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If salary is your primary consideration, a "harder" degree, such as computer science, is probably a better choice, particularly if you are already in tech. If you're already in a technical role, I wouldn't personally recommend an MIS degree for career advancement. I'd recommend either a Masters in Comp Sci or Data Science if you want to remain technical, or an MBA if you want to pursue management. The exceptions are in very large corporations or government agencies where any graduate degree is beneficial bureaucratically, and/or where they have the types of bureaucratic processes that an MIS degree might actually help you navigate. In most companies there isn't the level of bureaucratic process that benefits from training to address.
What you can do with an MIS degree will largely depend on what your current background is, or what sort of internships you can get while getting your degree. In the tech world, an "MIS" degree is considered a pretty soft degree and does not command the respect of a computer science degree. I'd say that a Masters in MIS is actually considered less valuable than a bachelor's degree in computer science from a school with a respected computer science program.
That said, if you're changing from outside of tech, the salaries you can get from even a relatively soft degree might be attractive. What you're able to get, job-wise, after getting an MIS will depend a lot on how you can position yourself. If you have experience managing even non-IT projects, and could talk about tech after the degree and positioned yourself as a project manager you might be able to get $80k. If you had a background suitable to be a product manager, perhaps a bit more, depending on the product. If you have a solid history of managing people and projects, even in a non-IT area, you might be able to make a case for program manager, which could pay more.
On the other hand, if you have no management experience, no previous tech experience, and can't get a handle on talking about tech, an entry-level project manager could start in the $45k range.
So, in summary, like a lot of things in life, an MIS degree will be what you can make of it. It won't carry the weight of a more technical degree, and may not even open very many extra doors at heavily tech-oriented companies that pay the best, but if you can talk a good story about what your capabilities are, it could be used to get into some decent tracks depending on your expectations.
Disclosure:
I have the equivalent of a masters MIS degree from the Extension School at Harvard, which actually cost me less than the degree at DePaul even counting the costs of spending a semester in Cambridge. I didn't get the degree for career advancement, I got it because I was considering moving abroad and a masters degree granted by an internationally recognized university is beneficial when seeing residency visas in many countries.
This is informative. He is already doing something IT related, although it isn't programming. His salary is already in the high 5 figures as well.
I am asking the question on the behalf of my 28 year old nephew that is thinking about pursuing the degree to complement his IT background. He wants to go into consulting, ideally with Accenture or Deloitte, but is open to any job that would basically pay him to travel or work in another city or country.
My sister was a consultant for Accenture - she didn't have a tech background, she was a biology major. I've met many consultants from her team and most of them have no tech background except for a couple guys who were really hardcore technical and I surmised doing all the heavy lifting.
This is what I figure is Accenture's business model - they hire these smart, jovial, non-tech grads as the "face" of the team. These consultants usually graduated from prestigious schools like Columbia, Harvard, Cal, etc; but have degrees in majors that are hard but don't pay well (like biology, physics). They train them to have just enough technical skill to be useful and can throw technical jargons in front of clients, all the while paying them below market salary of a real techie. They like to hire them straight out of college so they can be brainwashed before they know any better.
Behind the scene, lies some very technical folks who are doing most of the heaving lifting, they are the "engine", the real stars of the team.
It sounds like your nephew wants to be the "engine". So for him, he should really focus on being as technical as he can be. So yes, I agree with the other poster that he probably should major in computer science instead of MIS.
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I was confused by some of the comments until I realized that I used my real name as my username. My name is Richard Johnson and I was born in 1969. I am 46 years old.
I am asking the question on the behalf of my 28 year old nephew that is thinking about pursuing the degree to complement his IT background. He wants to go into consulting, ideally with Accenture or Deloitte, but is open to any job that would basically pay him to travel or work in another city or country.
A top 10 MBA degree would complement his IT background much better if he wants to get into consulting.
A value of a online MBA is worth about the paper it's printed on.
An MBA from a top school will open a lot of doors into the consulting world. About 3 years ago I took a job right outside NYC and the company I worked for paid 100% tuition reimbursement to 8k plus more if your management signed off on it. The company had agreements with several universities. Two of these were Columbia and NYU, I was all set to do the executive MBA programs at one of these two schools. I didn't even look at the other programs, and it was because of the reputation of these schools and the doors they will open. I MBA from a local school will open a couple of doors, an MBA from U of Chicago will have people calling you, there is a huge difference.
A value of a online MBA is worth about the paper it's printed on.
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That's not entirely true. Yes, if it's differentiated by the University, it won't open as many doors as an MBA done full-time or even part-time on campus, but if you're a dedicated student you will learn a lot and having it on your resume will give you some preference in the application process. I'm not aware of any exclusively online programs that tend to attract the big consulting firms, but even if that's part of the motivation for the person DickJohnson69 is talking about, that's not the only reason to get an MBA for people in general. But like anything, go in with your eyes open.
Another thing to keep in mind about online degrees is that it is much harder to get the sort of student interaction you get with even a part-time in-person program, and with a degree like an MBA that interaction with fellow students is a very important part of your education. In a good program, with smart fellow students you can end up learning as much, maybe even more, from your fellow students as you do from the curriculum itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellhead
An MBA from a local school will open a couple of doors, an MBA from U of Chicago will have people calling you, there is a huge difference.
