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Home > Archive > Certifications and IT jobs/Salaries > April 2005 > Advice Needed Please
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Advice Needed Please
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| IT_BOY 2005-02-20, 6:52 am |
| Hi Guys,
I need a bit of advise please?
I have 4 years experince in the IT industry with a diploma in network engineer ,and completed the following certfications
MCP,MCSE,CCNA, Im currently 23 years old, and I wish to do my degree in Network Engineering?Is is really worth it?What can you guys advise me?i really feel lost whether I should do my degree or not?I feel a a degree is not necessary but think I may neeed it one day as “backup”I have my enrollement on Tuesday but not sure if I should enrol or not.
Suggestion will help
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| darthw 2005-02-20, 11:07 pm |
| Go for your degree. Once you earn it, you will always have it. A degree will give you a very helpful edge in the job market over many candidates.
Certifications, like degrees, promote learning (unless you used braindumps), and can help give you an edge over those job candidates who never bother to seek education of any kind. However, a degree should give you a better edge than just certifications.
I can't stress it enough, GET YOUR DEGREE. It will be difficult (as it should be.) It will be worth it. | |
| IT_BOY 2005-02-21, 12:26 am |
| darthw,
Thanks for the reply.I appreciate your comments.Maybe i should just contiue with my degree
Thanks alot | |
| smrkdown 2005-02-21, 1:00 am |
| Many high-level jobs require degrees regardless of certs and other experience. If you don't have a degree, your resume will end up in alot of waste baskets. | |
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| Go for Computer Engineering or Computer Science... It will be your priority choose as major.
If not then Information Systems.., other major are B.S | |
| curiousgeorge 2005-02-21, 11:08 am |
| The great thing about a degree is that it never expires and it doesn't matter how long ago you got it.
Certs either expire or have dates associated with them (i.e. CCNA expires, MCSE is NT, 2000, or 2003).
Many Human Resource departments don't know squat about certs. They just look for a degree.
Good luck my friend. | |
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| funny how everybody on this board seems to know how much a degree will help you in your job search but nobody even has one. must be why we're reading this forum instead of working our good degree required jobs, because we're trying to take the easy way out, by just passing exams to get worthless certs when all the employers want degrees. what a joke. | |
| curiousgeorge 2005-02-24, 4:24 pm |
| I have two degrees, but why did you assume that no one has a degree??? | |
| smrkdown 2005-02-24, 6:25 pm |
| It's stupid to list degrees under certifications in your profile. I have a degree and I'm working on another one. Shut your Face | |
| darthw 2005-02-24, 7:34 pm |
| I've got a B.A. and a couple A.A.S. degrees in Computer Science. So, I speak from experience. Go for a degree, it has made a difference in my career. | |
| runnin247 2005-02-27, 11:58 am |
| I, too, have 2 degrees (an A.S. in Electronics and a B.S. in Computer Science) and I just recently came off a period of unemployment... take it from me, it doesn't matter what you have, if you can't pass the 'degree' requirement, all the certs in the world aren't going to mean squat.
Mike | |
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| Yes, BY ALL MEANS get the degree if you can! Doesn't matter if it takes you 10-15 years of off-and-on studying. ANYONE (including a MONKEY who studies enough) can pass a certification exam, and employers know this. Ever hear of a "paper" cert? Someone who's passed a certification exam, but doesn't know squatski? A degree is an entirely different matter. For one thing, it tells a prospective employer that you've got the perseverance to pursue something for two, four, or six years. Look at the (U.S.) military. Having ANY four-year degree makes you an officer, instead of a bullet-stopping, latrine-cleaning ditch-digger. And as others have said, it's (a degree) something that never expires. Fair or not, a computer science degree earned in 1995 will (in most cases) put you miles ahead of someone who simply knows what IRQ is associated with LPT1. | |
| cmelch 2005-03-05, 5:26 pm |
| Officers can catch bullets just as well as privates. | |
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| I dunno. I think degree's are great and are a great thing to have, but I'm not quite sure it's 100% needed in the IT world. IT moves so quickly and requires you to keep up, thus, the expiration of the certs and years of certs (mcse 2000, 2003). Obviously, the ideal choice would be to have a degree and certs, but this isn't always feasible for some people. Studying hard for certifications and real hands on IT experience is key in this area of work. In fact i'm going back to school to finish my degree, but in the mean time certs help you land those decent jobs and con't your career. just my .02 | |
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| IMHO- I too might say that degree's are not necessary or required, but it really depends on the market you're in and the experiences you want to have. I know a IT Security prof at IBM who is a few credits short of an associates degree and has no certs. He has been fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time and makes $120K doing what he does. Hes been with IBM about 15 years. The thing is, I would be willing to bet 100% that his co-workers doing the exact same thing (assuming IQ levels, responsibility etc) would make a lot more then him with certs and/or degree.
As a former manager I know that a degree, whether its in PhysEd or IT, shows an employer that this person can finish commitments and worked hard to accomplish something. At the least it shows that! I would definitely get it because if you want to move into management or someone 20 years your junior comes into your team down the road and has a degree with certs you better bet he's out to get your next advancement!
Best of luck whatever you choose! | |
| jackiechan 2005-04-19, 4:52 pm |
| Forget computer industry go for plumbing, brick laying etc. A degree is an expensive piece of paper. | |
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| thats a weird statement for a computer/IT site. My dad went that route. He's had multiple shoulder surgerys, can't play b-ball anymore and has aged a lot quicker then my uncle in the IT industry.
I guess in the same regard he can build a house from the ground up... But then again, I'd rather make enough money to pay someone to do it... I know, I am lazy! |
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