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Now i’ve already googled this, and even read a thread on here about it. But i’d like to hear everyone’s opinion on what i should do exactly. I’m a 19 year old, and i have one year of community college done. I have some courses in CS/IT but not much. I am not a fan of college, and to be honest i would like to not have to get a degree and just get certs if possible. Is it doable? Or is a Bachelors really going to get me where i want to be in the long run? I will get my degree if i really have to but i already kind of screwed my GPA and i am not sure if i can even get through college.

Thoughts?

9 Spice ups
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I’m really glad you posted your question in the community. I was in almost the same spot as you asking the same question. Your going to get a variety of answers which is great, but here is what I’ve learned from the community and the workforce. Rule number 1.) the Bachelors degree is NOT the end all be all in IT. Most people including myself would hire experience over schooling. 2.) Have to start at the bottom, best chance of getting into IT is starting a help desk job. I’d see if your community school has some open spots for help desk level one. This does a number of things starts your job experience and opens you up to IT. Working help desk is going to show you a number of different technologies and might spark a passion for one certain area. Mine was networking. 3.) Certs are a great thing, some people disagree. After now having my CCENT, N+, and A+ I learned a lot more about IT studying for those then I ever did in my 4 year degree I dropped out of. 4.) Get a 2 year Associates of applied science if you can. Make sure to do it at a community college because the cost will be so much lower. Saying you have some college experience says a lot to employers.

Summary.

Start in help desk, find what you love and if IT is for you, continue 2 year degree, start getting certs in your area of interest. “Stay Connected with the community.”

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As an exec level in IT with just shy of 20 years experience, I can tell you that have an IT degree is not required. I didn’t have an IT degree when got into it. You can probably get a help desk or bench tech job based on a couple classes and some personal experience.They will probably ask you to get some certs along the way and you’ll move up to HD 2,3,4 etc. And that’s what you’ll do for the rest of your life. A college degree - whatever the course of study - broadens someone’s field of vision. They have demonstrated an ability to stick with something and see it through even though it was hard and they may not have liked it. That’s the sort of person employers look at for the long term, to invest in additional education, and promote into senior positions. Passing on a degree now is a very short sighted decision that looks great now but has consequences down the road. I encourage you to put a plan together to get that degree.

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My boss doesn’t care about certifications at all. I was hired through the company intern program. Flip side, one job I applied for the gentleman in charge flat out told me in the interview that the certification was what he wanted. Another employer could have care less, they wanted knowledge. I’m going to say its job dependent.

Working for a larger company, ? Then you can probably expect the degree to go further than the certification. They want proof of “follow through” more than anything else. The degree matters most to them, although intern programs can get you in the door.

Working for a “services” IT firm? You know them, they have vehicles emblazoned with several corporate logos of big IT sellers like Cisco. They want certifications. They’re selling your specific “skills” to another company and use certifications to “prove” you have knowledge.

Working “retail” IT? Well good retail IT anyway, small shop, they want knowledge. They just want you to get the job done. They will often train you, because this is very entry level.

So it is employer dependent.

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You don’t need a degree BUT…it will make it easier to find a job and to advance. Not all companies require a degree but a lot do so by getting one you can improve your options. Also in some companies you are limited as to how far you can advance withoput a degree.

Where I work in my IT group which is Enterprise Business Support, you need at least a B.A. in Accounting, Business, IT or CS. For the other groups you need a highschool education and some experiance or certification, however without the degree you can’t move up up to the next pay band so you’ll max out at around $50-$55k a year.

When I look fopr people I like to see that they have done the job I am hiring for or have a history that shows they are ready to move into the job, so the short answer is education helps, but experiance and certs can make up for lack of formal education.

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As others have mentioned, there are multiple paths in the IT career world. Certs are good to have on your resume. So is a degree. As a hiring IT manager, if similar work experience resumes cross my desk, one with just certs, and one with certs and a degree, guess who’s getting the interview? Plus, if your career objective is to wind up making a lot of money some day, your odds are better in management than in field work. You’ll give yourself the best chances of success with an IT degree, and a healthy dose of business classes along the way.

The way I look at it, Certs “prove” you know a specific topic, which is useful in IT. A degree shows that you can learn new things, and stick with difficult projects. Knowing everything there is to know in IT is sort of like having the fastest computer on the planet. It’ll only last a few days/weeks before you’re behind again. The ability to learn/keep up is more important, because “IT” is an ever-moving target.

