> What sort of benefits come from getting a Masters

Google will hire you to work on moving protobufs around as an L4, instead of an L3.

A lot of job requirements that I see ask for Masters or PhD, so you’re hitting the minimum requirement plus giving yourself a shot of having applicable work experience (read: doesn’t write spaghetti code). That said, there’s probably a huge selection bias due to my background.

I believe a masters has helped me stand out as a candidate at least. Plus, I learned a great deal about computer engineering! The fundamentals have come in handy.

As someone who hires, my opinion is the exact opposite. A masters is good, but a PhD is at least a yellow flag.

It helped me get a visa for Italy (I took part in a startup accelerator program).

Other than that not much else... I mean you learn things, but you could also learn things from watching YouTube, doing courses and reading books!

I've also seen people do PhD's and from the outside it seems like a lot of them did it just for the title - one of my friends though seems to love Academia and is now a professor.

Machine learning could be hardware as well. I'm in integrated circuit design and there are lots of custom hardware AI accelerators in development. Almost all of the new grads we hire have a masters degree in electrical or computer engineering (not computer science)

A Masters can help with work visas and gaining residencies in some countries