Joe A Masters degree in CS is mainly useful (well, required) for people going into academia (PhD, research, teaching, etc...). If you want to go work in the industry, it's going to feel like a waste of time. You'd learn so much more by doing freelancing and part-time jobs. Not every Masters program is the same. Certain universities will be better than what you've experienced. Some would be worse. I fucking despise IT certifications. But that's just me. An MBA can be an absolutely amazing experience and opens up a great panel of job opportunities. However, I'd strongly recommend getting several years of work experience before even considering it. A minumum of 3 years of full-time work, 5 years would be even better. Only consider an MBA if you want to go for management positions in big groups. Also, MBAs are usually much more expensive than the already expensive regular Masters.