I was considering doing a masters in Germanic linguistics (graduated last year). I would’ve enjoyed it, but I have a job now that lets me actually save up money, while still allowing me to indulge my academic interests in my spare time, and I’m certain I made the right choice. I know for a fact that at the end of the day, doing a masters would have ultimately meant one or two years’ delay to the start of my career and basically no advantage in the job market. Maybe this goes more for humanities students (although I imagine it’s also the case for a lot of STEM students), but I think this video by Dr Jackson Crawford is a really good sympathetic and pragmatic approach for people considering going into academia.