IT Degrees

DBoom212 · Dec 24, 2013

Usually most see as it not very important compared to the Certs but if you have that extra time and money and would like a degree go for it.

j2048b · Dec 24, 2013

DBoom212 said:
Usually most see as it not very important compared to the Certs but if you have that extra time and money and would like a degree go for it.

What dboom said!! Def on point! Certs matter! Its what shows u know what ur doing and have trained for! I have a ton of IT friends who dont even have a degree, just certs, it might matter later in life when u go for a bigger job, but early on get certs, experience and then move on

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Macrocupcake124 · Dec 24, 2013

While certs matter, degrees still matter to an extent. I'm an IT recruiter and probably 25-30% of the companies I've worked with require a degree.
Most don't actually care what the degree is in though, but there's still quite a few companies that will only hire a Computer Science grad; no cis or mis, or Devry-type degrees. They're usually the younger, cutting edge companies.

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Irishpistolero · Dec 25, 2013

I am CCIE certified in r&s so therefore I'm in the networking aspect of things. 90 percent of my job is project management. If you have great PM skills or better yet very organizated you will be fine in most corporate IT jobs. I've never went to college but I have respect for those that have. Its really who you know and how well you can complete projects in my world.

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cytokinetic · Dec 26, 2013

Irishpistolero said:
I am CCIE certified in r&s so therefore I'm in the networking aspect of things. 90 percent of my job is project management. If you have great PM skills or better yet very organizated you will be fine in most corporate IT jobs. I've never went to college but I have respect for those that have. Its really who you know and how well you can complete projects in my world.

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Would you say that CCNA/CCNP is a good cert path to start for a good paying position? I still trying to decide what would be best going forward.

Irishpistolero · Dec 26, 2013

It paid off well for me. Just don't quit there go for the big one. I really like the training from ine.com

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anarchocapitalist · Dec 26, 2013

I'm currently a government employed networking nerd but I have worked in private industry. If you have no telecomm/networking experience I would say volunteer with a company on a weekend when they are installing/upgrading racks/switches/etc. Get some experience before getting the CCENT/CCNA. If you already have your foot in the door for sure you want to get these certs.

cytokinetic · Jan 2, 2014

Thanks for the advice. Ine.com has CCNA training course free upon registration. That should help a lot.

ds44 · Jan 5, 2014

cyto,

i have been in IT for 14 years. i worked for a isp to a couple corp companies. get your ccna/ccnp. ccna is kinda tough with no experience but much easier then ccnp. ccnp will be very challenging. while your doing your ccna get your comp tia A+ and network+ comp tia very easy. then you need your foot in the door somewhere say desktop what ever just to get in the door.

i have my ccna for 10 years. Guys are throwing the ccie around like it's a cup of coffee... if your gonna get your ccie you better be in a jr, network engineer position for atleast 5 years.

i was a sr. systems engineer for a long time i took a big step backwards to be system tech. i did this for personal reasons. i was lucky i got into a 40 location company that was a mess and got to do cisco/microsoft/linux work from the ground up.

i have no college degree....my buddy has no college degree either he works for cisco making 125k plus... in this industry you need to be able to fix shit and roll projects out....

Aliendogstar · Jan 7, 2014

Unless you're going to be a programmer, a C.S. degree won't do much for you. Converged networking is very hot at the moment. You can no longer be just a storage, compute, or networking resource. Bury your nose in VMware, Cisco UCS, and storage networking. I've been in IT professionally for over 22 years. Learn how to read the writing on the wall.

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raw33man · Jan 8, 2014

Aliendogstar said:
Unless you're going to be a programmer, a C.S. degree won't do much for you. Converged networking is very hot at the moment. You can no longer be just a storage, compute, or networking resource. Bury your nose in VMware, Cisco UCS, and storage networking. I've been in IT professionally for over 22 years. Learn how to read the writing on the wall.

