@roachmeister said:
Thanks everyone for your replies. It seems that the general concensus is that, unless I want to work in R&D, the Masters probably isn't necessary.
So, next question: what about certifications? The Air Force provides me with free online training towards such things as Microsoft certification, Sun Java certification, A++, etc. Are these worth the effort? If so, which ones?
If the Air Force is paying for it I'd go ahead and get your masters - one thing I've realized over the past 15 years is that you can't code forever. The Carpel Tunnel and Tendonitis set in and your eyesight goes to crap. I'm not there yet - but I've done it long enough to have started to think about those things. With a masters degree and 18 masters level credits you can always be a college professor - it's a good field to fall back on (the pay is ok and the hours are awesome). In Virginia the requirement is 5 Courses a semester and 10 office hours per week (That's only a 25 - 35 hour work week - oh and summers are optional)...
After being in the private sector awhile - the common consensus nowadays is that the certifications show initiative but are very overrated. I've interviewed guys with more certs than Billy Gates, but they couldn't even tell me what a string variable was. Once again however - if the Air Force is payin I'd probably do it if I had the time...