How high of a degree should I get? 3

[MechEngStud]

I realize that this is supposed to be a forum for real engineers (read ones that have actually graduated), but I will be finishing my degree soon and was wondering what people in the engineering fields think. I will soon finish my bachelors and am debating whether or not to try for grad school and get my masters? With so my people being laid off and jobs being sent overseas would this be a better guarantee of being able to find a job? Or should I start working when I finish my bachelors and come back later to take on a masters? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Damon

 

[HgTX]

mshimko--you say "fit" is only a little bit to do with corporate culture, but yet since it's not technical competence, what else is there? Just general ability to work and play well with others, regardless of whether the personality type happens to be the same as everyone else?

Hg

 

[mshimko]

HG - regarding my comment about fit not applying to "corporate culture":

From my perspective as a working senior engineer and group manager, there exists both a "corporate culture", as well as a "local culture", and these are often very different.

Most working engineers, IMHO, don't have to worry too much about the "corporate culture". Senior managers do, of course. Working/middle managers, such as myself, do to an extent. The working level engineer, though, just has to "fit" into the local cultur, at least at first.

I suspect some find find my distinguishing between "local" and "corporate" as curious. But in my firm of approx. 3,000 employees, there are only about 250 engineers, and half are in my local office. My local office obtains it's own contracts from our own customers, as well as provide technical support to other offices, and as long as out "bottom line" numbers are good, corporate will let us "run our own show" - to an extent, of course.

 

[Moonstone]

Definately, work for a few years before you do your masters. Once you start working, you will realize what you really want to specialize in when you do your Masters. You will learn and understand much more while doing Masters after you have worked.