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So I am about to finish my degree.(IT Programmer/Analyst). I just started my new job where I’m mainly helpdesk but I do a few jr. admin duties (AD, Exchange, Postini, SCCM etc.). Now that I have working experience, I am leaning towards a SysAdmin career. Now I know its helpful to have a programming degree to know code, but I really don’t think I want to be a developer.

So here’s my question: Should I pursue a Administration 2 year degree or should I just focus on certifications like Network+ etc. The upside to the degree thing I would have my second degree in less than 1 year but I don’t know what would look better on paper. I’m in a little bit of a roadblock and would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!

14 Spice ups
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Experience > Certificates > Degree

Experience is the best thing you can have by far.

14 Spice ups
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I must say I went to school for Computer Science (programming) and now have an IT support/sysadmin gig without any formal certs education. I think if you can walk the walk and talk the talk, they will see you are fit for the job with a relevant degree. That being said it never hurts to further your education. I personally believe certs are better as i learned more relevant information taking them than formal education. But, again, that is my personal experience.

2 Spice ups
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Experience is great. A Degree like the one you already have is always a plus. A vendor cert (M$ or Cisco?) or two in the areas you want to work are also good. Personally, the Network+ cert has never impressed me - it is very basic. My son got that while he was in high school and I still had to help him install Windows.

2 Spice ups
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My employer is definitely helping out on the certifications side though. They are sending me in about a month for my MCSE, then my A+, then my Network+ after that. Plus! They are letting me go to SPICEWORLD! Yeah buddy!

I think with those certs and more experience I could be qualified. I pretty much do sysadmin stuff everyday.

1 Spice up
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I have hired employees with experience - preferred

I have hired employees with degrees - not great without experience - best route is to hire an Intern on the way to a degree and help them along the way (yes I do pay my interns so no free labor)

I have hired employees with certifications - from experience these employees turn out to be test takers and very limited for the real world. Microsoft is not always right… sorry

My 2 cents… based on 15 years of management…

2 Spice ups
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Absolutely not. Even if you had zero college experience, this would be worthless. It’s not even recommended that IT people go to school for IT but for things like business or something else more liberal. IT is not something to focus on in school.

4 Spice ups
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Let me expand…

Writing > Professional Experience > Volunteer Experience > Intern Experience > Personal Experience > Certs > Degree

There are lots of ways to get experience. Having a job is not the only one. Because in IT (or programming) anyone can build a portfolio from work done at home, there is near zero tolerance for anyone without experience. In fact, many people see degrees and certs without experience as a potential negative since anyone could have experience of some sort if they cared enough. Likewise, lots of experience and zero certs looks a little bad because certs don’t take that much effort and show that you care about your career.

Good to have a mix of things, don’t skip certs but focusing on experience is the most important thing.

4 Spice ups
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I think experience is the best qualification you can get. I have a degree in Computing and no industry qualifications, yet. Having worked in my current workplace for 4 years the experience I’ve gained of working in a small Special Needs school with little to no budget, high expectations/demands, short notice for help will put me in good stead when I move on. My boss actually said to me once that when he hired me he knew I didn’t have experience, having not long graduated, but that I would have plenty of experience working where I have been.

2 Spice ups
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Here is at least what I’ve seen in the local area (Tampa/St. Petersburg FL), for IT jobs. Now, this boils down to hiring managers and not IT pros: Experience is the key in IT, but a degree and/or certs will go a long way. As an example, there are some positions out there that have required a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (Or equivalent), but are willing to sub it out for either or. I have seen a few positions that have demanded two or all three. That being said, some of those have been via recruiters who wouldn’t know the difference between a Serial and a VGA port.

Honestly, ti seems like you have an Associates, you can probably keep it at that, I’m not gonna say don’t go for the Bachelor’s because that’s what I’m doing currently. One way or another, do what you can afford to do. :slight_smile:

1 Spice up
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It’s very much down to what kind of environment you work in (or intend to).

I don’t have a degree but I think it demonstrates someone is able to take a set of requirements and produce something relevant. I personally don’t care what the subject of the degree is, the best (IT) manager I ever had did a degree in history of art (he knew his way around a computer too).