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What about Applied Computer Science ? NOT CS, It's less of programming, more electives, and has to minor in business, marketing or something in that area

Aliendogstar · Jan 8, 2014

raw33man said:
What about Applied Computer Science ? NOT CS, It's less of programming, more electives, and has to minor in business, marketing or something in that area

That's fine. Just don't assume that a 4 year University will prepare you for the work force. If I could give any college student advice, it would be to get practical experience. When I was in college (early 90's), I worked at the Client Services office and I took a semester off to do Level 1 Help Desk support. These jobs will most likely pay crap....but who cares, it will pay off in the long run. Also, get a few certs. CCNA, RHCSA (Red Hat Linux), MCSA....these are good entry level certs. Most of these are "paper certs" meaning if you study hard enough you can pass these w/out much practical experience. This will differentiate you from every other kid out of college that was dumb enough to work retail for 4 years and then wonders why nobody will hire them. To get some practical experience, install the Vmware workstation version on a home computer and then you can run Linux, Windows Server (various), and various demo appliances. An entire lab sitting on one computer.

ds44 · Jan 9, 2014

Alien on right in the money!!!!

raw33man · Jan 10, 2014

Aliendogstar said:
That's fine. Just don't assume that a 4 year University will prepare you for the work force. If I could give any college student advice, it would be to get practical experience. When I was in college (early 90's), I worked at the Client Services office and I took a semester off to do Level 1 Help Desk support. These jobs will most likely pay crap....but who cares, it will pay off in the long run. Also, get a few certs. CCNA, RHCSA (Red Hat Linux), MCSA....these are good entry level certs. Most of these are "paper certs" meaning if you study hard enough you can pass these w/out much practical experience. This will differentiate you from every other kid out of college that was dumb enough to work retail for 4 years and then wonders why nobody will hire them. To get some practical experience, install the Vmware workstation version on a home computer and then you can run Linux, Windows Server (various), and various demo appliances. An entire lab sitting on one computer.

Yea I'm gonna do an internship this summer...

should I go for project management or business analyst ?

Rictor33 · Feb 7, 2014

ds44 said:
cyto,

i have been in IT for 14 years. i worked for a isp to a couple corp companies. get your ccna/ccnp. ccna is kinda tough with no experience but much easier then ccnp. ccnp will be very challenging. while your doing your ccna get your comp tia A+ and network+ comp tia very easy. then you need your foot in the door somewhere say desktop what ever just to get in the door.

i have my ccna for 10 years. Guys are throwing the ccie around like it's a cup of coffee... if your gonna get your ccie you better be in a jr, network engineer position for atleast 5 years.

i was a sr. systems engineer for a long time i took a big step backwards to be system tech. i did this for personal reasons. i was lucky i got into a 40 location company that was a mess and got to do cisco/microsoft/linux work from the ground up.

i have no college degree....my buddy has no college degree either he works for cisco making 125k plus... in this industry you need to be able to fix shit and roll projects out....

This. I am also an IT professional and I approve. I am currently at the desktop level and the pay is decent. I do plan to pick up more certs and move to system administrator in the not so distant future.

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anarchocapitalist · Feb 7, 2014

what do you guys think about vmware?

in my neck of the woods the public sector is catching on to vmware. i've noticed thin clients even at cash registers for tills and stuff.

dempc · May 21, 2014

That's the software suite I built my career around and it hasn't been too shabby

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orozco · Sep 6, 2015

I will say, reverce computer engineer carrer. That is what i got

hanquin · Sep 6, 2015

i was a bartender for 17 years, got into IT about 7.5 years ago @ 38, first time i ever cracked a PC i was 35. had friends that got me a help desk job, didn't know shit from shinola.

now years later, i run a team, have learned all kinds of stuff from on the job training: vpns, VoIP, networking, even doing some tech documentation and i love it. problem is, i'm grossly underpaid b/c even tho the place i'm at has basically paid me while educating me at the same time, i have no certs, therefore leaving to get more $$ is not an option @ this time. i make decent $$ tho, and i like where i am so i'm good with it. but i'm confident i could be making probably 10-20G more somewhere else if i had some certs.

then again, we've had guys with certifications out the ass come in and interview and not know what the fuck they were doing. certs look good on a resume, but nothing beats experience. unfortunately, experience doesn't always get you interviews that certifications do.

Kas15 · Sep 7, 2015

The certs just show a general foundation of the knowledge you know if not, a little bit, it doesn't have to be a lot... Just like passing a test in class and making a grade to just pass.. I am CCNA/CCNP certified in 3-5 fields and I have obtained these while going to school, I am almost there with finishing my degree in IT systems.. But yes it may look good on the resume but it can also be a door opener whether having that "experience" or not it all depends on the people you will be surrounded by.. All that including a degree shows them that you are/could be a huge asset..