conversation and also the SE can hear/see when the JE is going down the wrong design path.