1

Many IT professionals don’t have a degree (or at least not a degree in IT). We’ve learned our trade through apprenticeship and self-study.

I think that’s rather unique among white-collar professionals. I’m curious what your educational background is.

A few possible discussion points:

  • How has a degree (or lack of one) helped (or hindered) your career?
  • What are the merits of a degree versus self-study and apprenticeship?
  • Why does a degree in IT seem optional when most other white collar jobs require it?
  • If you have formal education, what was your specific area of study?
What is your educational background?
  • College or university degree in computer sciences
  • Trade school degree in computer sciences
  • College, university, or trade school degree (not computer science)
  • Some college, no degree
  • Apprenticeship, self-study, and/or certification exams
0 voters
57 Spice ups
2

Drunked out of college in the late 80’s. was a chef for a few years. Wanted a change, at 30 took a 3 month A+ course, been doing IT ever since.

17 Spice ups
3

Got a BS in IT, but I got far more knowledge working in the trenches!

18 Spice ups
4

OK , I will start by saying I am old.

I initially went to College for Business Data Processing at my local community college. It was 1984 and technology was still in it’s infancy… to say the least.

We started with learning binary and how to program for tape fed machines. Seriously, how was anyone interested in this? I changed majors and eventually graduated with a BA in Communications. 6 years later I am starting at an entry level Help Desk position at TV Guide.

Now it’s almost 25 years later in IT.

7 Spice ups
5

BS Computer Science → Honestly it’s more a math degree, some Java but really not 'IT-related, other than research maybe? [from Germany]
BS IT Security [don’t feel like I learned anything new] [WGU]
MBA [confirmed business/management isn’t great…] [WGU]
About to finish an MSCIS, because just certs is boring? So far the most fun degree where I feel I learn stuff. [WGU]

I think only once an employer wanted a copy of the degree, as long as you have one to ‘check the HR box’, you should be good. You hear stories of people getting big promotions etc getting a degree, did not have that experience.

10 Spice ups
6

Ended up in IT 8 months ago with no formal background either educationally or professionally. Currently learning as I go and prepping for the Core 1 A+ exam.

@spiceuser-h9twj

9 Spice ups
7

I got the degree for two reasons, I noticed that most Job posts in my area now ask for it, So box checked. The other reason is if I get burned out it will be easier to find something else in another field with a degree in my pocket.

3 Spice ups
8

I’m a bit of a loser… Unmotivated, lack direction, and unfortunately am smart enough to be stupid… I also suffered the WORST luck! So am nowhere NEAR where I should have been. But, oh well. Too late to worry about it now! LOL!

After graduating high school in '90, I moved on my own to Toronto, Canada to study ‘Computer Information Systems’ (Programmer Analyst) at DeVry College. Realized a few months into it that the course was Mickey Mouse, and VERY expensive! Plus, the pull of the big city had me dropping out. Of course, what I didn’t realize (at 17-18) was there was a bit of a Recession going on, so work was hard to come by. Mistake number two was turning down job(s) in Toronto to move back home to Nowhere Scotia. Sorry, Nova Scotia. Once back here, I found it hard to get a steady job doing anything IT-related. Stuck in call-centers (IT or not) and doing contract work. Many large companies (ie. IBM) would be wowed by my performances, but would dismiss me when finding out I had no explicit training, certification or diploma. I was also stupid in turning down career-changing job offers in California, Hong Kong, and World-based travel on account of not being adventurous enough or confident in my skills. I did manage to pick up an A+ cert along with a couple of MCPs in Windows and Networking on the side through one of my contracts giving me the exam vouchers for free!

After I got married in '00, I took a government sponsored course, ‘Programmer Analyst - Internet Solutions Developer’ at CDI College. Once I had that diploma, I started to get more concrete job offers with places that wouldn’t even consider me before. Still stuck at a low level, along with some call centers, until I got the position I have now, which is still relatively low-level career and pay-wise. But after the ride I’ve had, with more forces against me than with, I’ll settle!

Things I’ve learned? Do NOT deride certifications or diplomas. Yes, they don’t really denote anything other than you’ve spent time and money at a school, but they open a LOT of doors otherwise denied. Also, grab opportunities when they come your way. “He who hesitates, is lost.” Finally, thinking that many skilled trades (like programming, see a pattern?) are useless to pursue because they’ll all be outsourced to Asia and South America is WRONG… Never sell yourself short and go for it. The worst you can do is fail. Had I stuck it out and finished at DeVry? I would have been a hotshot COBOL Dev just as Y2K was coming up! Stayed in Toronto? I’d probably have a decent SysAdmin position at a large company. Pursued programming again? Would have had a better Dev job somewhere local… Coulda Woulda Shoulda…

13 Spice ups
9

I have a BS in Applied Arts and Science, 2 Masters Degrees in Education. One in Educational Psychology and one in Higher Educational Administration and I am 6 credits shy of a Masters in Educational Technology. I have found that the degree has given me the reasoning skill necessary to navigate the technical world as well as, be able to explain technical concepts to people who go “What are you talking about?” easier. I have found that self study has allowed me to go further in-depth on the topics I like as well as, broaden my knowledge base. The problem I have always had is that because I don’t have the IT degree certain jobs seem out of reach for me, although I have all the experience and knowledge people are looking for.

