Have you ever heard the old saying "work yourself out of a job"? There were several meanings ascribed to this, among them as I have always understood it, you have been promoted or you have literally fulfilled the reason for your being hired, as in a contractor. This blog post is going on the assumption that it means that you have been promoted.
To be sure working hard can get you ahead at your job, especially if you do so with enthusiasm and dedication, but work doesn't end when you clock out, if you are an online student then you know that there is more work waiting for you at home. So the old saying will do here nicely as well, only this time you are educating yourself out of a job. At some point you will earn enough credentials that you will have advanced into a new segment of the job market. You become suddenly overqualified for a lot of things, which is a good thing in this instance. How many waiters do you see running about with an MBA or a MS? I have seen some people who have an undergrad degree and never did anything with it, but not many. More often than not earning that degree, especially an advanced degree lends you credibility in the eyes of prospective and current employers. What does this all mean? Money, position and opportunity.
So do you like your current job? If you are so-so or do not care for your job but can bear it for a while, use this as fuel to motivate yourself to get that degree that you have been daydreaming about. Finish up and hit the bricks. Good people are hard to find and qualified good people are a true gem.
Do you love your job? Great, see if you can move up in your organization. Most businesses I know of do not want to see a MSM grad working the entry level positions of their organization for long. Good leadership comes at a premium and good leaders are tough to find. Once you are done with school, dedicate that same level of effort towards your employer and you will surely have worked yourself out of a job.
Want a tip on getting a vision of what a degree can do for you? Write a resume with your desired amount of education on it already and take a look at it objectively. If your boss, coworker or friend can be trusted you can even show it to them as what you intend to do and get their input. Once something is on paper it takes on a certain realism or tangibility and helps you to visualize where you want to be and what you will be qualified to do. Try to keep it real however, a Juris Doctorate from Oxford University in England is probably not too realistic.
---Cajun