Is there any benefit to a 2nd MSc?

Roro4Brit

I had asked for advice but decided against it myself, but I said I'd come back for some educated opinions before I completely rule this out.

I already have an MSc in Marketing, but I still feel like there is a lot of skills / knowledge I could learn from doing another masters. I have a good job in a great company in their marketing department.

Is there any point in doing another masters considering the financial and personal investment required?

I'm currently looking at 2 in Smurfit

MSc in ibusiness: http://www.smurfitschool.ie/mastersp...ionthroughict/

and the MSc in Business Analytics http://www.smurfitschool.ie/mastersp...nessanalytics/

I know both are rather different, but both interest me, and my undergrad is in Mathematics so I hope would qualify me for the Bus Analytics course.

Would this be a crazy thing to do? Should I try source some more short courses that are more specific and directly relevant to my job?

I intend to do the MBA some day - but I think a good few years more experience, oh yeah, and €30k.

Thoughts appreciated.

Cannibal Ox

Have you looked at the Open University? If you want to do an MBA someday, and you have a job, and a masters, I'm not sure it'd be worth giving up your job now to do another masters unless it was going to open up a new career for you. If all you want to do is learn more, you could just learn it yourself but if you want/need a qualification certifying you in a particular area, then maybe you should look into doing it around your job.

gollem_1975

of course there is a benefit to doing a second masters. you will probably learn some new stuff, make some new contacts .
the opportunity cost of this is time you could spend developing your personal and professional life.

I'd say in 10 years time there will be loads of people who have masters and a good few that will also have done 2 "masters" ( i.e. one year full-time taught masters ). Who is to say if they will look back in ten years and say it was worth doing them.

what benefit are you looking to get out of the masters ?

if someone ( e.g. an employer ) asked you why did you want to do a second masters what would you say ?

if I was you I would concentrate on the job and enjoying yourself in your free time. perhaps do an MBA a few years down the line once you have a few years management/life experience under your belt.

kob29

Yea I agree that there are benefits, but find a way to do it without quitting your job definitely. In fact id be inclined to get management interested in your plans and the benefits to them and they may help financially or with study leave etc.

I have a BA and an MA and am now working on a BSc in a related but not the same area purely to build up a wider skills and knowledge base because the area interests me and i can see potential income and opportunities there.

Roro4Brit

Thanks for the input guys.

First I definitely will not be leaving my job to pursue a 2nd masters. I left my full time job to get my first one so I've made that sacrifice before.

I'd be intending to do it part time over 2 years. The reason I want to do it is because I think that while my previous MSc gave me a great view of the marketing world and ultimately secured me my current job, there is still so much to learn in terms of knowledge and skills in order to develop to senior management eventually.

At the same time, I want to be totally sure that it will be of a genuine benefit to me. From an employment perspective, I'd guess that the paper value of 2 masters would be no different to just having 1, but what I learn from a different masters would hopefully help me distinguish myself in the long run.

Maybe focusing on some on-the-job opportunities and thinking MBA in the long run would be best...

Odysseus

Just form my own viewpoint yes I think so, I'm just about to start another Maters, it's about 8 years sine I compled my Research MA, I'm a psychotherapist and my area is quite broard. So I'm starting an MSc this Sept and I'm looking at doing a third Masters when I finish that before I get around to my PhD.

It's all learning and I do think that it will benefit your career, well in my case in anyway

ramblingcelt

I did my first masters in IT and second one was an MBA. Value depends on how you measure it. Was useful to me as I wanted to get into management and consulting.

If thinking of doing an MBA have a look at MBA courses abroad, better value, higher rankings and cheaper! Make sure they are well accredited.

If doing a masters here, have a look at the government subsidised ones as listed at http://www.hea.ie/en/skills+funding Some are part-time as well.

Your maths abaility and business will be very attractive to employers but remember there will be a lot of unemployed bankers floating around for jobs in the near future!

ardmacha

Leaving aside MBA style general management which has a lot of competition from people looking for jobs, do not underestimate the scope for specialist work. Marketing is by and large an immature and innumerate discipline. Yet there is enormous amounts of information of potential value for marketing purposes in web logs, databases etc, yet most marketeers are poorly positioned to do more than scratch the surface of this, it just isn't part of their way of thinking. The programmes you are looking at have an imformation analysis approach that goes beyond that common in marketing. That said you probably already have some of that approach from your maths training.