Is it worth it to take Master’s degree now? Will the job market be better in a year?
I am 28 M and planning to take a master’s degree at NTU. I have $75,000 now and unliquidated assets on my small biz that I did during pandemic years, so tally to around $100,000.
Motivation is bec biz is becoming slow and dry already and I am burnt out. I will be paying for my Uni alone and my living expenses. Planning to take interns/part-time work if I will enroll.
Is 28 years old doing a master’s too old? I have an undergrad degree in business- marketing and planning to take MSc IS at NTU. Keen to work on market research and development in SG afterward.
Is this niche? Does having a master’s pay you a higher? How much salary should I expect by then if I push? Previous experiences was in bank and corporate sales and part of my work includes analysis which I really enjoyed doing.
I did market research and study before too. Discovered I like to work on research and data. Aside from possible jobs that I can get in SG with my current degree – merely digital marketing and content creation etc.
Since we are in recession….or going in a recession. Will we expect recovery in a year or so?
Netizens’ comments
- Definitely not too old. I took mine when I was 27 and there were a few students who were even older.
Can’t comment on the rest - From what you shared, it sounds like you’re taking the Masters for career reasons.
I suggest you work backwards.
-Start from listing the jobs you want to do
-Examine the criteria to enter these jobs. If Masters is needed, should consider doing it. If Masters is helpful but not necessary, you may want to see if there are alternatives to get you into the job. If Masters doesn’t help, don’t do it
-Think of backup. If you finish your Masters and it doesn’t get you the job (or you changed your mind and want to pursue something else), what are the other uses of the Masters?
27 is not too late. In fact, most of my peers (including myself), pursued our Masters after working around 2 to 5 years.
Don’t opt for Masters instead of work experience because it is a recession. The opportunity cost is not worth it, unless the Masters open doors to highly lucrative positions (e.g., earning $70k annually, spend $50k on Masters and it helped you to enter a job with annual package of $120k or higher).