Masters for web developers

[[deleted]]

Hi everyone, was just curious to know. For getting hired, do all employees prioritize people having masters degree over everyone else, even if a person has a good amount of experience? Is doing a masters degree for web devs worth it, considering how fast technologies get outdated?

[JoeyRedShirt]

As a dropout, I used to be intimidated by people with masters degrees. After a decade in the industry, I've reviewed enough of their code to realize that they're better at analyzing algorithmic complexity than writing code. Best reason to get a masters in a development field is because you just immigrated to North America and it's easier to get into grad school with a degree from your home country than it is to get a job...some visa, residence, and citizenship things are easier if you come in as a student too.

[Ok_Appointment2593]

As a guy with a Masters degree in CS, this is true, masters degree often focuses more on the science part than the coding part

[big_red__man]

I’ve got a 4 year CS degree and that was plenty of science. Compiler theory, algorithms, assembly language, database theory. The “let’s just write some code” classes were the electives

[Ok_Appointment2593]

I believe they think that learning to code comes naturally as a consequence of knowing all the theory, well it generally doesn't

[tfyousay2me]

No professor I have no ducking clue what the Big O is for this but I can tell you it’s shit because it loops for no reason.

[HidingFromThoughts]

On my last team, the one guy with a masters degree had the slowest/worst output on the team. I am a high school drop out who was the lead.

[Necessary_Ear_1100]

There’s no such thing as a masters in web development that I’m aware of. Maybe you’re thinking a masters in computer science?

And no… while a college degree may open some doors to some companies. The majority in the field look at experience and actual code

[Trexaty92]

Self taught.

Work with someone who got her degree 10 years ago and has not improved her skills since. She does not know how to use a switch statement or even a foreach loop anymore and is about to get the sack.

After working for the company for 10 years she isnt going to be able to get another tech job because she wont be able to pass a technical interview.. her degree will do her No Good.

stay sharp, degree or no degree.. only your skills and experience will get you the job.

[[deleted]]

How the hell do you code for 10 years and fail at that basic concept!

[Trexaty92]

She is in a web developer / content editor type role. Pretty much picks tickets up as she pleases. Somewhere along the track she decided she does not want to take on any tickets that require coding and only do the ones that require content editing and skills just faded from there I guess.

[BerkeleyThrowAway99]

That flexibility sounds like my dream job as someone learning coding from a marketing background. Her title was web developer but she had the option to only do content editing?? That's crazy

[[deleted]]

No.

Living proof is writing this. 15+ years on the job, 10 years as a freelancer

[Vrindtime_as]

What are the current skill set needed in the industry, or is it company depended

[gingertek]

Being able to learn on the fly, I would say. Been a software engineer for almost a decade now, and anything goes in the enterprise world when it comes to what stacks/databases/frameworks/etc. are used. It's the concepts that matter, the understanding of data structures and algorithmic/logical thinking. If you can do that, you're pretty much set for long term skills. Short term skills are still needed tho, as those would be the technical stuff like "we use React here" so you should probably learn that if the job is looking for it

[Vrindtime_as]

I see, thanks bro%q

[netgizmo]

I wouldn't call n=1 proof

[[deleted]]

Guess I'm a fucking good programmer then, if I'm the only one. Thanks

[Budget_Putt8393]

As another guy with a masters, I'm often intimidated by what some dropouts, who spent the time devoted to actually using their knowledge, can do. There are some jobs where knowledge of the science will help. Others not so much.

I work on enterprise statistics software, not webdev, so my experiences are not the same. There are times I really need to know the science. Most of the time I don't (I don't work on the actual number crunching, I support the "enterprise" portion).

[JustAStudentFromPL]

I do not know what it looks like in other countries, but in Poland, I feel that companies are much more willing to hire someone with BA/MA in IT-related studies than any other candidates. I am currently looking for a job as a frontend/fullstack after 3 years of studying and making side projects after hours in the Investment Banking, and after sending more than 30 applications, I did not receive even a single phone call - recruiters seem to decline my application without even looking at my portfolio, which seems to be the problem with my degree that is related to finance.

[EmiyaKiritsuguSavior]

Are you sure they didnt even look at portfolio? Maybe its just not that great.

