text: should a person with many years of experience in management go for a master's degree or certificate programs?   depends on what your goal is and what your position is. a masters degree is usually a good way to get an entry level management position. once you have a position that you like, it may have less utility to you. therefore a certificate program that has specific skills that you want to use in your job might be more useful to you. certificate programs are a lot shorter. one advantage of some certificate programs is that you can start out in the certificate program and then apply the credits toward a masters degree if you decide to go that route.  if you want to advance to a new job or a higher management position, what kind of educational background do the persons who are in those jobs now have?