Projecting Potential Salary Growth wrt MS Degree 4

[Ti_Metallurgist]

Hi All,

First post on the site, been lurking for some time. Also not sure if this is the right forum... apologies if not.

I am an Engineer II in a rather large company, based in southern California. I have undergraduate degrees in Materials Science and Engineering and another engineering discipline. I've been working in industry for about 2.5 years and have been at my current job for about 6 months.

I have started an MS degree program this Fall in MSE. My boss has been very supportive, allows me to leave work in the middle of the day to attend class and make up the time later. The company will be reimbursing me for my tuition and supply fees. The only problem so far is that I am not sure if I really want to commit to a few years of the high stress at this point. I don't always feel motivated to go home and study or do homework after solely working for a few years. I am trying to reason and convince myself that it will be worth it, at least financially, in the long run. I am having a hard time estimating how much I would be making in ~ 3 years with and without a masters degree. Is the difference worth how it affects my personal time and social life? Will I "instantly" gain +2 years of "experience" the moment I receive the MS degree (and be eligible for an Eng. 3 position), from the perspective of my company?

Does anyone have suggestions for how to put numbers to both scenarios? FWIW, I'm also a registered EIT... the PE is not really important in my field (aerospace), but I was considering settling for that instead of going through a MS program. Does this have any worth on its own?

Thank you.

Regards,
Ti_Met

 

[mtu1972]

I never thought my MS directly affected my pay. Indirectly I’m sure the extra classes I took helped me. I completed all the course work for my masters in 1973. A replacement of the IBM main frame made my thesis program unworkable. Still all the advanced courses gave me an advantage over my contemporaries. On my second job, I was promoted to a project management position over two others who were there before me.

Years later I got my MS degree through a distance learning program. My employers reimbursed me for the tuition costs (if B or better grades) so the cost to me was minimal. Again, the extra programs helped, but I was not directly compensated extra.

gjc

 

[Ti_Metallurgist]

Thank you all for the comments and advice. Did not mean to spark this much debate on an old topic

I will need to do some more "soul searching" as someone else mentioned. At this point I think I am pursuing the degree 20% because I am interested in the course work and 80% because it is what I "Should" do. Perhaps this would be better pursued in a year or two if I am more invested by then.

Regards,
Ti_Met

 

[IRstuff]

If you have assessed the motivation numerically with that result, then you probably do need to seriously examine your motivation. Given that you've already have demands on your time, not being more invested in pursuing another degree will make it more difficult to complete this degree.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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