<p>gatorjacket, most of the folks we hire have masters degrees. Some on our staff have only undergraduate training (sometimes with continuing education), and they contribute. But, they have told me that themselves that the discussions often go beyond their body of knowledge. To be a true practitioner in this field, plan on having an MS, OR before you’re 30. </p>
<p>If money is a problem, most companies pay for people to get their MS part time. (I got mine part time on the GI bill, but my classes were filled with people who were funded by their employers.) Actually, now that I think of it, my son (Systems engineering class of '07) is doing a masters right now on his company nickel. </p>
<p>Salaries seem to be quite generous in this field. I think there is a supply/demand imbalance in our favor. For whatever reason, if you plug ‘operations research’ into salary.com, you will be pleasantly surprised. Six figures is not unusual, either on that site or in my experience. </p>
<p>After about ten years in the field you would qualify for a government job in the YD-3 level. That pay band starts (in Washington, DC) at 95K and goes up to 156K. Private industry gets paid comparably.</p>