Over Supply of CS Grads?

Rivet2000
Tue, 21 May 2024 15:21:24 +0000

Midwestmom2022:

Question about masters degrees… what is driving the demand for masters degrees? Is a masters degree considered a baseline requirement in the tech industry? Or is it just a chance to specialize more deeply in one aspect of CS (like ML or AI)? Or is it a chance to have another internship round? Or all of the above?

It would be interesting to hear from others, but my feeling is that as overall employment for CS majors tightens companies can more easily pick MS over CS.

For ML/AI type positions, specifically, that extra experience gained in grad schools (project experience, opportunity to publish papers, etc) is valuable to employers. Also, if you scan job listings for ML/AI you will see lots of requirements for PhD/MS and publications at leading conferences. I think this is generally true for the high visibility ML/AI jobs.

Midwestmom2022:

Internships aimed at undergrad seem to be more data analytics than CS.

Internships for college freshmen and sophomores have always been the hardest to land and it’s becoming even more difficult as companies lower the number of internships they offer.

Midwestmom2022:

bachelors degrees in CS were outnumbered about 3-to-1 by masters degrees.

This is interesting. Could it be that in times of a tight jobs market there is refuge in grad school?

Midwestmom2022:

you shouldn’t pay for a more advanced degree, if you really need one, your employer will pay for it. (Maybe that is part of the prestige/selectivity effect – – maybe Harvey Mudd kids aren’t having a problem finding jobs.)

Times change very quickly - 2021 hiring environment very differt from now. IMO.

ChoatieMom:

Army requires it as a pre-req for advancement in the Cyber branch (not all branches have this requirement).

Interesting that some branches still have it as a pre-req. Post-hiring advancement in most private/public companies are primarily driven by accomplishments within the organization and not necessarily tied to getting an additional degree. At one company I’m very familiar with employees with BS degrees and 4 yrs experience receive same pay as many (not all) PhD new hires.