Graduating from an average university, should I do a MSc or work in a startup?

My first question to the Hacker News community, I hope I am not doing anything wrong. :)<p>So, the situation is like this: I am 22 years old, I study Computer Science at Royal Holloway, a college of the University of London and I am graduating this July. When I first got admitted to university I was planning to become an academic. Now, all I want is to finish with my exams and...go out there.<p>Now, there are three main problems with that:<p>1. I am most probably going to graduate with a high 2:1 (an average mark between 65% and 70%) from an "average" institution so I suppose that this may be a weak point in my applications for jobs.<p>2. I don't have any major work/project to show to places where I apply. As with my skillset, they are limited to what I was asked to do/study at university. I can obviously work on this issue after I graduate but since then my applications aren't going to be as "rich" as I'd like them to be.<p>3. I don't know if that's the "right" thing to do. I am disappointed with higher education in the UK and this is making me feel that doing a Masters will not really help me (apart from giving me another qualification in papers, that is -yes, I am one of those that believe higher education is overrated-). Also, because of that, I feel tired even when I am just thinking about MSc studies.<p>Which brings me to my question: Do you reckon that it's better I do a Masters (even at a "yet another average university") or should I really give it a go, build something and apply for every position I find interesting? Is "actual work experience" going to be be more helpful than a MSc from a university like, say, UCL or Imperial? What do most people ask for when they look to hire someone? What's better for us as individuals?