people who have multiple degrees

[bjcheung77]

What I usually recommend is to do a balanced mix/match approach of certs, degree, experience... If you're lacking in one of those three areas, you'll have to work harder on the other two to make up for that. It really depends on the person as well, some demographics will play in variables, such as age, field of study, education and/or experience, etc. Try to get the trifecta as balanced as you want it, some like to have more of one than the others...

[Duneranger]

Many large companies treat a Masters as 2 years experience and a Doctorate as 4. So having more experience means more money. Simple math.

Also losing 2 years of income and potentially student loans. PhDs aren't that common in the corporate world for a reason.

[NotJoeBiden]

Many large companies treat a Masters as 2 years experience and a Doctorate as 4. So having more experience means more money. Simple math.

Also losing 2 years of income and potentially student loans. PhDs aren't that common in the corporate world for a reason.

Most people here are doing additional degrees concurrent to work, so the economics for that are different that people pursuing education full time.

If your employer covers the cost, then loans are no issue. It makes sense to take advantage of that benefit if it exists since education -> experience -> $$$.

If an employer gives a 3% raise for each year experience, then spending money out of pocket now is an investment in the future as well.

[ifomonay]

For me, only one bachelor's, four master's, and one Ph.D. I plan on doing two more masters, Statistics at Purdue, then Data Science (leaning towards the $25k program at BU), then I'm done. My degrees are two in engineering, two in CS, and two in management. The engineering degrees are absolutely by far the most helpful. I think it's those that keep getting me the jobs. The two degrees in management were the most useless. Those didn't help me at all. The Ph.D. isn't helping because it's from a non-flagship state school. My friend (jokingly) tells me that I did my Ph.D. at "Podunk U." lol. I read that there are seven new Ph.D. grads for every new tenure track position. Plus I work in the industry. Fixing bugs and releasing products are their priority. They don't need researchers in product development. They need engineers or devs who can build stuff. I think a Ph.D. will help in the future when I get older and get pushed out of the industry. I can retire to the boonies somewhere and teach part-time.
About whether too many degrees are overkill, I do think some recruiters view it that way. I leave the management degrees off my resume since I found them the least helpful for tech jobs.

[Duneranger]

Many large companies treat a Masters as 2 years experience and a Doctorate as 4. So having more experience means more money. Simple math.

Also losing 2 years of income and potentially student loans. PhDs aren't that common in the corporate world for a reason.

Most people here are doing additional degrees concurrent to work, so the economics for that are different that people pursuing education full time.

If your employer covers the cost, then loans are no issue. It makes sense to take advantage of that benefit if it exists since education -> experience -> $$$.

If an employer gives a 3% raise for each year experience, then spending money out of pocket now is an investment in the future as well.

Traditional PhDs, as in the VAST majority of PhDs (not talking about Liberty online shenanigans or an EdD from Nowhere State University or for profit money grabs) are full time gigs with maaaybe TA work on the side. The amount of online options are extremely minimal due to the nature of the degree. Now I am NOT talking about DNP, DBA, EdD or other professional doctorates. I am talking about PhDs.

Not generally something you can do with a full time job. In the UK there were more part-time PhD options but then again these were expensive and 5-7 year commitments.

I think there is a large disconnect on this board for what a PhD is and isn't. This isn't the same thing as going to a part time evening or online masters program nor is it the same thing as someone rushing through a UMPI degree in 8 weeks. For sure you should work and do these types of degrees on the side. A PhD is a different animal.

Again, in most circumstances, it's a losing situation when pursuing a PhD. People have this mindset that a PhD is like a slightly harder online BA/MA degree, which isn't the case. I doubt an employer is going to fund a 100K+ PhD for starters....\

A PhD is going to help minimally in most careers, Missing out on years of income isn't worth it nor is some employer going to let you go on a multi year sabbatical to finish one (unless you are military).

