Thoughts on having an MS in Engineering

No real inside knowledge on the subject just my thoughts on the whole masters before a masters issue...You have enough real world experience to not have the issue of coming across as just someone looking to collect degrees. If you had an MS and then went to work for a year or not at all before then appllying to an MBA school that might work against you since you wouldn't have 3 years experience. Schools want post grad work experience, so if someone has 4 years of work experience with no MS but they have a leadership role at their job then they will have a leg up on a person who is just a basic engineer with an MS. Since you have plenty of experience you should be able to sell why you want another degree to reach your career goals where someone with little experience couldn't.

Schools wouldn't offer duel degrees if they didnt think that an MS was worth having. I think the advantage for a non-masters holder is in their length of work experience and with that the chances of more responsibility in a company. Honestly my friends who have a masters of engineering and got them fulltime right out of school are no higher up than they would be if they just went to work straight out of school and in some cases since they have less seniority (sadly in some places its still important) they aren't given leadership roles as often.