What is the best degree for IT?
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@scottalanmiller I hate school, who doesn't. But from what I have seen from my parents and cousins going through it is a necessary evil because they can't find jobs that easily because they don't have that degree. I want to do it so that I have it, because the majority of job listings in my area what a college degree and some years of experience.
It is unlikely that I am going to be able to move to a place where you don't need a degree because I don't have the money but I have done my research. So I know that I need a degree to compete with other applicants around here. But I also know that I need experience which is why I am working while in school.
I am just trying to find out what is the right path for me to take in school so that it will be beneficial to me and so I know that I will be able to handle the classes because school is not based on what you know how to do or that you can figure it out, school is about standardized testing and making sure that you are capable of passing a test.
so yes there is some emotion in this decision but I am also trying to be smart about it which is why I have been thinking about this for a couple weeks and have not done anything yet because I want to be very thorough before I reach a conclusion -
@scottalanmiller said:
@Draco8573 said:
but the reason i am in college was because I was going to go for mechanical engineering but that didn't work out.
I started in engineering too. Manufacturing Systems (basically Industrial Eng but with a specific focus on big manufacturing) for me, not mechanical. I dropped out after two years, best decision ever. I have had such a wildly better career than my classmates, most of whom went on to Masters and PhD degrees. Their careers are much shorter than mine with much lower earnings and flexibility.
I was an electrical engineering student for a while. Still love it but, heck I get paid a lot more than an EE would.
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@Draco8573 said:
@scottalanmiller I hate school, who doesn't.
Actually I really enjoy it. I like writing papers and academic discussions. I like teaching too and sitting on college boards and overseeing programs. I really enjoy academia, I just know that it isn't helping students try to build their careers in IT.
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@Jason said:
Never heard it called beowulf before.. I guess college is teaching the old terms haha.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_cluster
It's still used I think, but the concept doesn't have the legs that it did fifteen years ago.
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@Draco8573 said:
@scottalanmillerBut from what I have seen from my parents and cousins going through it is a necessary evil because they can't find jobs that easily because they don't have that degree.
How do you know that that is why? Are they highly skilled IT professionals but unable to find work? Are they flexible and willing to move anywhere for jobs like IT pros need to do to keep their careers moving? What makes you feel that their lack of degrees has an impact on their careers and if their careers are not IT, why would their experience matter for you?
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@Draco8573 said:
I want to do it so that I have it, because the majority of job listings in my area what a college degree and some years of experience.
Sure, the job listings have it. No self respecting IT pro would ever actually require it and no good company would even think of actually having such a barrier. It's listed because it's just something that people say. But those of us without degrees know that that is just something that it said and doesn't actually prevent a barrier to good jobs.
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@Draco8573 said:
It is unlikely that I am going to be able to move to a place where you don't need a degree because I don't have the money but I have done my research.
IT requires that you move. It's just part of the job. Degree or not, if you can't move constantly, your career will become mired. Moving job to job and location to location comes with the territory. Staying in one location is theoretically possible, mostly in NYC or London, but you will almost certainly pay an enormous price for it.
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@scottalanmiller there is a very long answer for that but it is not that they can't find work but they are stuck where they are because they manage to go anywhere else because they don't have that piece of paper. And the system admin that I work alongside even went back to school to get his degree.
but it has been said that you need a degree to get past HR in a lot of cases -
@Draco8573 said:
So I know that I need a degree to compete with other applicants around here.
You keep saying things with certainty that have no logical foundation leading you to them. Are you saying that if you had skills and experience that they would get the jobs over you if they only had a degree? Two questions...
- Is that true?
- If it is true, why would you want to work with incompetent people for incompetent people?
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@Draco8573 said:
@scottalanmiller there is a very long answer for that but it is not that they can't find work but they are stuck where they are because they manage to go anywhere else because they don't have that piece of paper. And the system admin that I work alongside even went back to school to get his degree.
but it has been said that you need a degree to get past HR in a lot of casesThen why doesn't this affect everyone else? You keep saying that without paper they can't move on. That is not true. It just isn't. Most successful IT pros I know, and I know thousands, don't have degrees. The top ones almost never have degrees. I never hear IT people without degrees complaining that they can't find work, only people with degrees saying that - and then saying that they have to have degrees for the obviously incorrect reasons that you are stating.
This community, and Spiceworks, and the professional world are full of people without degrees on average outperforming their degreed counterparts. That's just math. Even the colleges admit that (they don't say it, they release the numbers and try to hide the results, but it is there.)
Degrees don't get you jobs. Some crappy job, sure. It happens. Degrees are often better for finding "a" job, if your goal is to never be out of work, degrees help. If your goal is to have a long, successful career, degrees will hurt.
Why the people you know can't find work... we can't say. What we can say, without a doubt, is that their lack of degrees can only be, at most, a minor factor.
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@Draco8573 said:
And the system admin that I work alongside even went back to school to get his degree.
Lots of people GET degrees. So many that nearly everyone has them. That people have them tells us nothing simply due to the math of the situation.
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@Draco8573 said:
but it has been said that you need a degree to get past HR in a lot of cases
Yup, it's been said and shown to be untrue time and time again. If you really, really want to work in SMB only, well, typically there is no HR. And the enterprise does not allow HR to do this. There are a few horror stories out there of horrible companies full of poorly performing, sad employees who are hidden behind crual HR hiring walls. It is true, it happens. But it is rare and for one, I'm thankful that my lack of disclosing my degrees keeps those companies from even talking to me. I want a better career than that.
