June 10, 2008 at 9:44 pm
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June 12, 2008 at 6:31 am
Cory,
I sense a great deal of hostility in some of the other posts.
To answer your question, it depends on your goals.
Whether or not you have a degree will not make or break you as a developer or as an administrator. Hard work and interest will. Hopefully a degree will make you well rounded. But, don't expect a degree to make your career.
I started in a shop with people who, if they had a degree it certainly did not have anything to do with IT. Most of them were 'home grown'. Of the 'home grown' group, there were many very good programmers. I learned a great deal from them. There were also 'home grown' people who left you puzzled as to whether or not they had walked into the wrong office.
The same thing can be said of people with degrees or specialized training. Referring to a previous post, I find it hard to believe that a Ph.D. in Math would even consider actually programming.
From my own experience, I know a M.S. if Computer Science. He was one of the best programmers I have ever worked with. He had insight and knowledge that I had never considered. A degree certainly helped him. The irony was that he was such a great programmer that he was too valuable to make a manager. He was well compensated -- making much more than the project and product managers. But the people who were promoted to PM were mostly the no degree home grown people.
Another example is the very many MBA's that were programmers. I do not know one project manager who has an MBA. Most of the MBA's that I knew were just chasing the money. Their degree was no use to them.
When I first started looking for a job out of college, I had many interviews with IT people who did not have any degree. One actually told me to come back after I got some experience. My response was how I get experience if you won't give me a job. He said that it was not his problem. Now that is hostility.
Consider this; will you get a return on investment if you get your degree? That depends on what your goals are. My bias is, get the degree. No matter that you do in your career and life, you won't regret it.
I hope this helps you.
--Steve
June 16, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I am "home grown" ... some college, no degree, eight years working with SQL servers, 12 years in IT. I've gone back to school to finish my degree for these reasons:
1. I'm usually one of the only people without a degree in the different environments I've been in. Currently, at my little company of 45 people there are a few people without a degree, 25 people with bachelor's and 10 people with advanced degrees--Master's and Doctorates. The warehouse manager and two of the accounting clerks don't have degrees.
2. There aren't many "pure" SQL server jobs where I live. Most companies advertise kitchen-sink positions--"must know C#, SQL database administration, T-SQL development, javascript, datawarehousing" and so on. I can move from an area I love to follow the SQL positions, or learn C# and web development, or increase the odds of getting my resume past the HR group with a degree.
3. I'm working towards a data warehousing position. For that, I think I need more math and statistics. I'd really like to get a degree in Information Science, but it's not very reasonable to get at the moment. The degree is often a Master's, and generally taught at expensive schools. [My dream job would be to work at RealAge.com, but I suspect they've got some rather interesting algorithms.]
For me, getting my Bachelor's degree is the right decision--I've always wanted to complete my degree, and the lack of it has been used against me at my current company.
I searched for schools in the Spring and started May 1st of this year at Western Governors University. So far I really like it, and am ready to sit for my first exam. It does take a lot of time though; I'm spending 15+ hours a week.
July 14, 2008 at 12:35 am
hey with your experience you would probably be better off doing all the Microsoft certs you can and maybe doing somesort of charted course lie the citp or bcs well there the British ones but I am sure there is something like it in the usa. I did the same and went back and did a degree in the UK the first degree is free well at least it was when I went back. but when I came out I was on the same money as I went in and 3 years behind on technology as unis are behind, I guess its good if you want to learn the theory behind it all but I think the hands on approch is better. I am dyslexic so sorry about the spellings and everything. But that does not stop me from being a good it professional. so take it from me I think you would be better off the professional route and alot better off in the bank too.
July 15, 2008 at 5:35 am
My opinion is that Schools, Collages, Universities etc are outdated forms of education. All we will require in the future to become learned will be English knowledge, willingness to learn ***and the Internet*** to learn and master ANYTHING except maybe physical stuff like making an incision etc.
Maybe you could search around the Internet for Exams that you can take directly without attending classes and study for those exams using the Internet and your computer only?
July 15, 2008 at 6:39 am
I did things totally backwards. Got an IT job first (computer operator at night) and went to school during the day. I have an Associate in Computer Science from a great local community college and a Bachelor in MIS as well. I can say that I got more useful hands-on experience at the community college - great instructors, great real world assignments. The BS MIS? Well, it's been basically the key that opens doors and not much else. We did actually write a C compiler there, but that's not very real-world. In my view, with your 10 years of SQL, you have no reason to feel 'green'.
For example, my sister is an MD. She is excellent at her job (difficult diagnosis her specialty), but she knows very little about anything else. She is not 'well rounded'. So what I'm saying is, a good education is not the be-all, end-all. Read alot, be curious about a variety of things, find outside subjects that interest you.
As for going outside the IT realm, I also have a real estate license that I acquired during a 9-month layoff. I thoroughly enjoyed selling real estate (not so great now, though!) and intend to do that when I retire - so I keep my license and qualifications (class hours) current. Plus, it might become a good 'fall back' should IT careers go south. Ya never know!
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