If your goal is to work at GeekSquad your whole life, drop out and get your A+ cert. Just kidding, but expanding the career paths/options available to you early will pay off in the long run. I agree with the advice to start helpdesk work now to build the experience side of your resume, but follow it up with both certs and a degree for the best chances of long-term success.

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We have no degree requirement, and I’ve hired multiple people without degree’s. I care about skills and ability to learn more than anything.

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Degree is not required, but it can make things easier.

I.T. has several branches, and the exact one was not specified (or yet known). College can assist in harrowing the precise interest, for instance programming/development, sysadmin, networking, technology project management, etc. Too there is the very broad specialization (or generality) of Linux/unix or Windows server OS.

Best way? Connections who know what you can do.

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I am the same age as you going through the same thing.

I don’t have a degree exactly but I did go to college and got my HND (UK) but that hasn’t helped too much. The course was so outdated (taught Windows XP and Server 2003). I spent more time logged onto work when I was at college than doing lectures.

I have 3x MCSA (7, 2008 and 2012), CCNA and ITIL Foundation. I find these get me recognised the most above a college course. I get interest based on these rather than college - I have actually been told to take my college results off my CV as these would be above and beyond what an employer wants to see most.

It probably depends mostly on the employer. Above certificates and a degree would be experience, I know guys at Uni that would kill to be out in the field working because they know that would look better. If you can get in somewhere as an intern/L1 whilst you work on certs it should give you a good footing for future.

I made my decision based on going through a degree which is 3-4 years coming out with one piece of paper going for jobs up against hundreds of other people in the same position or getting a job giving me 3 years of experience and getting 5 recognised qualifications at the same time.

Being young with little experience the certs have really been the way to get recognised. Im currently working towards CCNA Voice then plan on CCNA Security. I don’t plan on ever going back to college / University.

1 Spice up
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College will definitely help since there are some companies that no matter how much experience you have, they want a degree. Even if it’s not in the particular field (McGraw-Hill is like this). I actually graduated with a Marketing Management degree, but my passion was always in IT.

I don’t have any certifications either (working on VCP and some Microsoft ones now).

Not saying you shouldn’t do any of these, but I highly suggest getting an internship somewhere to get real world experience under your belt. You can in theory know how to fix things, but when you are actually put in the situation to troubleshoot a down Exchange server that will truly tell whether or not you can make it.

Also, make sure GOOGLE becomes your best friend and offline bookmarks.

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Thank you everyone for your replies. i think i’ve decided to stay out of college, at least for right now. The only problem i face is the fact that i’ve been looking for a job recently that doesn’t have to do with IT, any minimum wage job just to get a job and get money. Problem is i’ve applied to many places and haven’t gotten hired yet. So i fear that i’m doing something wrong and crap. Also, i have no idea where to look to find any of these help desk/low positions to get experience. I’m pretty clueless on everything honestly. And i’m worried i won’t be able to land any of these types of positions because i haven’t actually held a job before.

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Don’t fret it, you’re still young. I went through the same stuff when I just got out of high school and it took me until about 23 until I landed a position doing structured cabling work and from there everything took off. It wasn’t until I was 25 until I landed a full-time IT position.

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Bartender or weight tables. Teaches you soft skills and gets you used to weird hours that IT can work.

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That is true. I’ve gone from cleaning/painting precast molds, stocking dairy/frozen at a grocery store, selling college textbooks, and the list goes on. You may not get a job right away in IT but keep plugging away. It’s better to have work experience in something than nothing.

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After reading your post and reading that you are not a fan of college my best course of advice is to go to college and finish your two year degree for a variety of reasons. The first reason I suggest that is because you dislike college and there are going to be a lot of jobs or tasks that you hate and you need to learn to trudge through them. If you don’t like college and can get through a two year degree you can sit back and look at it as a huge accomplishment as well as getting a degree.

Certifications are great and that is what I have in the field. I had a natural knack for IT and tried to get out of it by going to school in various areas and graduated with a degree in a different field and I regret not going for CompSci or something similar. In fact I have considered going back repeatedly. You aren’t going to learn solid networking skills or how to setup a server but you will get exposure to many different facets of I.T. work.

You may end up wanting to be a programmer instead of a network tech or something along those lines. There are dozens of different jobs in IT and you want to make sure you find the right fit.