[NotJoeBiden]

Many large companies treat a Masters as 2 years experience and a Doctorate as 4. So having more experience means more money. Simple math.

Also losing 2 years of income and potentially student loans. PhDs aren't that common in the corporate world for a reason.

Most people here are doing additional degrees concurrent to work, so the economics for that are different that people pursuing education full time.

If your employer covers the cost, then loans are no issue. It makes sense to take advantage of that benefit if it exists since education -> experience -> $$$.

If an employer gives a 3% raise for each year experience, then spending money out of pocket now is an investment in the future as well.

Traditional PhDs, as in the VAST majority of PhDs (not talking about Liberty online shenanigans or an EdD from Nowhere State University or for profit money grabs) are full time gigs with maaaybe TA work on the side. The amount of online options are extremely minimal due to the nature of the degree. Now I am NOT talking about DNP, DBA, EdD or other professional doctorates. I am talking about PhDs.

Not generally something you can do with a full time job. In the UK there were more part-time PhD options but then again these were expensive and 5-7 year commitments.

I think there is a large disconnect on this board for what a PhD is and isn't. This isn't the same thing as going to a part time evening or online masters program nor is it the same thing as someone rushing through a UMPI degree in 8 weeks. For sure you should work and do these types of degrees on the side. A PhD is a different animal.

Again, in most circumstances, it's a losing situation when pursuing a PhD. People have this mindset that a PhD is like a slightly harder online BA/MA degree, which isn't the case. I doubt an employer is going to fund a 100K+ PhD for starters....\

A PhD is going to help minimally in most careers, Missing out on years of income isn't worth it nor is some employer going to let you go on a multi year sabbatical to finish one (unless you are military).

There are employers who fund PhDs as well as people on research grants who get funding while working. It isnt unheard of. Many public research labs do this as well as large companies who want experts.

Europe is an interesting one to mention, because many universities offer PhDs through prior publication, basically granting a doctorate quickly for prior work. It is just as valid as any other PhD and a similar path to an industry PhD as we see in the US.

Some of the schools mentioned on this forum are not as rigorous or acclaimed as others, but education and employment in the US is broken. Degrees cost too much, employers require degrees for work that doesn’t need it, PIs preventing graduation so they can continue their research, and companies that longer pay a living wage even with a degree.

Ive seen people get a masters and get 20k more, and their masters work was all work they were doing for their job already. Simply attaining that credential was what management wanted.

[Duneranger]

Many large companies treat a Masters as 2 years experience and a Doctorate as 4. So having more experience means more money. Simple math.

Also losing 2 years of income and potentially student loans. PhDs aren't that common in the corporate world for a reason.

Most people here are doing additional degrees concurrent to work, so the economics for that are different that people pursuing education full time.

If your employer covers the cost, then loans are no issue. It makes sense to take advantage of that benefit if it exists since education -> experience -> $$$.

If an employer gives a 3% raise for each year experience, then spending money out of pocket now is an investment in the future as well.

Traditional PhDs, as in the VAST majority of PhDs (not talking about Liberty online shenanigans or an EdD from Nowhere State University or for profit money grabs) are full time gigs with maaaybe TA work on the side. The amount of online options are extremely minimal due to the nature of the degree. Now I am NOT talking about DNP, DBA, EdD or other professional doctorates. I am talking about PhDs.

Not generally something you can do with a full time job. In the UK there were more part-time PhD options but then again these were expensive and 5-7 year commitments.

I think there is a large disconnect on this board for what a PhD is and isn't. This isn't the same thing as going to a part time evening or online masters program nor is it the same thing as someone rushing through a UMPI degree in 8 weeks. For sure you should work and do these types of degrees on the side. A PhD is a different animal.

Again, in most circumstances, it's a losing situation when pursuing a PhD. People have this mindset that a PhD is like a slightly harder online BA/MA degree, which isn't the case. I doubt an employer is going to fund a 100K+ PhD for starters....\

A PhD is going to help minimally in most careers, Missing out on years of income isn't worth it nor is some employer going to let you go on a multi year sabbatical to finish one (unless you are military).

