Staying Competitive with Public Sector Experiece

[WinterAndStars]

Hello everyone, I recently graduated school with a BS in mechanical engineering and have taken a mechanical engineering-ish (in reality it's mostly systems engineering) position with the civilian side of the US military.

I would like to ensure I remain competitive during my time in the public sector in the event that I want to switch over to a private sector engineering job. Due to location, my higher education opportunities are limited to either MS of Systems Engineering or a Professional Master of Mechanical Engineering (either paid for by my job).

My questions are:

Would a Professional Master of Mechanical Engineering be beneficial to my future job prospects, or put another way, do employers view a professional masters in the same light as they view an academic masters?

Also, do others that have transitioned from public to private sector engineering jobs have any advice for staying competitive?

Thank you

 

[GregLocock]

" Professional Master of Mechanical Engineering" sounds like some idiotic made up thing. Next year it'll be " Professional Master of Mechanical Engineering with extra gold stars" . Go for the the MS in systems - it is directly related to your current career and is a worthwhile field of study.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[GHartmann]

I was thinking something similar. What in the world IS a "Professional Master" as compared to a "Master of Science"? Perhaps you should be asking your school to explain. Be sure it does not have anything to do with a lack of accreditation of the program.

 

[JedClampett]

I work with a lot of public sector engineers. Most (of course not all) are contract adminstrators with only a rudimentary technical background. There's a real temptation to just concentrate on schedule and budget.
If you want to stay sharp, you'll need to learn, review and provide useful input to the contract engineers designs. Ask why they did things the way they did. Challenge them. This is more important than some degree.

 

[xnuke]

For those of you who have asked or commented, a professional master's degree is one where the student doesn't do a thesis, i.e., it isn't a research-based degree. A professional engineering education program is usually based on either coursework only or coursework plus a project. Some universities call these degrees "Master of Engineering" rather than "Master of Science", but in many universities the degree is simply "Master of Science" whether or not you do a thesis. In the U.S., most master's degree programs are not accredited by ABET-EAC but rather fall under the school's overall accreditation by a different agency, so the type of degree, professional or academic, has no influence on accreditation.

In many companies, whether or not a thesis was written is immaterial unless you're applying for an R&D job. It may also matter if you think you might want to attend a PhD program someday, as applicants who have written a thesis will usually have an advantage over those who haven't when applications are reviewed. A professional master's degree is typically a terminal degree.

Since you're a recent graduate, a master's degree is probably immaterial when it comes to switching from public to private sector since your technical background is probably still pretty fresh. Simply mention in cover letters and interviews that you'd like to be designing (or whatever type of position you're seeking) rather than managing projects, and are seeking a career change into private industry for this reason. If you'd been doing nothing but project engineering for the last ten-fifteen years, the MS might make you a better candidate.

xnuke
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