Whether to get a master's in data science - I'm a pretty basic data analyst now.

[J Boogie]

Putting this out there for everyone who works in tech or something like it.

I work at a major corporation as a packaging data analyst.  I studied business, graduated in 2008, ate shit for a few years, temped at my current place of work for 3 years, got hired FT, and these days I make close to 70k. 

Many of my peers are baby boomers with enough tribal/legacy systems knowledge to do their current jobs well.  I want to break out of the pack moreso than I have already (I've gotten the usual incremental promotion at the usual time) and I think it's gonna take more than my slightly above average vlookup skills to do it.  Also, I don't want to get into management.  I'd rather pursue the expert in my field route than the supervisor route.  I'm good at public speaking and getting along with people but no interest in management.

I found a program (brick and mortar from a locally respected university) that doesn't require any previous tech coursework or work history.

Question is, will this combine well with my data analyst background to get me to that data scientist role (80-140k) I'm interested in? Or am I better off staying the course as my salary gradually increases?

Torn because I'm also totally obsessed with woodworking and I have a toddler + wife (she works from home and makes ~50k.  We have a nanny)  I'd have almost no time for woodworking for the next 3 years if I do it part time.  Not too realistic to leave my job to study FT right now.


Anyone have any thoughts?

[Louisville]

Go for it. My (Fortune 500) organization is hiring "data scientists" hand over fist. I work in data warehousing/business intelligence, been doing it years. These guys with data science type degrees are doing about the same work as me, but hiring in for a lot more money.
Check bls.gov for projected growth and income for the field. It looks pretty good.
And be ready (more than ready) to move to a new job with a different company to pump up your salary. That old idea about company loyalty paving the way to success doesn't apply anymore (if it ever did).

[LifeHappens]

Do you actually need the degree to move up, or just the skills? Coursera offers a Data Scientist specialization you can finish in 6-9 months. Check it out and see if that would help you advance your career.

[nereo]

I'll +1 the idea of using Coursera (or similar) MOOC to increase your skills.  I did something similar when university courses weren't available to me and it was pretty helpful - both in teaching me things I didn't know but also giving me clarity on what areas I needed more direct guidance in.

Also agree that data management is a huge and expanding field, and experience can only help job prospects down the road.

FWIW my experience has been with learning R and SQL for managing large environmental datasets.

[J Boogie]

Do you actually need the degree to move up, or just the skills? Coursera offers a Data Scientist specialization you can finish in 6-9 months. Check it out and see if that would help you advance your career.

Unfortunately enough, I tend to think it's the degree in my case.  Though I'm an analyst and I seek it out, I don't have many opportunities to use SQL or anything beyond rudimentary non-query data extracts from programs. 

Maybe hiring managers or similar out there could chime in on the value of MOOCs/treehouse/coursera on a resume.  I personally can't see it benefiting me when there's no real world experience to prove I can do it.  It's very expensive, but a master's will communicate that a respected institution has vouched for my having learned this subject thoroughly.

[PizzaSteve]

Not sure i have an opinion, but i did review a study several years ago that said your field will be the #1 demand growth skill capegory in the US for the next decade or so, with up to a million new jobs.  Sadly many more basic office worker jobs are projected to disappear, so net things mayget a bit more grim for the traditional basic white collar skills.

[dreams_and_discoveries]

My answer could be it depends; I work (and sometimes recruit) in data, and to be honest degrees aren't really something I look for, I value experience and aptitude much more. I think most tech people can teach themselves much better than a degree would, and MOOC's are the way forward to learn new skills, followed by liberal use of stackoverflow to resolve queries.

What do you do on a day to day basis? If you've got Access, you can start doing T-SQL for the queries you'd usually use Excel for. How's your VBA, which I often see as a gateway language to further programming skills. Most analyst roles have tons of opportunities for upskilling yourself, and automating reports/processes with tools your company already has in house.

[BeanCounter]

I work in healthcare and we cannot find enough data analysts. Every single job posting we put out says "masters preferred" and if it's director level or above they are requiring a masters. Most of the applicants have it. So I think it would be a very good idea for you to go ahead and do it, unless you're going to have to take on a bunch of debt for graduate tuition.
I do not have my masters. Once I got my CPA I didn't bother to finish it. I've done well because of the CPA, but if I had it to do over again I would have finished my masters so that the box was checked. It feels awkward when I'm in board meetings and people are doing introductions that include "I did my undergrad here and my masters here". At this point I am way to close to FI to bother spending the time on finishing the classes.