What is Wise to Study For a Successful Career Outside of Academia? Next year I will be starting an MS program in the Computer Science department (I have come from a grad-prep program). I have "learned" C++, C, Java, assembly, CS math, and OS.

When I enter this program, I need to pick a track. My problem is I do not know what to choose yet.

I am sure this will remedy over time, but I wanted to get others' opinions.

I have heard databases and cyber-security make the most money. As far as job availability, I have heard that there are a lot of jobs in web development (using things such as Javascript, Node JS, etc).

What do you believe is a wise area to focus on during the next 1-3 years?
I think this is an ongoing question for any stage of your career. Trends change a lot so you need to have a diverse set of tools available, while focusing on a few technologies so as not to spread yourself too thin.

First of all, it is probably not the best idea to choose according to what makes the most money. Highly paid jobs are more scarce and so the competition will be tougher. You cannot ensure you will have a high salary just by learning specific technologies.

On the other hand, you are more likely to become an expert in a field you enjoy working in and have an intuition for. So I would say try a few different things and see what you are best at. See what interests you. Obviously you can narrow this down by combining your current interests with the current trends, but try not to be limited by projected salaries; these are both highly changeable and misleading, and are used mainly in sales pitches for programming courses.