As for my company we will not hire someone without a degree for most of our positions. The only person currently working in our company without a degree is the person that handles most of our shipping and receiving or the guy who works in the warehouse. We would rather hire someone that did not attend college than someone who dropped out unless there are extenuating circumstance that they can explain. We had people apply for the receptionist vacancy we had a while ago and they ignored the college drop-outs because they saw it as a sign of someone who cannot commit. That doesn’t mean it is true but when someone sees your resume their perception is what matters not the truth - that comes later in the interview.

I know that a college degree doesn’t mean you aren’t smart and it absolutely doesn’t mean you cannot do the job but if you don’t like college and can get through it then that means when your job starts to suck you will be able to stick it out instead of wanting to immediately jump ship. Of course if your job sucks for a long time then you should run away because it’s not the right place for you.

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So college shows commitment? What about a 4 year enlistment in the military? How about holding down the same job for 4 years? There are a ton of things that show commitment and the ability to stick it out through rough times. College is probably the easiest one of the bunch.

Not saying it’s wrong to use college as a measure of dedication but so often people want to treat it like it is the “gold standard”

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Military shows commitment as well; you are right there and I forgot to mention it. It isn’t something that we generally look for but it is something that is considered. The military actually gives you a whole bunch of other skills in addition to whatever your technical training is. I would never count the military as a mark against someone - exactly the opposite.

Holding the same job for four years? Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes you have the same job for four years because nothing better has come along or you can’t afford to quit even if you want to. There are a lot of reasons someone can have a job for a long time and that comes into consideration as well. I know someone that just passed six years at a company but he would have been gone long ago if he could find a better job. He gets paid entirely too much for what he does and he knows that he will never make close to that elsewhere since he has no formal education and no marketable skills. Longevity at a job can mean a lot of things and my perception is probably skewed from my knowledge of his situation.

I believe our company uses college as a benchmark because you do have to have commitment to get through college. You have to pay for college and it gives you a broad base of understanding. There is a wide gap between finishing up school with a 2.000 average and finishing up with a 3.500+ and that is generally what we look for. We have no illusions and the person spends a good nine to twelve months in training learning exactly how to do their job and how it is expected to be done when they get hired but at least with a degree we know just about where they stand education-wise. We want a good baseline knowledge to draw from and then we train them and certify them in exactly what they need to know from that point.

This is the general rule though and there are always exceptions. We have a lot of people that finished in the top 5% of their graduating class working here. We also have an Airforce mechanic, an Army tank mechanic, a cabinet maker, an electrician and an auto mechanic.

1 Spice up
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Yeah I think too many companies make it a gold standard. I couldn’t move up at McGraw-Hill because I didn’t have a degree, yet I had the experience and knowledge to do it. They even told me it didn’t have to be a marketing degree, it just needed to be a degree in something.

The funny thing about where I work is that only two guys in our IT department actually have degrees in our field. Our systems engineer has a Marketing degree and so do I. And our two other engineers just graduated from high school. These are guys that make almost 3 figures.

I come off sound like you don’t need college, but at the end of the day it’s your choice. It’s always going to be more beneficial to have a degree than not to have one. For myself, I couldn’t justify going back to school and compiling more debt since I have a mortgage, truck payment, and more.

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I tended bar and waited tables for 20+ years, when really all I wanted was a tech job.
DON’T DO IT.

Unless you already have an IT job and want to pick up a few extra dollars, or ladies, or whatever, then fine.

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In my experience, and you’re going to want to heed me on this one:

Experience over Certs over Education.

For example:
A guy w/ 2 years Sys Admin experience is going have no problem getting a job.
A guy w/ no experience and a bachelor’s in Computer Science or MIS, or whatever - you will not get a job (in IT).
^- this guy is the guy waiting tables.

As some other spicers said above, some jobs REQUIRE a bahcelors degree, or certain certification - but those typically ALSO require X years of experience.

I agree with the others - simply DO.
Get a help desk or networking internship, etc.
You will not only start adding to your “I have X years experience” count.
But you will see how things are done in corporate/business IT.
You will prob. get a chance to tell the higher-ups, “Hey, what can I do to help with the XXXX project” or whatever, and gain more experience that way.
These are things employers look for, and you will not get them in school (w/o an internship) or at home.

Do.

Good luck.
Steven

ps - My sob story is that I got my bachelor’s in Computer Science, and I was MCSE certified, but I did not take those extra steps to get myself hired in IT.
I languished as a waiter/bartender for years and years before realizing I had to make some life changes in order to get a job in the field I love.
Heed my words young ones.