In general, having an MS in CS is a disadvantage.
See, it only takes a year to get a Masters degree. Your BS underneath the Masters can be in anything at all.
While having a Bachelors in CS shows me the person actually went through a rigorous 4 year program, there's just no way you'll become a programmer in just the one year of a Masters degree program. Especially considering how watered down the little programming you'll actually do in an academic environment is.
The industry joke is "the higher the degree, the less they know". Less than 1 in 3 IT people have a college degree. And the people with Master Degrees in C.S. tend to do the lowest paying, lowest status jobs.
I had the Russian contractor with a PHD in CS. Turned out his school in Russia couldn't afford computers. How'd he get his PHD in CS then? They bought old US text books. They'd read the chapter and then take the test at the end of the chapter. That was supposed to teach him. It didn't.
QA is filled with people with great sounding paper credentials and no talent or ability. Getting a Masters in CS is a one way ticket to QA.
[This message has been edited by Innovan (edited 04-30-2005 @ 04:19 PM).]