IT BS thread

That is common, but what type of server? What type of maintenance?
I would say if you like SQL performance tuning, there's a good market for that.

 

I'm one of those guys who made his career in IT without ever taking a class in it. I do have a college degree, which has opened a few doors. But I have never actually been asked for a resume. Good thing as my bachelors is in Religious Studies.

 

You will be a do-it-all type of person in most SMBs (Small/Medium businesses). Those companies usually don't have the resources to maintain multiple tiers of support and operations teams.

It is very common to find people that specialize. For example, our company operates a number of data centers. There are long-term ermployees in the data centers that focus on the types of things you are referring to. I was offered a job in that field a number of years ago and it didn't require too much experience.

In a nutshell, it is definitely common and a good bet may be working for a company that provides this service to a larger company. Good luck!

 

see my answer below

I've been lucky to be in the position i'm in. I get to do it all from Data Center work at companies with 20k+ users to companies with 2 users. It is best to become very well rounded. If you aren't, you can get pigeon holed and have a hard time finding a job. A lot of people found that out when the economy took a shit in 2007. They got laid off and then when they had a very specific set of skills, it was hard to get anyone to hire them.

 

Hmm. Well, I guess my only question now is should I stay in school another year and half or so and get an associates for this? I've already got almost 2 semesters of gen. ed. done. Or should I just do the cert. program?

 

Certs and experience > Degree in the IT world

 

Let me rephrase that... At the entry level, a degree doesn't get you very far... If you are wanting a management role, a business degree will serve you better, if you are wanting to program or manage a sql database, then an MIS or programming degree will serve you best.

 

The whole certs and experience makes a helluva lot more sense to me.

I'll have to look into what all my school offers. I'm just so ready to not have to sit through another math/history/bullshit class anymore.

 

if you are going to take classes, take the hands on IT classes like networking or operating systems.

 

I'm having a problem with the direction some of this conversation is headed. A lot of you are encouraging traits which are a problem in current society - "I want it all, I want it now, and I don't want to work for it."

I think that encouraging young people to drop out of college and expect high pay with a few 'easy certs' is a dangerous idea.

Maybe I'm wrong, but these guys who didn't go to college still busted hump to get where they are, and the days where you can simply learn a trade or work your way up is diminishing.

While all college classes don't have a direct application to the work you do, they provide a habit of analytic thinking and problem solving. Ask an engineer and I bet he won't remember how to solve for the limit of x as x approaches infinity or how to calculate the rate at which a ball might sink in a glass of water, but I'm sure you can watch him think just slightly different when faced with a problem.

A degree usually dictates your starting wage, and if nothing else, opens doors. I'd estimate that each additional 2 years to your degree results in an added 20% to your starting wage.

If you truly want it, work for it. Don't expect it to land in your lap or find the loophole in life.

 

Whoa! hold up. I believe there was a lot of advise given stating that it would take a lot of work and a big interest in learning to get where he wants to go.
We told him that based on where he was, that a general education degree wouldn't benefit him in IT. (and it won't). Certifications would be the first stepping stone in getting into IT. We also didn't tell him that he would start off making lots of money. With work he could make a decent amount of money but no one said he would just get a cert and make 100k.

 

For instance, I'm an uneducated IT guy with 0 certs and about 5 years experience in the field, and I'm sure I make less than what an electrician with 5 years experience does... It pays the bills and it's my full time career, but I'm never going to touch 6 figs unless I work on getting industry certs and a college degree, both of which I'm working towards btw.

 

I'm fully aware that if I want to make money or be successful at anything I do that I have to bust my ass at least every now and then to get what I want.
The more I think about it, I feel like I'm better off going for a 2-year Associates type degree in IT. This way, if for some reason I change my mind I've still got all of my gen. ed. done, or at least in the process of completion. Also, considering I've already got almost a year of school over with, I might as well bust ass a little more and get an actual degree instead of a certification.
The only advantage to the cert. program would be that I get to work maybe 6 months sooner, which would be nice, but when we're talking careers 6 months isn't really anything at all.
When I can get an Associates Degree in something I wouldn't mind doing and getting paid pretty decent for it, while having NO school-related debt...

Well, I'd be a moron not to. Wouldn't I?

 

Since you have started and are invested, I wouldn't recommend stopping. From what I have seen, and in our market here in Iowa, the guys coming out with the 2 year IT Network Admin degree can expect to enter the workforce in the 30-40k range. If you were to get an MIS/ Computer Science degree, then you are looking at 50-60. Again, I can only speak for the market I'm in, but coming out of school with those types of degree's you will easily find work, entry level IT jobs are abundant around here.

 

My advice is if you think you're going to go for a bachelor's degree, don't bother with the associates. It just wastes time. If you're in a community college, transfer as soon as you can. Don't waste time getting an associates in the same field your bachelor's will be in. It won't help with your job prospects (that is it won't look any better than someone who only has a bachelors). Once you have the bachelors, no one cares about the associates.

Do internships as much as you can. That can be looked upon as real work experience. A degree plus work experience is valuable.

 

Additionally, it's much harder to go back to school than it is to just plug the long haul. Once you are out, your priorities shift - work, family, house... plus you forget things and you get old. When you are young, going to bed as the sun rises sucks, you probably wish you could make better food than devouring a whole $5 pizza, but you can still shrug it off and run a mile to morning class.

Plus, there's never as many eligible, attractive people of the opposite sex in one spot than any other place in your life Don't get old faster than you need to.

 

Don't think that with no experience and a 4 year degree that anyone will hire you for 50k + a year. The economy crash fixed that. As a computer engineering grad, the average coming out of ISU (top tier engineering college and 2nd highest paid engineering degree) was only 45k. 30-40k is a good estimate for coming out of college in IT especially here in Iowa. Now if you throw 5 years of experience with it, 50-60 is more reasonable.


As for the degree, if you are going to get a 2 year degree in IT, then do it. I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on a general education degree though.

 

I'm not worried about a bachelor's degree at all. The only thing is, where I'm going to school I have to have gen. ed. classes in order to get the degree I want. It's just a "rule". What I want to do is work on an Associates in this field while working part time at a job related to the work. Then, graduate and move on to a full-time job. After the first couple years I'm hoping for 30k-ish. Just work my way up from there. (With no school debt, mind you)

 

That sounds like a good idea. I know every degree will have gen ed classes, just make sure the really expensive paper says something about computers or IT on it.

 

Yeah it's also called baccalaureate core classes, and yes, those ARE primarily crap. One of those classes for me was listening to Rage Against the Machine and writing about Bob Marley.

One of the things you may be interested in is internship-type credit classes.
Oregon State University, for example, has MECOP, which is where they pair you with a job in your industry. You don't get paid, but you get school credit and a very high chance of continuing with the company once you graduate.


All I'm trying to say about your plans is don't sell yourself short. If you can make more schooling work and you have the energy, do it. School debt isn't that bad if you are good with your money. My payments are $325/mo and I could technically pay double without flinching.