Merit of a Masters in STEM jobs

[spectastic]

I've been told my multiple professors that a Master's will not get you anywhere as far as research jobs. However, I've seen many job postings in R&D that are open to bachelors, but show preference towards Masters students. Granted, these are more support roles, but what are the odds that a Master's level employee stays in that same position in 3 years? One could argue that those three years experience will be worth more to a company than a PhD with no industry experience.

I know this overlaps with the "overqualified phd" thread, but I still think it deserves a topic of its own. How does a Masters help you compared to a PhD in industry?

[juilletmercredi]

Well, it depends on what research jobs we're talking about, but I think your professors are generally wrong.

For leadership jobs in industry - and jobs at top employers - a PhD might be the necessary credential. If you're doing cutting-edge work, leading a research group, managing other researchers, basically doing work that's really similar to being a university professor (other than that pesky teaching part) then you'll probably need a PhD.

But there are lots of research positions in industry that only require an MS. It kind of depends on the job.

[spectastic]

16 hours ago, juilletmercredi said:

Well, it depends on what research jobs we're talking about, but I think your professors are generally wrong.

For leadership jobs in industry - and jobs at top employers - a PhD might be the necessary credential. If you're doing cutting-edge work, leading a research group, managing other researchers, basically doing work that's really similar to being a university professor (other than that pesky teaching part) then you'll probably need a PhD.

But there are lots of research positions in industry that only require an MS. It kind of depends on the job.

what types of research are done by masters level people? are they mostly oriented around research support? what types of upward mobilities are associated with these types of careers?