Ask the Experts:
Choosing Between Bachelor's
and Master's Degrees

Question:

I just graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Education, but I no longer want to be a teacher. I'd like to be a programmer. I've decided to return to school, but should I pursue a Bachelor's of Science or Master's in Information Systems?

First Answer:

Having a Bachelor's degree may help you start the program at the Master's level. It does depend on the program. If you're interested in Computer Programmer as a career, you need certain prerequisites to take higher level programming courses. It depends what classes you had while completing your undergraduate degree. Having an education degree could be helpful for being a TA while you take the programming courses. Also, you could teach computer courses, work for a company that tutors in remedial subjects. There are many related areas that you can do without teaching in a traditional classroom. Those are just a few ideas.

I'd definitely talk to an academic advisor for the programs which are of interest. And I'd contact your Career Office for your undergraduate institution…they'll have even more on career options for you.

-- Marcia Merrill, the Assistant Director for Career Development and Placement Center at Loyola College in Maryland

Second Answer:

I would say neither. Without more information on your background, I'm left wondering about your intent to change careers so dramatically when you're just starting out. Were you sure you wanted to be a teacher when you started your first degree program? How can you be sure you want to be a programmer? Are you hiding behind a career as a student? Blunt rhetoric, maybe. But important for you to reflect on? Definitely.

Decisions in life are often so difficult to make, that it's easy to follow the most obvious path. However, so you don't end up at the end of another long, straight road that dead ends into confusion, instead of recommending a degree, I'll encourage you to break out the road map first.

Pit Stop #1: Why did you pursue an Education degree in the first place? Make sure you're not walking away from the career for what might be a wrong reason (parents pushing you, not sure you'll make enough money etc.) Or perhaps you can't picture finding value in a traditional teaching career. Think about combining careers--teaching IT courses is always an option.

Pit Stop #2: Maybe student teaching was a wake-up call for you. Maybe you just have a newfound interest in IT. Either way, how can you be sure programming is the career for you? Before spending several more years pursuing an IT education, spend some time talking to IT professionals. Schedule a series of informational interviews. Contact professionals who are doing what you think you'd like to do. Ask for 30 minutes of their time to find out what the day-to-day job is really like. What's on their calendars? What do they like about their jobs? What do they despise?

Pit Stop #3: Since you can't really know if you'll like a job or a career until you're actually doing it, you might also try working in an entry-level position in IT and learn as you go. You'll be able to see all aspects of the profession. Perhaps programming might not be your calling but IT security is more appealing instead. You'll also find that graduate education is often more beneficial after you have a few years of work experience under your belt.

After all of this searching, you may end up on "Programmer Avenue." And if you do, that's great. But if you take the time to gain experience and explore your otions before jumping right into another degree program, the pit stops along the way will ensure that there will always be many roads to follow.

-- Susan Strayer, Assistant Director, Career Services, School of Professional Studies in Business and Education at the Johns Hopkins University and founder and President of University and Career Decisions

Third Answer:

Being a former engineer, and having hired hundreds of software engineers and I/S professionals through the years, I have strong feelings on preparation for any technical discipline. However, I first contacted my good friend, Gary Cifatte, President and CEO of Boxwall Software, Inc. - I hired Gary a few years back as a Senior Software Engineer. His advice is technical - it needs to be - and touches upon architecture issues, industry trends, and coursework. Gary's response:

With the current emphasis in industry being rebuilding internal departments and outsourcing the development efforts, your focus should be on the design and operation of Geographical Information Systems that will facilitate and ease integration. Implementing a solid support system will allow technical as well as non-technical people the ability to understand, utilize and maximize the benefit of the system as well as apply their own specific knowledge.

The new industry buzz is .NET - the next generation of software based on the best of the Visual Basic and C++ languages. Addressing the 'DLL hell' problem, bypassing registry issues and mismatched components, .NET solutions will be heavily sought after. In addition, a strong knowledge of object-oriented design, exposure to web development tools (such as JRun), and resolving issues of load as traffic demands increase are all essential. In the past when lag time was encountered the solution was to throw more hardware at the problem. Now tighter code, marshalling of threads and managing apartments, and making routines non-thread dependent are not only required but the lack of these skills doom most large projects due to the inability to quickly render data and content to the end user.

And while the latest compilers handle almost everything from memory management to garbage collection, an understanding of Assembler, pointers and memory usage is also beneficial. When the 'undocumented feature' appears deep in a module you don't have source for, being able to read the assembly code helps isolate the problem.

There are literally hundreds of qualified candidates with a BS in Computer Science, but getting them to work together to achieve a common goal requires a higher view of where they fit into the puzzle. A Master's in Information Systems starts you along that path of identifying, designing, and implementing that view.

I'll echo what Gary said in an adage that rings true in any technical discipline, "Think globally, act locally."

Well before creating a functional resume identifying transferable job competencies, anyone making a career change really needs to balance learning the new foundation skills with maintaining a healthy awareness of functional and industry trends. Call it a "career change roadmap" for success - it's always good to know exactly where you're going headed before leaving on a journey.

-- Steve Levy, Principal of outside-the-box Consulting

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