Which degree would be better for me, Masters in IA or MIS?

I am currently a Molecular Biologist for a privately held vaccine company. I am becoming aware that I have hit a ceiling in my current position with the company and there aren't too many opportunities to move up in my current field in this area of the country.

A year ago I decided to go back to school for a degree in an IT field and I discovered the MS in MIS degree at a local University. I found that they had certificate programs that would give you a degree with fewer classes and allow you to continue with a Masters degree upon completion. I ended up settling on a certificate in Information Assurance because I was told there was extremely high demand in the field and it seemed more interesting than systems analysis and design.

I will finish my certificate in a year. Upon completion, the classes I have taken will either apply towards the IA concentration in an MIS degree or I can continue with the newly developed MS in IA. The MS in IA has two separate tracks, the systems track and the management and policy track.

My career goal at this point is to eventually get into a management position on the corporate side. My questions are, which degree would allow me to transition to a higher-level (paying) position and which would allow me to move up more quickly in my career? I have been sitting in the same position for eight years and I need to make up for lost time.

 

This is one of those posts that does not have a nice clean answer. Here's the answer that I've got. No one knows. No one knows anything about you or your experience or your credentials or your company or what you've been doing or your town/area/state and what opportunities might be available to you now or in the future regardless of which path you choose. I'm sure that others will chime in and hopefully they will be more positive in the sense that it might be possible to foretell the future. They might be able to tell you, "I know a guy who did this..." and maybe you'll wonder if that has any bearing on you and your situation. In short, I'm telling you that you've asked an unrealistic question and you should be careful about how much credence you place on any answers (even mine). Here's my answer (part 2)

1) decide how far you're willing to travel to get the job you want.
2) do a search on the companies that seem attractive to you (for whatever reason)
3) look at the administrative hierarchy and figure out who does what and imagine how you might fit in. which job would you like?
4) look at the degrees of the people who hold those jobs
5) do what they did.

the problem is that i'll bet you'll find no consistent pattern. people with degrees in xyz doing jobs that require knowledge of abc or even lmno. you see (in my experience) the corporate world doesn't really give a damn about degrees. they care about competence, drive, ambition, etc. i'm sorry that you feel that you wasted eight years.

 

I agree with Kizmet and I would also recommend you see what the job market in your area looks like in the IA field. Is it a hotbed for IA jobs or will you have to relocate? Additionally, for whatever jobs you are looking for, look at what the current job postings require (minimum years of experience, areas of expertise, and certifications, etc).

I remember seeing you post this question on LinkedIn too with a lot of good answers; however, I'd highly advise you to post the same question on Techexams IT Jobs / Degrees forum as well (IT Jobs / Degrees Forums) and I guarantee you will get many solid answers.

As a side note, you many not even need to consider a graduate degree in IA or IS at this point in your career. You would get more value from tackling the necessary certifications for IA and getting some good working experience in the industry under your belt. Even though you don't qualify for the experience requirements, you should consider studying for and taking the CISSP to earn your CISSP Associate credential since it is clear you have the aptitude to do so being a Molecular Biologist. The CISSP will definitely open up doors for you. Best of luck!

 

According to me if you are interested in management than for you maters in MIS will be better for you. You can manage whole computer system by identifying which are the best action to take for the system so according to me Masters in MIS is better for you.

 

I suggest Master of Science in Information Technology Software Engineering 12-month degree program for junior engineers who have at least one year of experience and are interested in enhancing their software engineering development and leadership skills.

 

I'm going to have to concur with Kizmet in that you've asked a somewhat loaded question and without a lot more detail about your professional and education experience, any answer is probably going to be too anecdotal or too ambiguous to be very helpful. I'd recommend you not count out your experience and/or achievement in your present role as having distinct value in an IT field. I was a biology major in college, couldn't get a job, didn't want to go to grad school, and started working in IT, and have been in the field now for 16 years. I'm in healthcare IT, and many IT pros in my industry have come from professional backgrounds other than IT or even business and have been quite successful. As Kizmet said, when I hire, I look more for ambition, aptitude for learning and mastering new technologies and concepts, and dedication to quality.

I see a lot of folks chasing after careers on the "hottest IT job" lists as a means to change their present situation, and a lot of times that ends up in disappointment, for them or their future employers. IA is a hot field right now, but you have to consider that a great many of the high-paying jobs are aligned with government (defense, in particular) and may not be located near you. Many IA practitioners will also tell you that experience is going to trump a degree any day of the week - that's true in any IT field, really. Sounds like you're going to be a career-changer, so at least in IT, you're going to have to gain some credibility by getting your hands dirty and learning IT operations at a technical, hands-on (not theoretical or academic only) level before you can understand what goes into managing technology or technologists. Bottom line, it's going to take some humility and hard work on your side, but if IA is really what you want to do, you can definitely make a career out of it. I think you definitely need to WANT to do it though, since the IA field is also pretty competitive and previous experience with enterprise technologies, software, and systems design are necessary even to understand the policy and management side of IA. As another poster mentioned, many positions will require certification, and many of the desired certifications (CISSP - Associate, for example) require work experience in one of the BOK domains. And that poster also had some great advice - a cert in many cases holds more water and is more valuable in representing your knowledge and ability than a degree. I know several IA folks in senior IA management positions that have NO college degree (some have military experience, some just work experience), and only certs like the CISSP or CISA/CISM. I wish you luck, and I think you've got a lot of opportunity if you pursue an IA career because you think it's interesting and challenging!

 

The Master of Accountancy (M.Ac.) is a nonthesis program that requires a total of 30 semester hours beyond the BBA.