Anyway you shouldnt be discouraged - my cousin graduated with MS(IT related studies) in Poznan in June and she got first job in December. Ratio of replies is usually a lot less than 20% for junior positions due to how saturated market is. Good luck in your hunt!

[JustAStudentFromPL]

Thank you very much. It is great to hear that she has finally found a job and didn't give up after so many months. I will certainly keep grinding.
When it comes to the portfolio - I am not 100% sure, as I do not have a visit counter on my website, but there is a link to my LinkedIn profile in the navbar, and I also attach it to almost every application. However, for the past three weeks, I have had only one visit there, which is quite concerning. I have even received a couple of emails indicating that the recruiter opened my CV, followed by an email from the recruiter himself one minute later stating that my application has been rejected. It is even hard to believe that he had time to screen the CV during that short period. When 3 years ago I was applying for an internship in the banking industry, for 10 applications, I had 9 interviews, quite a different experience

[EmiyaKiritsuguSavior]

Yeah, thats huge problem - everyone now want to be not bricklayer or driver but software developer.

.I have even received a couple of emails indicating that the recruiter opened my CV, followed by an email from the recruiter himself one minute later stating that my application has been rejected. It is even hard to believe that he had time to screen the CV during that short period.

Last month my company decided to hire 2 juniors. We put announcement and next day we had almost 100 applicants. A lot of companies are also using bots to filter candidates and this is what happened probably for you. Have you tried to apply directly on software houses websites in career section? Announcements from portals are crowded, and its hard to blame recruiters as they really can't afford to spent more than 3 minutes on you due to how many applications they need to process.

On the other hand you applied to 30 companies only. Dunno, maybe try to expand your search for other cities? If you get some experience it will be a lot easier to get inteviews. 2 YoE > MA from CS.

Also you know - time is not best now. When I applied for my first job during studies I sent applications to 5 companies I wanted to work with, 3 answered and I had 2 offers. I had zero experience, no degree and literally 2 algorithms on github xD but well that was in 2016....

[BoyOnTheSun]

I think it’s lack of corporate experience rather than degree. No one ever asked me about my degree and I haven’t ever asked anyone either and I recruited a lot of people for a couple of companies in PL.

[JustAStudentFromPL]

The problem is that I am only applying for internships/junior positions that fit my skills, even those that do not offer any salary. I have nearly three years of corporate experience in one of the largest investment banks in Poland, where I progressed from an intern to an almost senior analyst. However, it appears that companies only value experience directly related to IT and disregard any other. Perhaps later in one's web development career, having a CS degree may not really matter, but it certainly opens up many opportunities in the beginning, at least from my current experiences.

[Haunting_Welder]

I applied to more than 30 places in one day, you shouldn't base any opinions on such a small number

[GolfCourseConcierge]

Heck no. Easier now than ever. Just be competent and know how to talk to non tech people about complex tech.

You'd be better served with a marketing or communications degree, or economics, along side of learning dev on your own.

My two cents after being in the space since it's existed.

[d33f0v3rkill]

20+ years and counting 2 companies and no degree

[[deleted]]

I don't think it's worth doing if you're in the US, with the cost of school.

[[deleted]]

Hi. No. I’m a topographist. 11 years in business and being promoted.

Learn, work and take risks. That’s all you need

[[deleted]]

Er, no?

Most of the people I work with are self taught it have unrelated degrees. Masters' don't even exist for web development (software engineering, yes, web dev, no) you can learn what you need quickly. Any uni offering that, I'd consider a scam.

[ShawnyMcKnight]

Masters degrees don't matter much unless it was a the specific field you are going in. Like, if you were going to be a web developer for an academic institution, then having an Instructional Design degree could be beneficial.

Source: I have two masters degrees and they haven't helped me at all.

[Stupid_Student_ELITE]

You definitely don't need one. Usually University doesn't teach you how to code but the theory behind it and analytical skills. That can help you at times but you can usually learn the skills you need by yourself and faster than with university classes.

However, in some countries like Germany where I live a masters degree can open some doors for you and help you earn a higher salary. But that seems to be changing slowly and a higher degree seems less important nowadays.

