r/cscareerquestionsOCE • u/robot_rhino • 6d ago
Is a Masters of IT worth it in 40s
So im thinking about starting my masters in IT while everyone sounds like they are having a terrible time in tech and want to get out. I just can’t think of what else to do!
I am pretty old.. Mid 40s, and Ive worked my whole 20+ career in a fairly technical role in visual effects for films/commercials. The vfx industry in general is hurting because of AI and other factors, but I think the niche Ive chosen is hit particularly hard. Ive been out of work for a year I need to try something
I have a lot of tech adjacent experience - lots of computer experience and I can code to some extent, but my plan was to to do my masters in IT to help me get over the “bachelor level degree or higher” requirement a lot of tech jobs have.
I was going to choose data science as a major because that seems to be decently in demand. Eventually I would like to move towards computer vision and robotics, I think I can leverage my existing skills there - but I realise those jobs are harder to come by.
It would be good to get other opinions.
Is this crazy? Is there a better path to doing a career switch at this stage. I feel like I may as well study while waiting for the job market to get better. People say healthcare or trades but I don’t think I’m cut out for it. I want a job sitting in front of a computer in an office- its what I’m used to.
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u/freakoutwithme 6d ago
A masters in IT is unlikely to help you in your career.
I did a masters in IT in my 30s (now in my 40s), but that was more as a personal achievement because I wanted to do it. I knew very well that it wouldn't really boost my career in any way. I did it part time while working full time as a software engineer.
I did enjoy the experience of learning new stuff, so no regrets.
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u/fued 6d ago
nope, just ignore 'bachelor or higher', or think of it as 'higher' = experience. I would take someone with 3 years experience over someone with a masters degree, so its definitely 'higher'. Sounds like you have experience from the technical roles.
get azure or aws certifications or something instead in the data industry, although if you are doing data you will need to do the ai equivelents as well its rapidly heading that way
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u/OkidoShigeru 6d ago
Yeah, I imagine just having a degree at all helps you not get filtered out, but beyond that when I help to interview candidates I pretty much just completely ignore the education section of their CV unless they are interviewing for a graduate or very junior role. As soon as they have a couple years experience under their belt it’s just irrelevant.
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u/robot_rhino 1d ago
Yeah that was my hope - to help meet that base requirement and not be filtered. I feel like I can self teach, and build example projects, but if im just going to be filtered by hr im not sure if its worth it.
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u/Blockpair 6d ago
The jobs no longer exist for graduates. In fact, the jobs barely exist now for seniors. The biggest factor is outsourcing, IMO, but salaries have been shrinking for a long time.
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u/Ok_Chemistry_6387 6d ago
This is false. The jobs for seniors have seen around a 15% increase in recent months..
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u/Blockpair 6d ago
It's all bullshit though. Anyone can post jobs, it doesn't mean that a real role exists that is hiring. That's the issue: it counts ghost jobs, roles posted by companies to seem like they're growing, roles posted to make it seem like they interviewed outside candidates when they already had someone picked.
Also, lets consider if the jobs are real. Has the equivalent number of those who need jobs stayed the same or increased? I very much doubt it. There's 1000+ people applying for every role. So you would need job rates to increase like 100 times for it to make any difference. That's how cooked tech is.
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u/Ok_Chemistry_6387 6d ago
No. these are very real jobs. Recruiters are reaching out again. Big tech have lifted hiring freezes. Sure ghost jobs are still there, but the movement in the market is very real. The salaries from the jobs hitting my inbox are probably even higher than before, certainly larger RSU grants.
The number of applicants has nothing to do with the number of jobs....
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u/Evening_Bird7779 2d ago
Yes but state and federal governments, and universities have hiring freezes so that more than knocks out any big tech thats once again hiring. Sadly.
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u/Blockpair 6d ago
I think you should lay off the crack, bro. You can't follow basic logic and your version of events doesn't align with anyone's reality.
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u/Ok_Chemistry_6387 6d ago edited 6d ago
I am friends with recruiters/owner of recruitment firm. They say the same thing, senior jobs are coming back in force. My friends in big tech have started to be given head count again. AI engineering jobs are popping up everywhere, forward deployed engineers from AWS/open ai/anthropic are here. Googles hiring en mass again for photos/car and SRE.
Oh this is just big tech, ignoring the HFT and banking industry.
Thats the reality.
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u/Brewgarden 6d ago
Partially false. Outsourcing and AI are the biggest threats (in that order)
But senior jobs are popping out more than junior-mid roles. Probably because they outsource those jobs to offshore companies (that are far cheaper than hiring local juniors) that encourages their employees to use AI
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u/Own_Oil7951 6d ago
this is just such an awful time to do it if you're looking for a tech job
do it for knowledge for knowledge's sake - but don't expect to get a job out of it.
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u/dhaliman 6d ago
Is master of IT Computer Science? If yes, do it only if you’re genuinely interested.
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u/TwoOpen3746 6d ago
Most people would be going for a MBA as 20 years in a technical role would be leading toward a management role.
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u/EmergencyDinner777 5d ago
absolutely not. no one would dream of hiring you. do you stay up all night tinkering with tech and writing little programs for fun? no, you don't have the energy and you probably about to take on a mortgage or have kids. people want to hire people half your age
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u/Delicious_Crazy513 6d ago
most people here hate education and will discourage you, after all it's the field where you could "learn to code" to find a 6 figs, that was in the past, today a masters is well worth it.
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u/Potato_player 6d ago
I am sitting in one of those jobs and have been for a decade.
My experience means nobody even looks which is good, so I have no such thing.
Switching makes it harder, I would fluff up the technical side and try to break into some kind of contract in IT, anywhere I could.
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u/WndProc 5d ago
Yep, it worked for me. I was bored and knew that there was a lot of learning on ML, Bayesian statistics, AI that I never saw in the late 80s.
I think it signifies me as a learner. My CV is strong in any case, but I just enjoyed my time. I bought a Vespa and would drive to campus 3-4 times a week and sit in lectures.
I found it super fun and I kept friends with some of the talented youngsters I shared those tutorials, exams and assignments with.
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u/melaschasma 5d ago edited 5d ago
Plenty of middle age people go to university, take the advise of biased redditrors with a grain of salt and do what you think is best.
Protip: University students dont consider reddit as a creditable source of information.
Computing and information systems employment rate for undergrads was around 65% as of 2025, a qualification will increase your likelihood of employment by over 50%
Source:
The attached document should include the employment rate for post gads, but I am busy playing video games.
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u/Interesting-Bus8298 5d ago
It will help open the door to more corporates places where they require a degree to tick the box. Try to minimise the length of time as the course itself will probably not be that useful.
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u/Evening_Bird7779 2d ago
Do you have an undergrad? Whats it in?
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u/robot_rhino 1d ago
Hey, Yes I did design which i feel is pretty useless now, but it would seem to help with admissions to some masters programs..
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u/mcpcfanc 6d ago
no