One piece of advice: don't choose your master's degree in hopes of landing that hot job when you graduate. Most of these hot jobs tend to be fads and they grow out quickly much faster than you think; it's all about timing. I can only assume that you receiving a pink slip was due to inexperience. I urge you to give it another go with the degree you have; a technical degree has the capabilities to go beyond its normal boundaries. Depending on your abilities and interest, getting a graduate degree that complements your undergraduate degree would be more appropriate if you are keen on studying again. This may be business related such as MBA (only if you can get into top 25 schools otherwise don't even bother) if you like consulting, etc. Another option is to explore a topic in CS/CE/SE in more depth. The tech sector is still hot IMHO. I've got a BS in business/MIS myself and now completing MSE in software engineering. My interest in doing a graduate degree developed while working and very much interested in SDLC, and not because I thought I was going to land that 'piping hot job'. Unless you can afford to gamble (with your tuition fees, effort and time) I would think about what degrees interests me the most if I were you, rather than chasing the rainbow. I tend to look at trendy hot jobs equally in par with fashion. I still got those super bell bottoms in my closet I thought were way cool a few years back... -JBean