IT/computer people

As some of you know, I've been considering my career path for the last 3 or 4 months.  I have the opportunity to go back to school under a partial scholarship (maybe full) but the only "catch" is that it has to be IT or computer related.   I already have a BA, but it might as well be a BS (bull ****) because thats about all it's worth on the job market.     I have worked with computers for years, am at least literate...but by no means a computer wiz.  II need to find a program by next week that will allow me to gradulate within 2 to 3 years..that  will allow me to make a decent amount of money (by decent i mean over 50K)..and that is marketable in the foreseeable future. Any suggestions? Scott

  I took Cisco years back and loved it.  I did not take my Cisco exam because in my Gov. Job I did not need it.  Look on the internet for IT jobs and see what they are looking for.  That would be my ideal good luck in what ever you pick. 

Hi Guys, CCIE's (Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert) are making 6 figures....   I would highly encourage you to pursue this cert.  I am not certified as I work in the services marketing field, but know that it is a difficult cert to obtain.  Most CCIE's fail the lab portion at least once I am told. 

Sadly, in the computer field, University degrees don't mean much. If you want to be a programmer, go to college. If you want to be a tech guy (work on servers or network equipment), get your certification(s). Eric

Hey....I think that I agree that a BA is not really going to be that helpful if you're looking for a job in the IT field. I got a BFA (sorta same thing) way back before computers were smaller than a office building.... That said...I find that my MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer) cert is a great thing to have -- it opens doors with various clients (admittedly don't mean much if the client revenues are below say 10 to 20 million) but still, it does help. I'd say look into that kind of item -- a cert from a 3rd party...and go from there! :-) Jim

I would suggest something in the field of Information security since its the big deal and will continue to be the big deal for some time to come. I also highly recommend certifications.  The more the better. Just so you know that my advice is valid I have an MBA with dual concentrations in Information security and Information systems managment and a BS in Computer Science. Good Luck, and do alot of research about future technology because that is where you will be in three years.

I agree about Certifications.  I was a CCNA Instructor for a number of years and had some kids coming out of HS and Junior college that were making $50/M or better.  I also agree with the poster about the area of security.  With a quality Cirt. and another in Security, I think the a college degree, i think you could be quite valuable in a corporate or big network environment. Best regards,

I've also been in the IT field for about 10 years now (since I was a teenager).  I've never had any formal college education for the field but I did get some certifications.  I also went to New Horizons for A+ cert and my MCPs.  I didn't finished the spectrum for my MCSE, but by that time I already had alot of prior work experience that looked much better on my resume than a college degree.  I had to start from the ground floor of technical support, then to training, then to sys/netadmin, finally to IS management.  I too can attest that work experience and certifications can and do get you much further in this industry than college education.  However, if you do want to go down the programming path, a degree is almost a requirement... as depending on the type of programming, algebra, trig and calculus skills are needed on top of the programming languages.  Web and database programming is less intense on math and more of glue/variable programming with UIs.  You can get certs for languages though, like DotNet, Java, etc.   If programming is not your forte... hardware, networking and system administration is all about certifications... mainly because it changes so fast... only way to keep your game on is read, read, read, test, test, test... I just deployed Exchange 2007 at my company on top of a active directory and server migration and learning powershell to manage exchange has been a pain in the ass... no college class would have taught me that.