Masters in Industrial Design? Worth it?

I know that this question is kind of up to me, but I’d like to get some opinions either from people who have done a masters or were faced with the choice. I’d like to get some opinions on the topic I suppose. I’ve recently been approached by 2 professors to be a candidate for the masters program in design at my university.

I used to think masters wasn’t really worth it since ID is mostly a skill-based industry so having more schooling wouldn’t necessarily translate to a more valuable designer over say someone who’s done an equivalent 2 years’ worth of work (actually I’d think the opposite).

That being said, on the flipside, doing a masters (at least at my school) would let me specialize my design research into areas I’m interested in such as UI/UX and connected products (IoT) and there are some industry partners I could work with during the masters to kind of get some hands-on experience (no projects though). I also noticed large companies like Google do state MS degrees under “preferred requirements” (not that I think I’d get into Google based on it, but it’s an interesting observation).

Also worth mentioning that in my case, there aren’t any financial barriers since the school and government would cover my tuition via grants so it’s more a question of me giving up time (2 years) and potential work experience.

It would be great to get some insights. Do you guys think a masters degree in something like ID is even worth considering given the tradeoff?
Thanks!

If it’s a good program you are offered, and with your tuition being covered, I would step in and go for the Master’s degree.
You can deepen out and make your portfolio much more specific and you will get the chance to focus on your own development much more than you would in a work environment. And if you are not sure if you want to specialize in a certain area like you mention, this is a chance to dive in there and you may also start to gear your work to such specific areas - which is why the more research-driven companies often ask for a master’s degree. Obtaining my Master’s degree was definitely worth the investment even though I could have started working after the BA as well.