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41 Years old looking to go back to school to receive MS. Looking for advice!

Mech5656

Mechanical
Joined
Aug 2, 2014
Messages
130
Location
US
Dear Engineers,

I am from California and received my BS degree in Mechanical Engineering about 15 years ago. I have worked in operations, project management, sales and repairs of industrial equipment.

Now, I am looking to go back to school to receive MS degree mainly because I want to do technical (actual Engineering) work. This two years of studying in college will give me the opportunity to hone my engineering skills like CAD, Simulation, FEA, research and analysis. I am hoping to get back on track and find Engineering job.

My biggest challenge will be loss of income (120K/yr) from my current job. With kids and stay home wife, it will be hard to pay home mortgage and other bills. I know there is an option to take online classes but I do not learn from online classes and will need to take in-person classes only. I am planning to look for financial aid, asked my current employer if I can work online (part-time), work in college, etc. For those of you, who went back to college for MS (in early 40s), how was your experience and what were the roadblocks? How did you manage to generate income while studying for MS?
 
I got my Master's going part time (in-person classes) while working full time, in my 20's, unmarried. It was a 3 year slog. Many employers will pay tuition if you are working full time.

If you go the full time work/part time school route, suggest looking for a Master's program that does not require a thesis.

Do you have a school within reasonable driving distance?
 
Hi SW,

Thanks for the comments and sharing your experience. I will be planning to go to same college where I received my BS degree, which is about 30 minutes drive from where I live. Thanks!
 
If I may be so bold, I vote "no."

Me: BSME, +2 yrs work, entered full-time for Master degree, +30 yrs at various firms, then +11 yrs teaching Engineering at the University level. Now ferociously retired. Having the Master degree opened many doors that would not have been opened. I was unattached during pursuit of the Master. I enjoyed the luxury of total focus to devote the time & effort needed to get the paper. I needed that, because it was hard. When I was 41, it would have been impossible due to challenging family issues at the time. This path served me well. But I'm a oddball because my focus was supporting my family, not accumulating wealth.

If it was me, I wouldn't burden your family with loss of income at this time in your life. Being available to build happy memories with your kids and spouse is important.

You imply your plan for career growth (you made an actual plan, right?) requires re-skilling and up-skilling. The skills development and academic work can (mostly) all be done online, part-time, or self-taught. It might even result in an advanced degree, given enough time. However I advise to avoid the modern tendency towards credentialism. Compared to verifiable skills, a solid resume, and expanded knowledge, I think the degree is unnecessary. You have seasoning and organizational skills as a foundation. Those qualities are usually valuable to a company who is seeking to build depth in their bench.
 
One issue you may face is that even with the MS, you may find employers most interested in your previous work history rather than your MS. So you may still find it easiest to get jobs in "operations, project management, sales and repairs of industrial equipment".
One issue you may face is that with the new degree, jobs directly relating to that degree may all be "entry level", not "fifteen years experience".
Ideally, you'd go get your MS in a specialty related to what you've been doing, while having a job waiting for you when you're done.

I went directly from BS to MS long ago. It was all good and fine, but I ultimately wound up working in a field not very related to my MS. So extra-education was good, but not because it related to the work I did.

If I had known where I was going to wind up working, there are several technical problems I'd like to investigate that might have made good thesis-projects, but without that foresight, there wasn't a clear topic of interest to jump on.

I got my PE about 10 years after I got out of college. In studying for the tests, it is amazing how much you forget in fields you're not using. So if you've been doing a bunch of management-type stuff, beware the math, etc. And they may have updated their undergrad courses considerably in the meantime, too.
 
To me if sounds like digging yourself into a quarter-million dollar hole that you won't be able to fill back in, let alone build anything on top of it.

If you have savings that can cover your mortgage for two years while not working you'll almost certainly be better off using that to pay down your mortgage sooner while working.
 
This is a tough one, on one hand I get it, you went to school for engineering, you want to go back and do engineering. Forgetting the cost, time, and family effects for a minute, what has lead you to this? Are you unhappy in your current position, or are you more just thinking 'what if?'. If you're unhappy in your current role, that may provide a better reason to consider the change, rather than simply wondering what could have been.

I did my undergrad and graduate degree in environmental engineering, focusing on wastewater treatment. I went into manufacturing for several years before I was hired onto a role in engineering, but instead of environmental, I was doing structural work. I was in this role for nearly 10 years before I asked myself the 'what if' question, and started a new role in consulting engineering with a focus on public works. What I've found is that it's exceptionally difficult to learn, or relearn all of these ideas, procedures, and processes when you've been working in a different professional capacity for a considerable amount of time. Secondly, you'll be humbled a lot if you do a career switch at this point, and don't expect a pay increase, as noted above, you'll likely need to consider yourself as an elementary contributor and start at the bottom and work up again, are you prepared for that?
 
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If you have savings that can cover your mortgage for two years while not working you'll almost certainly be better off using that to pay down your mortgage sooner while working.
Alternately, flush out your retirement savings and go FIRE, particularly if there's something soul-sucking about what you're doing right now.
 
Thanks to all who are commenting and providing insights. I just want to add that I have about 100K in my retirement savings. Thanks!
 

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