I've done two separate 10-week REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) programs the past two summers (one at Texas A&M and one at Notre Dame). And I'm currently doing a paid internship with my university's IT department developing a web-based risk management utility for them, as well as developed a web-based call logging system last semester for them (unpaid) but am now getting paid to maintain this semester. Albeit, my internship experience is nothing comparable to working with a real company in industry.
Graduate school and working does not work well with me. I'd prefer to focus on one at a time, so that I can give my 100% to one instead of trying to share it between the two. That, and I wouldn't think I'd get as much out of the experience like you said.
If you feel that the importance of this decision is paramount, I think it's essential that you do an internship with a company in the industry you're interested in working. If you're interested in Lockheed Martin (there's a LOT of breath in what they do), I can probably give you some details that will help you get started.
As Chavo touched on, I think a really cool option is research in industry. This includes working at places like NASA, NSA/CIA/DoD, etc. I think this is as close as you'll get to "the best of both worlds". Almost all of these companies/agencies have internship programs. The deadline for the NSA has passed, I think, but the NASA applications are open until January. If you're interested, I strongly encourage you to apply. I don't think you'll be able to make a reasonable decision until you know how much you like working compared to studying.
This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I've been told that unless you're being paid to go to graduate school, you just don't go.
idk, I don't think that's necessarily true. I know that LM hires on people with masters degrees about two promotions ahead of those without 'em. They also give you an "Instant" raise/bonus if you get your masters while working for them.
I also agree with Rule -- I don't think it's very good advice in general. If you're really enthralled by the academic aspects of the subject you're studying, grad school will probably be more enjoyable than working.
You're not guaranteed a higher paying job after grad school. In fact, a graduate degree can disqualify you from several jobs ("sorry, you're overqualified"). If you just love to learn, you can do that on your own. However, one thing you are guaranteed if you are paying for graduate school is a massive debt. Of course, if you're independently wealthy, finances don't matter. But I'm going to assume that nearly all graduate students are not.
In my field, graduate school is training for research. Why should a person be charged to learn his/her job skills?
Doesn't really sound like that's how a masters in CS is viewed. Certainly you'd be "overqualified" for some jobs, but it's definitely not the case in general. Microsoft, Google, et al. have positions they advertise that are specifically geared toward people who have earned a masters.
I'd say Graduate school just because your school isn't really one of the schools companies are recruiting from.
I'm not sure this is useful advise. If you're interested in a company and you're an outstanding student, the fact that they don't visit your university is nearly irrelevant. The DoD doesn't visit my school, but my friend applied last year and landed an internship for the past summer pretty quickly.
Personally, an undergrad degree is enough. Grad school is useful if you're teaching or working in an academic type environment (the same that uses complex algorithms ), but, at least for me, a graduate degree wouldn't make any difference to my career (a lot of people in this field don't even have an undergraduate degree).
Jobs geared toward people who have post-graduate education are by no means necessarily academic. I think the majority of the people I worked with over the summer either had a masters, were currently attending grad school, or intended to do so in the near future.
I don't think I agree with your assessment of how useful more advanced topics are in general.