The thing I find fascinating though is in most white collar jobs the only thing that changes from curriculum to curriculum is the examples the professors use. Much of what I learned in my Educational Technology course is the same as what I learned in some of the MIS courses I took. It was just how to relate it in an educational setting. Just like most of the Educational Psychology courses I took was stuff I learned in business courses.

The degrees were for me, no one else. It is the one thing no one can take away from me.

3 Spice ups
10

That’s why I suffered through the MBA, I figured it gives me more options if I ever feel like leaving IT

2 Spice ups
11

Graduated from the University of Oregon in 2013 with a B.S. in Economics and a minor in Cinema Studies. I initially pursued a business degree but after finding myself constantly bored and sleepwalking through the classes I switched over to Economics to challenge myself a bit more.

I was a bit naïve going into college and didn’t even consider IT as a career despite my interest in tech because I was too focused on challenging myself intellectually. It didn’t even occur to me to pursue something that came naturally to me because it just felt too “easy.” In retrospect I wish I would have focused on tech because I rarely apply anything I learned in my econ courses beyond debating public policy with my dad from time to time lol.

4 Spice ups
12

I worked for a local Copier dealership in the warehouse doing inventory and sales of parts and toners. About that time in the late 90’s the copiers went form analog to digital. I was the most computer efficient at the time and got sent to the Manufacture’s "computer classes to learn how to connect the machines to customer environments. Being on the border i got lucky that i was able to work on systems from windows 95 all the way to Novell and AS400 systems. During this time we were bought out by bigger corporations 3 times over the years. I inherited the local network of the company and became the lead installer and had my team below me. We had government contracts that had hundreds of machines to connect and troubleshoot. I learned most by trial and error and my windows network skills were taught to me by my coworker at the corporate office over the phone. After a few years of this I decided to go back to school and get my degree and get the salary to reflect my knowledge. Once I graduated I was offed multiple jobs at corporate and other companies. I left the copiers and went to another company and started my own side business. After 20 years I still have the side business. I manage networks, consult for security companies, design and program access control systems. I had the best of both worlds learning on the job first from some of the best. Then I was able to make the jump to get a formal degree and expand my work and knowledge.

2 Spice ups
13

I’m so old my degree is Computer Science with Computer – Human Interface (ie teaching). To this day I am 6 credits short of a teaching degree because education was SOOOOO bureaucratic.

Also agree with most everyone above, 90% of my education came from learn or burn on the job.

5 Spice ups
14

“on paper” I have basically nothing other than a highschool diploma and a security+ cert. This was a big debate recently as my job title is changing and the head of infrastructure wrote the job description and I literally did not meet any of his requirements for the title. We had a long “discussion” about what realistic expectations should be, and came to the conclusion that my thoughts are very different from his on the matter, hahaha!

I have a home lab that I’ve been building since ~2012 that I’ve used to learn most of what I know, because to me a degree has never seemed worth it. Why would I pay to learn a bunch of out of date tech and pointless general studies, especially when I know I won’t put real effort into it? I’d rather apply that same effort to building real infrastructure in a lab environment that gets me hands-on with the tech for free, even if it does involve some dumpster diving :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Spice ups
15

Master’s in IT Management, which is really a business degree with a concentration in technology topics, following the bachelor’s degree in MIS (again, business-oriented with some tech focus).

The degrees helped at my last job where I received wage bumps for them. They’re not helping me right now at my current job but that’s okay because I’m making a ton more money now than I did at my last job. :grin:

Where my academic program helped in my career was actually in my undergrad minor: training & development. That involved learning how to teach adults (which is why I sometimes point out flaws in professional training situations here on SW and why some organizations tend to approach training the wrong way), as well as public speaking.

What are the merits of a degree versus self-study and apprenticeship?

In self-directed learning, one seeks out topics that one is interested in. One may not explore other areas. An academic program, on the other hand, can introduce a student to other topics and subjects they may not have considered before. There will also be the shared experiences with other students that you don’t get while learning on your own.

Why does a degree in IT seem optional when most other white collar jobs require it?

Other such white-collar jobs are much more highly regulated than IT. IT is still very much the Wild West and “try something 'til it works.” IT only barely scratches legal oversight, unlike fields like medicine, law, accounting, etc. If you do something wrong in medicine or law, someone can die. If you do something wrong in accounting, you could be responsible for the destruction of a business or a person’s entire financial underpinning.

IT – while we know there are serious repercussions to doing things wrong – isn’t seen at the same level of criticality as those other fields. Therefore, no real need for such formalized structure and licensure. And besides, you know as well as I do how much howling and teeth-gnashing there will be if someone dared to suggest formalizing IT credentialing. Just spend a day or two on Spiceworks, looking for topics like this. :wink:

7 Spice ups
16

I got a BA in Music Composition with a minor in Electronic Music.

