[photon_collider]

I learned this first-hand when I entered the profession with a master's degree. Much of the work required me to know how to munge tabular data and do some stats with R.

My impression is that many hiring managers desire candidates with a PhD because they are perceived to be more capable of working independently. Then again, the field isn't very standardized so every company has varying expectations of what they expect out of this role.

[KuriousCat]

Yes, I believe highest RoI is for masters when it comes to industry positions. I wanted to share a proper link by NSF but I lost it :(