One could be convinced that even without a special master’s degree in information technology one can succeed very well in the IT field. But this is not quite true. Let’s try to prove it.
1. Professional Growth Is Based on Proven Competences
A common objection to further study sounds approximately so: “I already work in a good company and in an excellent team, I already make good money, and I’m satisfied with everything. And you really can’t argue with that: the person is happy with everything. But only a few years will pass, and if you do not grow intellectually, your career growth will also be in question. The bigger is business, the greater is the importance of all sorts of diplomas, certificates, degrees, and other badges of honor that signal to HR services that the person deserves promotion and salary… In medium and large companies, where there is at least the slightest competition among employees, when there is a vacancy for promotion, the choice will be made in favor of the more educated. If only because it is easier for the boss to explain his decision: “Sorry, you are both good, but you only have an elementary higher education…”
2. Work Without Burning Out
The professional argument that experts often talk about: even a very creative and inspired work overtime turns into a routine, and in a few years courage and ardor are replaced by a creative burnout. A person feels like a “slave”: the work is boring and there is nowhere to go because he can only do what he did yesterday and is doing now… One could retrain, but by this time a person usually has a family to support… And the work itself eats up all the time, leaving no opportunity to learn: “The flow has taken over!” Master’s program gives you a broader perspective, increases erudition, focuses on analysis and reflection, forms critical thinking and creative skills. With more competencies and a wider field of vision, it is much easier to change jobs and switch to new areas of professional activity, avoiding the very same “creative burnout.”
By the way, short-sighted employers for this reason if not directly prohibit to study further, then at least dissuade from it and fix all sorts of obstacles: a more qualified specialist is more difficult to keep in the same place for several years…
3. Formalities in Reality
Another very boring argument that one does not think much about at age 20. Now in our country standards of professional activity are being developed and started to be applied, which prescribe not only what an employee should know and be able to do in his field, what functions to perform and what he should be responsible for, but they also prescribe the level of education, which allows him to take even small managerial positions. For example, to manage a project, one should have a master’s degree. Soon these standards will become mandatory, at least at large enterprises and state-owned companies. In a few years, the ability to move up the career ladder in big business without a master’s degree will become very problematic. But even for small businesses, and freelancers, the lack of specialists with a master’s degree can be an obstacle to winning a tender for software development or implementation of the project.
4. Everything Must Be Done in Time, Including Learning
And then we come to the next argument: the younger a person is, the easier it is to learn. If you postpone the master program “for later”, besides the family and home, which will demand more and more time and money, you will have to break yourself: from a pro become an apprentice, listen to others, not yourself, make decisions of others, not your own… And in general, the brain is not tuned to learn. At the same time, you will have to take entrance exams, and an adult programmer usually has already forgotten all the diffusers, and Cauchy theorem, and tensors… You can, of course, remember it all, but you have to compete with yesterday’s students, who just beat their hands, passing the state exam…
5. Professional Skills and Networking
It is possible to give also a very disputable argument, but which, nevertheless, “works” in practice: during studies not only new knowledge, abilities, and skills are formed, but also new contacts and connections. According to surveys of graduates of master’s programs, among the main advantages of studies was invariably named among the main ones the formation of professional environment professionals with whom you are friends “not by correspondence”, and whom you “saw in action”. Of course, the Internet is a wonderful information platform, but sometimes the virtual image is very far from the real one. And classmates who know each other offline, as a rule, call each other back and consult each other, get recommendations and advice, find new and more interesting and attractive jobs. Without going through school together and only through “virtual friendship,” it is very difficult to join this professional community.
6. Learning to Learn
There’s another very seemingly weighty statement against studying: “Things are moving so fast in the IT field that master’s programs teach ‘yesterday’s day’…” That was probably true a few years ago. But now a master’s program mostly teaches how to learn, which means that a master’s degree graduate will be more successful in perceiving new things and possessing self-learning skills. Teachers from business, not only to share their experience but also to teach the graduate “for himself”, forming the actual competencies, come to the magistracy. In addition, the super-task of modern master’s programs is to form a lifelong “dependence” on learning, on obtaining new knowledge. And then there is no doubt that the career will be very successful.
That’s It!
The logic behind a two-step education is that the student, studying at the undergraduate level, acquires the basic knowledge to perform a certain job with confidence. Then he enters a master’s program to gain more specialized knowledge. Thus, a master’s degree can be used to deepen knowledge in one’s specialty or to learn a new profession. That is, upon graduation, the student will have a better idea of where to apply all the knowledge he or she has acquired.