I feel like you are emotionally driven to get a degree at any cost and are coming up with unsubstantiated reasons why it must be the case.
I'm not saying a degree is definitely wrong for you, just that the amount of evidence that says it is bad for you is pretty overwhelming and the reasons you are providing for why it is a requirement are not very solid.
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@Draco8573 said:
because school is not based on what you know how to do or that you can figure it out, school is about standardized testing and making sure that you are capable of passing a test.
Not good schools. Top IT schools are nothing like that. No tests at all. You are talking about the kinds of schools that are the bases of why we warn that having a degree tells us nothing. There are excellent IT schools out there too that are nothing like that.
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Electronics engineering was fun for me but you have to find your passion and chase it
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@Draco8573 said:
I am just trying to find out what is the right path for me to take in school so that it will be beneficial to me
Here is the breakdown, as there is a spectrum:
If you want the best option for the best possible IT career, school is out of the question. It will cripple your career options and is already holding you back.
If you want the absolute best flexibility and protection against being homeless and destitute then you want a liberal degree not in IT, but a general degree that makes it "easier" to get "a job", any job.
So you have to decide what you want. Are you serious about IT? Do you want the most IT options possible? College is in your way, it is a barrier, as are all of the people pushing you to do it without knowing its value.
Are you just really concerned about being able to live locally and keep working and are willing to sacrifice your IT career to do it? Then getting a degree that isn't IT likely is a good option, although I'd wager even then skipping the degree is probably best. I know no one getting enough benefit from a degree to offset its cost, it happens somewhere, but it is super rare.
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The reality is, not everyone can go into IT and most people who do can't have amazing careers. There just are not enough jobs out there for that. Nothing wrong with wanting to be in the middle and just do a normal job and go home at the end of the day. We are taught that that is not the right attitude, but then the same system that teaches us that we should all be special and excel pushes us to conform and go to college so that we are all the same when we come out. It can't be both ways.
So choosing the goal is critical. The best "degree for IT" is definitely none. No question there. But is the best degree "for IT" really what you seek?
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@Draco8573 said:
so yes there is some emotion in this decision but I am also trying to be smart about it
Those are opposing forces. You really need to separate the emotion from the logic here. Not only is this important for your degree decision right now, but emotional decision making is one of the things that separates people who can never advance in IT from those that do. Many people who enter IT from the "tech" side are not trained to look at the business cases, separate the emotion, remain logical and let emotion take over in their jobs and can't make useful business decisions around technology.
For IT to be a big career, this is a skill you need to master.
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@scottalanmiller I am only going off of what I have been told by multiple career counselors at school and even some of the companies that show up to our career fairs and obviously all the other things that i have previously mentioned.
we have established that the degrees don't get jobs. I have recognized that. Degrees are just there to open the door, then certs and experience get you the rest of the way.
and as far as "degrees will hurt" that sounds like a load of bull. If you love academia so much why are you against degrees? SO they don't teach what you can learn on the job but people are still learning. and I know a lot of people both working and going to school. I highly doubt that degrees hurt. The only people who have a degree and are unsucessfull are the little idiots whose parents pay for everything and they have never lifted a finger to do anything in their life.
and once again we have established that yes there is a bit of emotion in the descision but I am four years in I can't just drop out now, that would be a LOT of money wasted. You want the truth? I know a bunch of trivial knowledge and am more of a jack of all trades than anything I can do a little bit of everything but there is nothing that I excel at. I want a job and security. But I still want to get better with IT. I am doing that on the job and I am learning way more in school than what I knew, plus if I switch to IT there are a couple classes that look like they may be cool. Even though you say it can hurt it is still helping me figure this stuff out. To be honest IT is not my dream job. I am decent enough at it and I find it interesting. So I am not looking to be an IT manager or anything, I just want something that I can enjoy and live comfortably -
@Draco8573 said:
"degrees will hurt" that sounds like a load of bull. If you love academia so much why are you against degrees? SO they don't teach what you can learn on the job but people are still learning. and I know a lot of people both working and going to school. I highly doubt that degrees hurt.
I can honestly say that yes, degrees do more harm them good... at least past a certain level. I spent 6 years of my time working toward a bachelors and masters degree in systems administration. The same skill set I "learned" in that time I could have gained by working for two years at any company. So not only was I not making money and being productive, the exact opposite was true. I ended up spending a silly amount of money to get a job I could have easily gotten with just a year or two of experience. That is active harm... my potential lifetime earnings are actively being affected by both my educational debt and the time wasted in college.
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@coliver I undestand that but what do you think about someone who is going to school and working an IT job at the same time, so that they are learning on the job and in a classroom. Plus this person has about zero previous knowledge of IT stuff. The only thing that I did before i started CS was I built my pc, not hard to do so it is not like I know enough to drop out and get a job.
What I am trying to get at is that I know next to nothing about IT, but I am learning from two sources and I don't think that can really be as bad as Scott is making it sound. He makes it sound like I am throwing my money into a fire and not getting anything out of it. When I know at least 10 times more now than I did last year.
