Internship or thesis

>>18697504
Unless you want to work in a very niche field, it's my observation in engineering that employers don't care one bit about your education, as long as you can prove you know what you're doing. Granted, they'll probably pay you less, but some of the best engineers I know don't have an engineering degree in their field. If you value getting a quicker start on a career in the private sector, I'd go with the internship.

Internship. In almost any situation.

Universities are terrible at teaching you stuff. I mean really teaching you, making you understand and internalize knowledge. The best way for you to truly learn something is through extended practice. Which an internship can offer. In 6 months at my first job I learned more than I did through 3 years in uni. Even if you're doing things you consider basic they will probably help you much more than researching and writing a scientific paper. I find it really dumb that they make students write so much shit and they're expected to come up with new and innovative ideas when they don't even truly understand the concepts they're supposed to write about.

At the point you're at you should be focusing on becoming an expert in your field. Which you do through study and (much more importantly) practice. Remember, humans didn't evolve to learn by reading and listening to explanations, they evolved to learn from experience and observation.

There's a reason why employers care a lot more about your work experience than they do about some thesis you wrote.

>>18697504
you want to stay at the university and be a researcher / lecturer -> thesis option -> PhD.

you want to work as developer, project engineer, project manager, team leader -> internship -> no PhD

you want to work as high-ranking manager -> internship -> PhD

this is the view of an engineer. in fields like medicine or chemistry it is different of course.

If you're planning on going for a PhD, the thesis option is always better.

An internship option is basically seen as a terminal degree, while thesis options are seen as a foundation of research meant to be carried over into a doctorate program. You could probably get away with doing either, but the internship option is going to look very strange on your application to a PhD program; if you're really conflicted about it, ask some faculty members, because they'll know more about your field. Also, do what you can to secure an RA position or something like that if you want a record of experience.

It looks like the general picture so far is that an internship master’s matters more than a thesis master’s outside of academia, but an internship master’s looks worse on a PhD program application. I’m still conflicted. I’ll definitely ask faculty members, but I still wonder what other people think on the question.

>>18698276
>an internship master’s matters more than a thesis master’s outside of academia
I wouldn't say that. A masters is still a masters; an employer isn't really going to care which one you have. The main difference is that going the interneship rote will allow you to get experience in your field before graduation. But, that's also not the only way to get experience while in grad school. You could do an independent internship (and potentially take credits for it), get a job in the field, or do something through your university.

>>18697504
Professor writing here

It may vary from field to field but in most humanities & social sciences not a whole lot is expected from an MA thesis and its major value would be working closely with an adviser who could write you a strong reference.

An internship might result in an equally strong reference and also give you non-academic-work experience.