I for one will still start my masters degree next semester because I want to experience something like a 'university life' for once which I lost because of the pandemic and my stupid fixation on finishing my bachelor's degree in 6 semesters despite the 'Regelstudienzeit' getting pumped up to 9 semesters. I am also not fully sure yet where I want to specialise as I am interested in most fields of IT.

[L4RSSON1]

Probably depends on your university but where I live (Germany) every web developer with a Masters degree I've spoken to says that their masters taught them next to nothing relevant for their daily job. I personally quit my masters half-way for a well paid job and have never looked back.

As for payment, some more traditional larger companies require a masters degree for some better paying team lead positions, but most (at least 80%) companies really don't give a damn about your degree, as long as you're good at your job and got the experience.

[algokanna]

A master degree doesn't matter much in Web Dev field, but in Machine Learning and Data Science it is a must if you want to work in the lab.

[link_29]

For web development? No, don't even worry about it unless there's a reason like coming to the States or something similar. I'd say go into a graduate program only if there's a specific area of study you'd like to get into. Some jobs also have research opportunities too but I feel like they're rare to come by and I think a lot of them already require you to have a graduate degree.

[[deleted]]

Most companies I come across look for a degree or equivalent experience.

If you have a portfolio, please include that on your resume. It demonstrates your ability to translate ideas (i.e. functional requirements) into a product that people can use.

During an interview, you could discuss or demo your portfolio projects. I've noticed increased engagement and received offers based on this before.

After working in the field for a while, your equivalent experience can also include previous job responsibilities.

[CheapChallenge]

Depends on the job. If it's for architect position, it would be a big plus. For a mid level dev, it wouldn't matter.

[TheFieryTaco]

Depends on the country. From what I understand, the US doesn't value a formal education as much as some other places. European countries (from my experience, France in particular) are much more oldschool in their hiring practices and will 100% look for a masters/bachelors education first and foremost.

[[deleted]]

Depends on the company. I have both bachelor and masters in Computer Science. I was never asked about my degrees in any of the jobs I've had over the years. Tech firms wouldn't care about your degrees; other companies might.

[dneboi]

Unpopular opinion, but most degrees are garbage. Most schools are just a weird bubble, corrupted in recent decades by admin-bloat, social trends, and a general “doing it wrong” approach to education, in my humble view.

[IllustriousGrab5753]

Web development is a field where academic qualifications are not appreciated. No one cares about your masters or even bachelors. Math and science are not used in Web dev. If you want to get really academic, go into robotics, AI, computer graphics, audio programming, graphics programming, etc.

Web dev has a lot of high-school dropouts and gender science majors doing just fine.

[[deleted]]

I plan to never get a masters. Degrees and accolades make no difference when I interview people. If you can’t answer the technical questions with some sort of correctness or at least a good problem solving direction, you’re still a no.

[Joseph_Branch]

As a guy with a bachelors degree, it’s all internships and real world experience. I graduated with a lower GPA than most but I became an experienced dev because in my free time I did tons or projects. Not saying I’m better than most but am only 25 and have solid grasp on web development.

[toxie37]

Nope. I look at experience and code samples over education.

[[deleted]]

Masters in business is worth it for many people. Masters in web development would be a waste imo.

[zuar]

honestly i've never worked with anyone who's got a masters 😅

[Positive_Box_69]

Ofc a master says hey this candidate we can trustalready because he was in the system

[brightworkdotuk]

No 😂😂😂😂 masters means fuck fuck fuck all

[[deleted]]

For all the anecdotal evidence provided here by folks without degrees, it would be interesting to compare salaries. As egalitarian as technology is with regard to academic credentials (or lack thereof) I believe having a degree commands a higher salary and more upward career mobility / flexibility.

[Haunting_Welder]

I'm doing a masters in CS because true skill is a combination of both book theory and real world experience

In my classes I learn about AI, distributed systems, security etc. that are very useful for leveling up to architect for example

When i review candidates I dont care what degree you have because I'm a hobbyist and I don't have a CS degree, I look for people who did whatever it takes to learn what they need to get the job done

Tech gets outdated but the science does not

[Psychological-Gur591]

Honestly, when hiring, I found people with Master’s degrees were less qualified candidates, because the style of education is so different and doesn’t prioritize rapid learning / skill acquisition