There are employers who fund PhDs as well as people on research grants who get funding while working. It isnt unheard of. Many public research labs do this as well as large companies who want experts.

Europe is an interesting one to mention, because many universities offer PhDs through prior publication, basically granting a doctorate quickly for prior work. It is just as valid as any other PhD and a similar path to an industry PhD as we see in the US.

Some of the schools mentioned on this forum are not as rigorous or acclaimed as others, but education and employment in the US is broken. Degrees cost too much, employers require degrees for work that doesn’t need it, PIs preventing graduation so they can continue their research, and companies that longer pay a living wage even with a degree.

Ive seen people get a masters and get 20k more, and their masters work was all work they were doing for their job already. Simply attaining that credential was what management wanted.

I mean there are ALWAYS anecdotes and exceptions, but most of these don't apply to degree accelerators on this forum. These are insanely qualified candidates competing for 1-2 slots.

I got an MA in the EU, again, the vast majority of PhDs are not like this...

Yeah? A lot of people get a master's and get nothing, degree inflation is quickly becoming a thing. There are TONS of unemployed PhDs out there.

I believe in practicality and pragmatism.

A doctorate by and large is not necessary (unless it's some painful personal goal) and the ROI is not there.

[newdegree]

I have 2 associate's, 1 bachelor's, 4 master's, one doctorate, and one post-graduate certificate and I am working on my second doctorate.
Honestly, at first, I just wanted a bachelor's degree but when I was able to get grants and scholarships for my first two master's degrees (criminal justice and Urban Affairs) I just completed them since I did not have to pay out of pocket. Then I found out about the new MPA program over at Excelsior College (now Excelsior University) which back then allowed 33 out of 36 transfer credits. I was able to transfer 27 credits and only had to complete 9 credits so I did the degree for fun. Skip over to the following year the VUL doctorate came around so the thought of completing a doctorate in a year was appealing along with the price tag of 15k so I did it and completed it. At around the same time, the 3k Hellenic American Univerity MBA came around and I doubled up on classes since it was cheap and I did not want to let the opportunity pass by.

Now the catch-22... I never used any of my degrees for my field. I work in the Law field so my degrees do not help me with what I do but it's more of an achievement and to keep my brain busy. Expense wise I have spent about 20k on degrees over 5 years which is not bad. I am always down to learn something new even if I don't use it as I never know when I will need that knowledge.

[TINASAM]

I'm currently in the middle of some graduate credits / degrees, but at the end of this mess I will have two associate degrees, a bachelor's, three master degrees, and a Ph.D. The master degrees let me do lower level college teaching remotely as an adjunct and I have zero need for tenure track or anything other than adjunct work. The Ph.D. will allow me to do upper level teaching and help lend some better credibly to me teaching than with just my masters', as well as give me a boost if I ever want to do in-person teaching locally (which I do not think my health would allow, but it'd give me the opportunity).

[Randyb100]

I'm currently in the middle of some graduate credits / degrees, but at the end of this mess I will have two associate degrees, a bachelor's, three master degrees, and a Ph.D. The master degrees let me do lower level college teaching remotely as an adjunct and I have zero need for tenure track or anything other than adjunct work. The Ph.D. will allow me to do upper level teaching and help lend some better credibly to me teaching than with just my masters', as well as give me a boost if I ever want to do in-person teaching locally (which I do not think my health would allow, but it'd give me the opportunity).

This is my plan but I was looking at doing a bunch of graduate certificates if I can find more that have at least 18 credit hours. Otherwise I'd have to do 2 similar ones or another degree to qualify to be an adjunct.

Did you pay out of pocket? I'm assuming most of these people just took out grad loans. There's tons of stories of people with 500k+ in debt that's just forgiven after PSLF or 20 years all over the internet.