Yes. If you can get into a global program like those at Booth or Kellogg, they will open far more doors than an MBA from a small state school or a for-profit school will. Personally I think an MBA from a for-profit school is unlikely to be worth the money, time and effort, but there could be a case made for an MBA from a small state school if they had good teaching and the price was low enough and you understood the limitations of such a degree when it comes to things where brand is important. And in this particular thread it's worth noting that brand is very important to consultants.
My sister was a consultant for Accenture - she didn't have a tech background, she was a biology major. I've met many consultants from her team and most of them have no tech background except for a couple guys who were really hardcore technical and I surmised doing all the heavy lifting.
This is what I figure is Accenture's business model - they hire these smart, jovial, non-tech grads as the "face" of the team. These consultants usually graduated from prestigious schools like Columbia, Harvard, Cal, etc; but have degrees in majors that are hard but don't pay well (like biology, physics). They train them to have just enough technical skill to be useful and can throw technical jargons in front of clients, all the while paying them below market salary of a real techie. They like to hire them straight out of college so they can be brainwashed before they know any better.
Behind the scene, lies some very technical folks who are doing most of the heaving lifting, they are the "engine", the real stars of the team.
It sounds like your nephew wants to be the "engine". So for him, he should really focus on being as technical as he can be. So yes, I agree with the other poster that he probably should major in computer science instead of MIS.
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He doesn't want to be the "engine". He wants to do project management or become an IT manager/director.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellhead
A top 10 MBA degree would complement his IT background much better if he wants to get into consulting.
Yes, we all know a full-time top 10 MBA opens doors. However, most people can't get into a top 10 MBA or don't want to give up their current salary plus benefits only to pay $100,000+ in tuition and living expenses for two years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by emathias
That's not entirely true. Yes, if it's differentiated by the University, it won't open as many doors as an MBA done full-time or even part-time on campus, but if you're a dedicated student you will learn a lot and having it on your resume will give you some preference in the application process. I'm not aware of any exclusively online programs that tend to attract the big consulting firms, but even if that's part of the motivation for the person DickJohnson69 is talking about, that's not the only reason to get an MBA for people in general. But like anything, go in with your eyes open.
Another thing to keep in mind about online degrees is that it is much harder to get the sort of student interaction you get with even a part-time in-person program, and with a degree like an MBA that interaction with fellow students is a very important part of your education. In a good program, with smart fellow students you can end up learning as much, maybe even more, from your fellow students as you do from the curriculum itself.
Yes. If you can get into a global program like those at Booth or Kellogg, they will open far more doors than an MBA from a small state school or a for-profit school will. Personally I think an MBA from a for-profit school is unlikely to be worth the money, time and effort, but there could be a case made for an MBA from a small state school if they had good teaching and the price was low enough and you understood the limitations of such a degree when it comes to things where brand is important. And in this particular thread it's worth noting that brand is very important to consultants.
Yes, we know for profit universities are a joke.
What about The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign? It is the best public university in the state and its MBA program is ranked in the Top 50 by US News. Its online MBA degree is exactly the same as the in person full time one.
A top 10 MBA is unlikely. If I remember correctly, his undergraduate GPA is only around 3.0 and he isn't a good test taker. I think he said he typically scores around the 60th percentile when it comes to standardized tests.
Keep in mind that he already has a decent job that pays in the high 5 figures. He is looking for that catalyst that will boost his earnings to over $120,000 a year.
He doesn't want to be the "engine". He wants to do project management or become an IT manager/director.
Yes, we all know a full-time top 10 MBA opens doors. However, most people can't get into a top 10 MBA or don't want to give up their current salary plus benefits only to pay $100,000+ in tuition and living expenses for two years.
Yes, we know for profit universities are a joke.
What about The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign? It is the best public university in the state and its MBA program is ranked in the Top 50 by US News. Its online MBA degree is exactly the same as the in person full time one.
A top 10 MBA is unlikely. If I remember correctly, his undergraduate GPA is only around 3.0 and he isn't a good test taker. I think he said he typically scores around the 60th percentile when it comes to standardized tests.
Keep in mind that he already has a decent job that pays in the high 5 figures. He is looking for that catalyst that will boost his earnings to over $120,000 a year.
Honestly, if he can't get into a top ten MBA program and doesn't want to do a comp sci masters, his best route to get to $120k is just hard, smart work. You don't need to be in consulting to earn $120k per year.
I was confused by some of the comments until I realized that I used my real name as my username. My name is Richard Johnson and I was born in 1969. I am 46 years old.
I am asking the question on the behalf of my 28 year old nephew that is thinking about pursuing the degree to complement his IT background. He wants to go into consulting, ideally with Accenture or Deloitte, but is open to any job that would basically pay him to travel or work in another city or country.
You have a 28 year old nephew who is already in IT and have to post an IT educational question for him to C-D, of all places, when there are innumerable IT forums out there that are better suited for the question and to which he should be able to post to himself?
I'll add to that that both UofC/Booth and Northwestern/Kellogg offer excellent part-time MBAs, with admissions that are geared toward experienced professionals. Doing a grad degree part-time is a lot of work, but I know people from both programs who have done will with those degrees. Also, if money is the main drive, experienced software architects earn as much or more than a lot of technology managers. A technical software architect level person in the financial trading industry could fairly easily earn in the $250k range, and potentially a lot more if they have a strong math background. To earn that much as a manager in most tech departments you have to be the CTO.
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