I agree that certs can be drilled in, I have some certifications but the MCP I have I did so many training exams that I remembered most of the questions in the actual exam. However it could show that a person is committed to their profession.

I have experience, as it is my ace in the hand I rate it highly

Some companies will only hire people with degrees, most will accept experience in place.

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I am glad to see everyone agrees about experience. It makes sense; quite honestly, I have learned more about Systems Administration/Support in the 7 months I’ve been in this position then almost 2 years of schooling. I’m more of a hands on learner than cramming 6 chapters in one night. That’s just me.

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I look at certification as education you have to learn to obtain them. But generally once you have a baseline degree, Experience and certifications will be far more helpful.

Some cough Scott cough will tell you that a degree is actually useless in the IT field, and getting one to further your career in IT is foolish. I wish we could all be like those people and have people offering us awesome jobs at awesome employers. But since there are a lot more of us than there are awesome employers with available IT positions, a baseline degree (at least A.S. preferable Bachelor’s) is very valuable as it’s something HR departments and companies often use as a qualifier. Already having your degree, your better option is to go for certification at this point. As long as you continue to work, because as others have mentioned Experience (and more so your accomplishments) is king above all.

If you do choose to go back to school at some point don’t do it specifically for your career, do it for yourself, like personal enrichment.

3 Spice ups
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Experience is always the most important thing to me - everything else is a plus. It seems that opinion is not so wide spread these days, in any field.

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A degree isn’t useless, once you have a degree it helps. The thing is that degrees aren’t free (in money or time - imagine the experience one could gain for less money in half the time, for example) and their benefits don’t, on average, offset their cost over a person’s lifetime.

2 Spice ups
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I remember one time being told by a large firm like Robert Half, that the equivalency was four year degree was equal to six months of entry level experience.

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What is totally useless is second degrees. If you go for a degree at all, get it outside of IT. Getting a second degree (undergrad) does absolutely nothing, don’t do this.

A well planned primary degree (a singular BS or BA degree) can be beneficial. On average, it is not, but that doesn’t mean that there is no means for it to be. From a good school at low cost if leveraged well it can work out well.

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Thank you for clarifying the position, I do forget the distinction which is an important one, it’s more about return on investment.

I wonder if that’s actually a consistent measure. Often times I see positions that say Bachelors plus two years experience or equivalent, so if Robert half was the standard than 2.5 years would be equivalent experience. Somehow I don’t think that is uniform, people aren’t logical enough to see the distinction. Especially in the US culture of throwing education at everything and practically making the Bachelors a sacred thing to obtain.

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As others have stated, Experience > certs > degree. However, to optimize the number of companies that will consider you, it’s best to have all 3. There are some companies that won’t consider a candidate if they don’t have a degree, there are some that won’t consider you if you don’t have certain certs, and then there are those that will take years of experience in lieu of a degree and sometimes certs.

Especially if HR is doing the work of filtering applicants. At times you can bypass that with good networking.

The certs and degree will definitely help in lean times. back in 2001-2 when the .com bubble burst, those with degrees and certs had the advantage as there were many job seekers, and not that many jobs so companies could be choosy and pick what they considered to be the best applicants hat had all 3, experience and degree and certs.

1 Spice up
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Definitely not uniform. But if you have 3+ years of experience, you might easily get past that. Experience really does trump most things. A lot of it is not being shy about lacking university experience. Be proud of it. Show that you have a reason why you don’t have it. Be prepared to explain why it is better that you don’t. Sell your assets, most IT people are apologetic about it and that makes it far worse.

Keep in mind that anyone who skipped a four year degree but did the right thing during that same time would have a minimum of four years of experience (and a cert or two at least) at the same time as a college grad was graduating. So even if six months isn’t a fair comparison all of the time, all it takes is four years being equal for it to still benefit you more by skipping the extra schooling.

So in your example, the kid who skipped school should have 6.5 years of experience at the same point that the college student has the 4 plus 2.5 years.