Anything computer related I’ve taught myself how to do it.

5 Spice ups
17

I was a life skills teacher and case worker for adults with mental disabilities for 10 years. I loved it, but the pay sucked. It was not even close to a livable wage. I went to night school at a now defunct technical college and got an Associate’s degree (2004). I worked for a few years doing IT support at a hospital and took night classes at the community college to continue to grow my skills. I went from IT support to network engineer to IT Director in under 6 years. I hated being in management. I quit my management job and went back to school full time for a BS IT degree and I’m back in IT support. I have no clue where I will be next year.

How has a degree (or lack of one) helped (or hindered) your career? I think IT is one of the "start at the bottom and learn as you go. I put a lot of weight on certifications just to prove your competence.

What are the merits of a degree versus self-study and apprenticeship? For me, self-study and on the job training is important but a degree teaches you a lot more than simply the technical skills.

Why does a degree in IT seem optional when most other white collar jobs require it? technical skills are really learned (for me anyway) on the job. However, I use my psych background and training a lot when working with people.

If you have formal education, what was your specific area of study? Several areas. Business management, human services, IT

3 Spice ups
18

How has a degree (or lack of one) helped (or hindered) your career?

Having a degree opens quite a few doors when it comes to opportunities - though I do agree that this in part due to HR box-checking. Additionally, when I did my BS in Comp Sci, it did not focus on how to use a particular program or system administration - it focused on the how and why of the computational sphere. Sure, there were programming courses, but we also needed to design our own programming languages, write a compiler to compile our language into machine code, write an OS to run the machine code, write an RDBMS system, etc., as well as the mathematical theories behind all of the above. Knowing the in-depth on these sort of things has been enormously helpful over my career. It always irks me a little when I hear people gripe that degrees don’t teach sys admin. If that’s the only thing you feel you need, then get a cert.

What are the merits of a degree versus self-study and apprenticeship?

For me, the degree program encompassed not just the computer science aspects, but introduced various other subjects that I thought I would never use professionally but am always surprised the number of times that Geography, Calculus, Archaeology, Astronomy, etc. have popped up in my IT career.

Why does a degree in IT seem optional when most other white collar jobs require it?

I think others have nailed it - IT is not yet taken seriously by the business and legal realms. Individual businesses might take it seriously, but overall my impression is that while IT errors and incidents can affect life safety of personal well-being, IT is invisible - meaning known, but widely misunderstood - to regulatory bodies and the general public. Not looking forward to the day when I’ll need to go through a med school type situation to get a license to practice.

If you have formal education, what was your specific area of study?

BS in Computer and Information Science, 90% of an MS in Computer and Information Science which I abandoned when I transitioned into an IT career.

5 Spice ups
19

I is a English major; BA in Creative Writing. But I’ve been programming and messing with computers since I was a teenager. I have found most big companies want “a degree”, or salary and career advancement are adjusted based on not having one. But everybody bases hiring on skill and experience. That is, if you’ve got 10 years experience in networking and can run circles around kids straight out of college, the IT director will want to hire you regardless of what pieces of paper you have. But HR will want that degree and/or certificates.

I worked at one programming job where I had my English degree and the guy next to me had an Associates degree in IT. We did the same job, and he was just as good a programmer as me. He was hourly, I was salaried being paid almost twice as much . . . just because I had a bachelor’s degree.

3 Spice ups
20

I have a certificate in electronics from my high school days, a MCSA in Windows 7, and my second A+ certification.

I started in high school when I hated school and my grades reflected that. In my junior and senior years, I went to the local joint vocational school where i met had had the most wonderful teacher I could ever have and my grades soared. He did anything for the kids he teached. In my senior year I specialized on computers right when Windows 98 first came out so I got the best of both worlds. DOS and early Windows days. After school I worked for him in his small business. I actually built my first computer this way by working off the parts instead of paying for them.

After high school, I did car audio for 7 years for my father-in-law at the time, but wasn’t happy with it. That same teacher I had in high school get me hired as a teaching assistant in his class for a year where my love for the IT world resurfaced. After that I moved to South Carolina where I got my first A+ certification and MCSA, and got a job as part time IT support for an oil distribution company. I went from IT support to network administrator in two years. It was all hand on learning which is the way I prefer it. While working there, dumb me let my A+ expire.

When I had to move back to Ohio for family, I was in trouble job wise as nobody would hire me because I didn’t have that piece of paper. I went again and got my A+ for the second time and now work as an IT desktop support person.

Long story short, it seems at least in my area that the piece of paper outweighs actual experience. As a network admin I built and configured servers, in this job I’m not allowed to touch them even though I’m basically a one man show at this point and was passed over for promotion.

Hand on learning beats formal education in IT in my opinion. They can’t teach real world situations or how many variables are out there from business to business, yet they won’t even look at you without that piece of paper in my experience.

4 Spice ups