Master's degree and hiring?

[unreal]

Hi everybody,

I'm looking for some information about just how useful a Master's degree would be in getting a flying job down the line. Currently I'm a CFI and have some nice tuition benefits that are going to basically pay for a Master's. I have a Bachelor's at the moment, but people with Bachelor's degrees are a dime a dozen these days. Will a post-graduate degree give me a bit of an edge, or will I just be checking the same "I have a degree" box everyone else has?

For the record, the degree is a Master of Science in Management, with a concentration that has absolutely nothing to do with aviation (thank god).

Thanks!

 

[LittleDeuce]

Masters Degree

I think most would say a Masters Degree although a great credential, will not unnecessarily help you get a flying job, per se.
Having said that, I certainly think it looks great on a resume and if you have an opportunity to get one for free you would be foolish to pass it up.
I have mine, working on a second, no regrets!

 

[Princedietrich]

If you've got the opportunity to get a Master's on someone else's dime, then by all means go for it. It won't do much towards getting you a flying job, but it will put you infinitely higher on the list of candidates for airline management if you want to go that route. It would also make an excellent "plan B" in case things get wierd in the industry again.

 

[avbug]

Good Lord! Look at the weather! Nobody could get through this tonight, and the serum must be here, or everybody will die! Thank heavens we have the one pilot on the staff with a master's degree to make the flight!

Lucky it was Bobby with the Master's degree in that one. Anybody else would have been killed!

Sir, our hydraulic fluid is gone, our bleed air has failed. We've lost our generators and inverters. I'm sick and we've both eaten the fish. Thank God you have a master's degree.

Ed, I can't figure this thing out. It's all screwed up. If we can't get this FMS up and running before our ETA, we're probably not going to make it. Luckily, you have a master's degree.

I don't know how much air goes in those tires. Go ask Pat. He's the one with the master's degree.

Robert, we would normally have had you wait the full three years to upgrade, just like anybody else. We realize you only have half the hours and no experience, but dang it man you have a master's degree. Welcome to command!

Frank, I can't take the stress. They've cut the pension fund, we're looking at two more hours delay for a mechanical, I hear rumors of a strike, and that phone call I got from my wife was her leaving me. With the goldfish. You have a master's degree. What should I do?

A master's degree is generally a prerequisite to teach. Not to fly. If you want a flying job, learn how to fly. A master's degree is not required to teach people how to fly. Do I care what kind of degree you have? Not in the slightest. Do I care if you can fly? Intensely. So does your boss.

 

[Fearless Tower]

For the record, the degree is a Master of Science in Management, with a concentration that has absolutely nothing to do with aviation (thank god).

Thanks!

As Avbug pointed out, the MS in Management probably isn't going to help you flying, BUT it is awful nice to have when the inevitable day comes that you can't or don't wish to continue flying for a living.

 

[unreal]

Thanks for the information everybody. I figured that it wouldn't help too much, but hey, anything to get my resume a second look I guess, eh?

Avbug: Thanks for the illustration, but the same things can be said about a Bachelor's degree. Airlines still like that as a prerequisite just the same, and I don't need to tell you that.

 

[Swass]

I don't think he asked if having a Master's would make him fly better. He asked if it would help him get a job down the line, all things being equal I think it would give you an edge.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Education is a wonderful thing. No one can take it away from you. Perhaps you could apply that money towards a program that completes with a Master and a PhD.

You can never have too much education and I think it will help smooth over other things that may raise issues during an interview by giving you extra points.

The purpose of an education is not only the pedagogical aspect of it where you are formally taught things and subsequently acquire the knowledge. It also demonstrates to an employer that you can dedication yourself to an endeavour and complete it to a certain acceptable level.

 

[avbug]

You can never have too much education and I think it will help smooth over other things that may raise issues during an interview by giving you extra points.

I've met a few folks who were a little too educated for their own good. I'm working with a few of them right now, come to think of it.

The purpose of an education is not only the pedagogical aspect of it

Ah, yeah, lessee. Pedagogical. Would that be the art of watching people walk, or selling sunglases. Those darn five dollar words. You educated guy are really something.

It also demonstrates to an employer that you can dedication yourself to an endeavour and complete it to a certain acceptable level.

Or that you have too much time on your hands and couldn't find anything productive to do.

Education is a wonderful thing.

Never make the mistake of equating education to learning, or attempting to correlate a degree with intelligence or wisdom. One is not necessarily the other. Education provides a degree, paper, and the accolades of letters beside one's name. Letters are a wonderful thing. Apparently.

No one can take it away from you.

Oh, yes they can! However, few would want to...because the only person to whom it's of any worth is the one holding the little piece of paper which as transformed them from a mere uneducated clot into the holder of a degree. Much like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.

Wilbur, you slept with my daughter and ate my wife's fruitcake. I like you. Orville, you bought a type rating just for this job, and wore a blue suit. I like blue suits. This is going to be close. Wilbur, we both go to the same church and I saw you paying your last cent to orphans at the charity drive last thursday. I was impressed. Orville, I saw you feeding the orphans and giving them candied yams with your grandmother's heirloom fork. I was touched. Wilbur, I see the experience of your years creased into the lines of your face, as though you are a chiseled monument to flight. Orville, your first hundred hours took place while still in your mother's womb; flying is in your blood, son. This is a very hard choice. I can only hire one of you, and I love you both as my own sons. Wilbur, you hit three fly balls in a row, but Orville, you wear my wife's favorite cologne. Wilbur, you can recite all the presidents in order and say the Lord's prayer in French. Orville, you can make little animals from balloons. Gentlemen, it's close. Very close. What it comes down to is this. Orville has a masters degree, and I have to go with him. Wilbur, try not to let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

 

[RichardRambone]

How about getting an MBA in entrepeunership and bailing from flying as a career? Any thoughts?