I’m looking to pursue a career in the IT Industry. The problem now is, where to get the education? I’m currently looking at a Unviersity and a Technical School. The problem is that the University requires I take Calculus, something I’m highly confident that I would fail miserably.
Would a Technical School adequately prepare me for a career, and more importantly, would it be respected and honored by potential employers? I don’t want to invest that much time for an education that will not be of much benefit.
Please advise as you see fit, and thanks to anyone who responds.
Not sure where you are, but you also might consider a business school MIS type degree. This probably would have easier math requirements, and if the actual degree path is not “technical” enough you can probably add extra courses from the Engineering school.
Not sure about the Tech school path. There are probably some good ones out there, but maybe some scams as well.
Why do you want to get an IT degree, anyway? Do you love working with computers, creating websites, programming, etc?
Yep. I’m currently employed with a government HelpDesk, and I’ve worked with computers for most of my life. It’s what I enjoy doing, and I’d like to make a full-fledged career out of it.
IMHO, the biggest bang for the buck right now would be to go to tech school and get some type of certification. I attended a tech school, took about nine weeks and 11K, and have passed 3 out of 4 MS exams. I have one more to pass to get my MS certified DBA, but I got a job already and will have to make the time to study for the fourth.
I would recommend an MIS college degree because it will then give you options to go for an MBA if you so desired later in your career.
A good IT technical school is also an option worth considering for the expediency (shorter programs) but doesn’t give you the MBA option (AFAIK).
I think Microsoft Certified anything is in slightly higher demand (and therefore pay) than J2EE, but that just may be my geographic location (DC Metro). Of course market trends change and you’ll have to stay current if you want to stay competitive and employed over time.
I’m considering enrolling at Sullivan University, if anyone is familiar with that. No schools in the area that I’m aware of offer MIS degrees, so it’s not so much a viable option for me unfortunately.
If I had to do it all over again I would have gone the DBA route instead of Microsoft Certification. LAN admins are easy to come by and the pay is not as good as it used to be. If you can get certified in Oracle Database Administration and take a minor in ERP, you can buy yourself some solid job security and plenty’o cash if you become proficient.
Any university degree sets you up for an MBA- I got a computer science degree, and didn’t have to take any supplemental classes for my MBA.
I agree with you though. While technical school degrees are decent, the real money and responsibility is in the jobs that require university degrees, and this is becoming more and more the case now that the Internet bubble has burst. Technical degres (associate degrees, etc…) will only get you to the developer level. You’ll probably never manage projects, architect enterprise-scale solutions, etc… without a college degree. Not that it’s impossible, but just unlikely.
As for what degree… I’d say get a Computer Science degree if you want to do heavy-duty coding(device drivers and the like), theoretical research or are just a propeller-head(write LINUX kernel mods for fun).
Otherwise, get a MIS/IT degree from the business school at a university if you want to do more generic information systems and technology work, i.e. if you want to set up databases, etc…
Find a program on Database Architecture and Methodologies. You’ll want to follow that up with applied Data Warehousing methodologies. If you are not, or have never been a developer, I’d suggest you start with basic programming principals and get at least one structured language under your belt (ex. C #, VB.NET, Java, etc…)
When considering being a DBA, Oracle is a good one and tends to be very popular. SQL Server is not bad. DB2/UDB is a pretty good way to go as well but requires more rigor and experience within very large and complex computing environments. Then there is Terradata and a host of others.
I failed to clarify. I assumed you meant “quickest” way to get training and get paid. I already have my MIS degree from a four year school. I decided to take a step up with MS certification and it has paid off for me. Any decent tech school can get you started, most of them offer programs in many disciplines, and a number of them offer on-line courses where you never step foot on campus. Go to MS’s website or Oracle, and select certifications. Not only does it show the requirements, but most will also provide links to locations near you who provide the training.
Fringe, What do yuo mean by “I’m looking to pursue a career in the IT Industry.”
Do you want to be a programmer, a web designer, a project manager, a network engineer, a server admin, a database architect, a database admin, a hardware designer, a tech writeer, a graphic artitst, a help desk person, a technical trainer, or a technical supprt rep?
Every one of those jobs is “IT”, and every one has very different education, training and aptitude requirements.
If you tell us what area(s) you’re interested in we can give better advice.
In general, I second the motion that a tech “degree” or tech training gets an entry level job assembling and maintaining stuff, whether that be PCs or software or websites. A 4-year degree gets you a job one notch up starting to build such things more-or-less from scratch as part of a larger team. 10 years experience, a Masters, and some real skill gets you a job desiigning big things and/or running teams that create big things.
So part of your decision is not only “where do I want to be next?”, but also “where do I want to be in 10 years?”
Well, to be honest I have been vague on purpose. There are many different possible paths to follow, and I’m also trying to get a more clear picture of what options are available. But, to break it down:
I’m primarily interested in the positions of network engineer, server admin, help desk, and with a secondary interest of web designer and programmer. I know that is still rather broad, but as you can see I’m still not entirely set on any one path.
Oh, and graphic artist would also be of some interest, I’ve just not really gave it much consideration for a number of years.
Look elsewhere, because that’s where the money’s going. By all means work IT in, but if you’re after serious money, IT is not the place. There are far too many people who think that they can do the job but can’t. But because they offer a low rate to get their feet in the door, they get hired anyway.
All the suggestions for a technical degree in MIS or CS or an MBA are just a pipe dream if you’re going to shy away from the math that must be learned (“Calculus, something I’m highly confident that I would fail miserably.”). You will have to take math and other quantitative courses.