Many Tech Pros Don’t See the Merits of Advanced Degrees

Holding a Master’s degree is often considered a must-have for young job seekers if they have any hope of landing a federal job. But according to a recent survey by Dice.com, the majority of IT workers aren’t seeing these advanced degrees as critical to their careers.

The survey found that just 32 percent of IT workers think that having an MBA will be important to future tech careers, while 52 percent said an MBA is unnecessary. Sixteen percent of IT pros had no opinion on whether an MBA degree mattered for the future.

Meanwhile, those who saw the value in an advanced degree cited the benefit of combining business knowledge with technical skills, the additional career marketability and greater likelihood of advancing into management, Dice found. Those IT pros who saw no value in an MBA mostly agreed that technical expertise would continue to outweigh the benefits of having general business knowledge.

Among those IT pros who hold an MBA (9 percent of respondents), higher pay was the top reported impact of their degree, just ahead of “no impact,” Dice found. Technology professionals with an MBA said the degrees helped them move into management or obtain employment at their preferred organization.

And for those tech professionals without an advanced degree, only 19 percent said they plan to get an MBA in the future.

What are your thoughts? Are MBAs critical to obtaining an IT job and getting ahead at your agency? What does this mean for the future, particularly if IT pros see little value in obtaining an MBA?