Computer Science careers and degrees. Need Help.

B

bimbim18

CAGiversary!
Long story short after 10 years in the military and getting shafted after reaching for a 5 year goal to be a blackhawk pilot (literally by one day) because people kept messing up my paperwork, I am considering giving up on trying to finish my military career and using my GI bill to go to school.

Background: I'm a 33 year old computer/video game junkie with 42 miscellaneous credits from when I was in a college/high school dual enrollment program and havn't had any kind of formal schooling since '99. and love tinkering and computers, all of which I have learned on my own to this point with no training, Just an itch to learn.

I would love to get a degree in maybe some IT work or something along those line but am a bit overwhelmed as to which degree is the right path (much less the fact i havn't gone to college since i was 18). I don't want to be a call support or build monkey, something more advanced. If anyone has suggestions or know good sights where i can learn and narrow my path selections any are welcome.

Thanks.
 
If you want to work in IT don't bother with CS degrees, find a CIS/CIT program somewhere, they're more geared toward practical business use. If you want to do coding, CS may be a better choice, but if you're talking systems administration, networking etc., those other programs are probably a better fit.
 
CS is heavy on languages, which was the mistake I made. Quite honestly, it doesn't really matter which degree you go for because IT is so broad just having the piece of paper will open doors. I have a bachelor's in CS, but I've never touched a piece of code (at work). I've done everything from QA to BSA to PM, so really you learn more on the job than out of a book. If you're bright, companies are willing to train you in whatever they need.
 
[quote name='Clak']If you want to work in IT don't bother with CS degrees, find a CIS/CIT program somewhere, they're more geared toward practical business use. If you want to do coding, CS may be a better choice, but if you're talking systems administration, networking etc., those other programs are probably a better fit.[/QUOTE]

I was going to post asking something about this. I just want to get a plain old IT job, fixing fucked-up computers from employees getting viruses on them, building them, networking, etc. Nothing corporate level though.

Would the CIS/CIT programs apply? I know a shitload about computers self-taught but it would be nice to have a piece of paper saying I do without having to go get a degree, because I'm too old and money's too tight for that.
 
I wanna jump in too while this topic is out here. I went to school for Accounting but out in the field, all I do is work in excel and over time I played with macros enough where I've gone crazy and started programming them to do everything repetitive I do on a regular basis.. some of them are pretty extensive. But if that's something within the programming/coding field (not sure tbh) that's something that's interesting to me. What field would anyone recommend to build on that?
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']I was going to post asking something about this. I just want to get a plain old IT job, fixing fucked-up computers from employees getting viruses on them, building them, networking, etc. Nothing corporate level though.

Would the CIS/CIT programs apply? I know a shitload about computers self-taught but it would be nice to have a piece of paper saying I do without having to go get a degree, because I'm too old and money's too tight for that.[/QUOTE]
Yeah that would be a better fit. If you're talking about working in some repair shop or something though, a few lower level certs would probably be better, certainly cheaper and faster. Like A+, Network+, some of those.
 
People making hiring decisions are going to look for experience and/or personal recommendations.

The way to wedge your foot in the door is to get a technical certification in a particular technology (particularly a hot niche technology)

Degrees are cute but it's the real business experience and recommendation that counts.
 
[quote name='Jodou']CS is heavy on languages, which was the mistake I made. Quite honestly, it doesn't really matter which degree you go for because IT is so broad just having the piece of paper will open doors. I have a bachelor's in CS, but I've never touched a piece of code (at work). I've done everything from QA to BSA to PM, so really you learn more on the job than out of a book. If you're bright, companies are willing to train you in whatever they need.[/QUOTE]

Same here found out during school writing code wasn't for me. I could do it but I hated every minute of it. The CS BS degree I got helped me score an internship and get the IT job I have today. And I've never touched code minus the random SQL script that may cross my desk.
 
[quote name='camoor']People making hiring decisions are going to look for experience and/or personal recommendations.

The way to wedge your foot in the door is to get a technical certification in a particular technology (particularly a hot niche technology)

Degrees are cute but it's the real business experience and recommendation that counts.[/QUOTE]

I agree with the certs. If you have no industry experience and trying to break in its all certs. I've been in the industry now for 12 yrs and supervise 4 data centers. When I hire I look for them in that order. With what you want to do mentioned above I would go with Net+ and A+, for starters. Then go the Microsoft route.

However, where the money is I would do Cisco and VOIP. The next big thing is virtualization/cloud so that would be a VCP with VMware...which is where I think I am heading.
 
Yeah I was actually good at coding, but I hate doing it, too tedious for me. I like to be able to a little more physically hands on. I hated, hated doing any sort of web programming, just because you get unpredictable results from different browsers sometimes, and fixing them for one can break it on another etc...
 
my main focus was degrees because basically the GI bill will only fund me if I'm working towards an acreddited degree. But I'll have to look into it, I may be able to play the system. My GI bill pays for about 3 years of benefits.... I may be able to stretch a 2 year degree out to take 3 years snatching up all the certs I can get along the way. Would this be advisable?

btw thanks after looking deeper into your replies (googling a lot of what you speak of) I'm starting to understand a lot better how it all works :)

edit: also thanks for the cloud recommendations, I'm seeing that as a big thing soon to come.
 
To be honest experience seems to matter more than anything, of course that's hard to get if you can't even get the first job. I know guys working in the field who never even went to college, but were old enough when the IT industry took off the to get in on the ground floor and get lots of expeirence. Unfortunately that wasn't possible for me, if only I'd been born maybe 10 years earlier.
 
IT Jobs suck - Get a Computer Science major - get good at code - work from home - get crazy money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top