IT career - Personal Stuffs

[Skulblaka]

Greetings everyone, I have recently graduated from High School. I'm thinking about my future and I've chosen IT as my career choice. This is a huge field, mind mindbogglingly huge. I'm not looking towards software or web development, but towards Networking and Security, Help Desk, Sysadmin, that kind of thing.

My inquiry, Associated or Bachelors degree? I have difficulty finding relevant information about this topic. I've heard about people getting by on Certifications alone, but I want to be "appealing" to possible job positions. The cost of education in the United States is too bloody high, seriously. I have a difficult time finding reasonable loan options, so expensive. Which is why I'm thinking of getting an Associated degree and a few Certifications.

What are your professional opinions?

I'm turning to this forum because, well, I've been here a while and there are nice people here.

 

[whs]

I think networking is an excellent field. And the higher the credits you get, the better.

I spent 35 years in operating system development and marketing. I always admired the peole who understood networking which is ever more important these days.

In the US, financing is of course always an issue but I have no clue how people can resolve that problem. That was no problem for me because education is free in my country.

 

[Skulblaka]

I think networking is an excellent field. And the higher the credits you get, the better.

I spent 35 years in operating system development and marketing. I always admired the peole who understood networking which is ever more important these days.

In the US, financing is of course always an issue but I have no clue how people can resolve that problem. That was no problem for me because education is free in my country.

Ahh, you're so fortunate to have your country provide free education. A lot of students in the United States leave Universities with $50,000+ in debt only to find themselves without a job.

 

[whs]

Yeah, I know. It is really something I never understood. In this day and age, the brainware is the most important resource a country can have.

E.g. India educates 10 times as many people at academic levels than the US. And you know what that will imply long term. Even a country like Malaysia spends 20% of their GDP on education. It is mind boggling.

 

[Everlong]

I'd stay away from help desk. I've done a bit of it myself and it's the most mindnumbing thing imaginable. Trying to help someone over the phone isn't a fun job.

You'd be best getting a Bachelor's degree. I did a lot of networking in University and it is a really interesting field. I'm more in to software development, but I'd be just as happy having a network and security systems career.

Try and get a part time job though. It's all well and good having a degree, but employers look at experience just as much as well and you want that edge when applying.

A few certifications would be ideal for system admin and help desk stuff etc, but if you want to get in to network security you need something like University which really gets down to the low levels of networking as well to understand what's going on inside the network hardware etc.

 

[Skulblaka]

Help Desk seems like an entry-level position, I'm not sure what position I'm supposed to start as, support specialist? But I will try to get some kind of experience while attending the school, I'm sure there are a few internships or the like available. I've read that a Bachelors degree is very good in the long run. Thanks for the input, it's very useful.

 

[Everlong]

You'll definitely find internships while you're at University. Mine ran internships for 2 months every summer for Computer Science, and it offers great experience, so they're definitely work looking at.

 

[Layback Bear]

No education is free. It either come out the citizens pockets and goes to the school or the government takes it out citizens pockets as taxes and it goes to the schools. Because it doesn't come out of the students pocket does not mean it free.
Your neighbors are paying for it with their taxes. If I had to choose I would pick networking/security and fluff it up a little with cloud security.

 

[Skulblaka]

I understand that people, who have their governments provide free education, pay higher taxes. It is logical and reasonable.

 

[whs]

I understand that people, who have their governments provide free education, pay higher taxes. It is logical and reasonable.

That is no necessarily true. I have lived and worked in 6 different countries during my professional life and found that the sum of the taxes is about the same in all countries. It is more of a matter which priorities the country sets. If e.g. it spends a lot of money on useless military, there is less available for other things.

 

[Skulblaka]

Is it possible to start an IT career on certifications alone?

 

[whs]

It is possible to start an IT job at any level if you find an employer. Question is whether that would become a 'carreer'. The better your education background, the better the chances to find a good and benificial employment.

When I was director of large software development labs I have hired a lot of people. For each published opening we usually got 100 candidates. You can imagine what that means - only the best were even invited for an interview.