

Is Pursuing a Masters Degree in BIS or MIS Worth It? - kg10

Question: Is pursuing a Masters Degree in BIS (Business and Information Systems) and/or MIS worth the time and money if the end goal is to be better prepared to be CTO of a tech startup?
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aherlambang
Everything depends on what you want to do and what your previous
experience/education are. I am currently pursuing a MS in MIS and have a BS in
CS, I do feel like it is a good combination. I have a good exposure of what
Business Intelligence are, learned machine learning, project management. Is it
worth the money? It depends again on what you want to do in the future. If you
want to climb up a company ladder, then maybe it will be worthed. It might
even be more worthed to join into a Entrepreneur program rather than MIS if
you want to be more involved in a startup

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kg10
I currently have a BSIT with a concentration in Web Applications (SQL, PHP,
etc) and minored in Management. I am already involved with a startup and I'm
narrowing down my choices on whether or not to go back to school and learn.

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aherlambang
May I know why you want to go back to school? Are you planning to create your
own startup in the future or work at a startup? Or work at big companies?

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kg10
There's a few reasons really so to be brief - I want to go back so I have less
time thinking about my current career (50-60+ hours a week - no ownership),
and more time thinking about a startup I am directly involved in while gaining
hands-on experience towards an MSMIS or MSBIS. Basically, I want all my cards
dealt to a startup rather than half of them since the other half is dealt to
my current career. You may ask why I can't just jump straight into the startup
and the answer to that is, because I'm repaying loans (private/federal) and
paying bills. However, if I go back to school, I can defer the loans and gain
financial aid which can be used towards other home expenses like rent, etc. I
hope this explains it a bit better..

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JoachimSchipper
That sounds like you're digging yourself deeply into debt, especially if the
startup fails (as most do).

You know more about your situation than I do, but tread carefully.

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kg10
you're right about the debt. that's definitely a big factor which is why I've
been contemplating on whether or not to take this route and why I asked about
it here.. I will, thanks.

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18pfsmt
Getting some more color from your responses, I would have to say it is not
worth it unless you intend to climb a corporate ladder. Otherwise, I think it
would be more practical to learn this stuff from a person already experienced
while on the job at an early stage startup and/ or established company (both
would be preferable). After all, these types degrees will not help you build a
successful startup directly, but they will directly aid in your resume and
allow you to be a more desirable employee (which it sounds you are trying to
get away from).

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kg10
appreciate the feedback. you've made a few key points that i overlooked -
thanks. as for being desirable, i'm trying to get away from that employer
because though i work 50-60 hour work weeks, i have little to no growth
because the job entails a number of tasks that insult my intelligence. (mind
you I've been working for this employer since inception, 3 years ago)

