Do I need a degree in IT?

I've been doing research about IT career entry and career paths, and it seems to me that it is at least possible to get into the field via certs. I already have two degrees in the humanities, am a lifelong learner, etc. However, recently some people told me that if I want a job in IT, I need to have a degree in IT, preferably a Master's; otherwise, I probably won't be able to get a job.

Is this the case? I have a lot of student debt and don't want to add to that if I can at all avoid it, at least for the time being.

My current goal is to get A+ and land a helpdesk type job for around $30k and work that for 2 years, then level up to something else.

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Comments

shauncarter1

The short answer is "no" you do not. However, your growth may be capped later in your career. If you are fine doing support level work for the rest of your career (and earning a great salary) then just having the expertise will take you far. IT even still today is a knowledge based field, so if you have expert knowledge you will not be denied especially with experience. In my opinion I would stick with that first goal and then work on your degree with your employee's sponsorship...either way it is a great field...good luck !

daviddws

I don't think you would necessarily need a degree in IT. The fact you have a Bachelors already should exempt you from that requirement (you have to love HR). I would work on "certing up" and maybe down the road consider a Masters in an IT related discipline.

fredrikjj

The two benefits of a degree are:

1) The signaling effect. By having a degree you demonstrate that you have the ability to jump through hoops and complete a long term project. Because you already have unrelated degrees, getting an additional "IT degree" will have only limited signaling value. Some would argue that outside of hardcore STEM degrees, this is mostly what degrees are about.

2) Learning skills. Because your degrees are unrelated you wouldn't be able to compete with someone with an IT degree due to having lower skills, all else being equal. However, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to overcome this by demonstrating skills in other ways such as getting certs, blogging, being active on forums, etc.

PS.
I disagree with the notion that it would cap your growth later in your career (but feel free to make a compelling case for it - I'm not particularly knowledgable about US hiring practices). It makes little sense to me as you should be hired due to your past work, expertise and personal recommendations at that point, not your degree from 20 years ago. However, having the right degree should make it much easier to get the right entry level job with a better career trajectory.

emerald_octane

IMO You don't need a degree in IT. Prepare to tactfully answer any interviewer's questions about why you chose XYZ studies instead of CS or Engineering, but otherwise the degree is just a gatekeeper to some companies.

epcg

A degree would be nice but you have two degrees now. Go get your certs A+, Net+ and maybe a Microsoft one and work your way up. Your other two degrees are something. Also if for any reason you do go back to school just get an AAS in computers for now. You do not need a Masters in computers to get a job or even be the head of IT that's bull. It sounds like you need a job more than anymore pieces of paper. So good luck with it all.

certoi

I say get certs while looking an IT job because you are still going to need them even if you plan to waste 2 more years on a third degree.

markulous

I would think if you have certs, experience, and a degree from another field you would be fine in the long run.

CyberfiSecurity

My own opinion depends on the job hunting situation. Some job require a Bachelor degrees or 5 years experience as compensation. You can also see, Bachelor degree is required and Master degree is prefer. However, you can also see Bachelor degree with 8 years experience, Master degree with 4 years experience, and Ph.D with zero year in experience.

Most of the time a college degree is just a check mark for you to get into the door. Whether you can get a job offer or not depends on your experience and how you would fit/contribute to the company. Remember when an employers are hiring, they are looking for return on investment. If they pay you $100K per year with full benefits, which mean they look at you as an asset worth more than $200K per year.

LionelTeo

The most important thing to just having a degree is life long learning. A lot of people stop at degree and that's it, expecting everything the job can give them the regarding experience and the job is would be everything that the industry standards follow. Unfortunately, most company deviates from industry standards in some ways and thus its best to acquire the most updated skills from industry leaders. Be it cert/degree/experience, the most important thing would be continous upgrading of oneself.

A interviewing manager would usually be interested in getting a candidate who always wanted to upgrade himself and contribute to the company, but most HR, recuirter or automated machine only look for the word degree or else chuck the resume aside if there is none. There is pros and cons to both a degree and a cert, but if you stop somewhere eventually and stop upgrading, you would not last long in anywhere, not just IT.

DissonantData

emerald_octane wrote: »

IMO You don't need a degree in IT. Prepare to tactfully answer any interviewer's questions about why you chose XYZ studies instead of CS or Engineering, but otherwise the degree is just a gatekeeper to some companies.

Can you elaborate on the "tactfully answering questions" part?

Ukimokia

DissonantData wrote: »

Can you elaborate on the "tactfully answering questions" part?

I think he means be prepared to answer questions related to the job you're applying for. So if you go in for a Sys Admin job, be prepared to answer questions you may have to answer as a Sys Admin and things Sys Admin should know. Technical questions.

Tyb

I have seen more postings now ask for degrees in an IT related field. However, for an entry level position certs, experience and 2 degrees should be good.

DissonantData

Ukimokia wrote: »

I think he means be prepared to answer questions related to the job you're applying for. So if you go in for a Sys Admin job, be prepared to answer questions you may have to answer as a Sys Admin and things Sys Admin should know. Technical questions.

That's one thing, but I think he is referring to how you have to give a reason you want to work in IT with an unrelated degree. You may have to say something such as IT is your passion and is something you are good at or try to relate your degree to the IT field. Having certifications or a minor in a computer related area can make your case more convincing.

Rymbeld

Thanks for the comments; I'll proceed as planned. One ray of hope for me is that I actually has a friend who works in IT, and he keeps telling me, "Once you get that A+ certification, talk to me." I could probably get a help desk job at his company.

The guy I was talking to who insisted I get a Masters said this: certs don't mean anything, all they show is that you can study for and pass a test, but don't indicate any real degree of knowledge, so employers don't care about them very much. I obviously don't know if that's true right now.

Perhaps WGU would be a good option in the future; it seems fairly affordable, actually, provided the education and training is good (and after reading a lot about it on these fora, it seems pretty good!).

daviddws

I think the Masters would provide more value over time, however you still need to get in the IT field. To do that in this economy you would need technical certification(s). I worked in IT for many years without any certifications and a non-IT bachelors degree, but lately I've noticed many employers are requiring these. If you have the time and drive you will succeed.

shauncarter1

Rymbeld from my experience people who say that about certs are speaking from their perspective of not having one. That motto is somewhat applicable to folks with field experience, but with limited or no experience the certifications act as a way to verify a certain degree of knowledge. You will also hear people make the other argument that a degree doesn't mean anything. What's important to remember in both cases that having either of these certainly will not hurt you in separating yourself from the pack and trust me the pack is big.

GLaDOS11

Rymbeld wrote: »

Thanks for the comments; I'll proceed as planned. One ray of hope for me is that I actually has a friend who works in IT, and he keeps telling me, "Once you get that A+ certification, talk to me." I could probably get a help desk job at his company.

The guy I was talking to who insisted I get a Masters said this: certs don't mean anything, all they show is that you can study for and pass a test, but don't indicate any real degree of knowledge, so employers don't care about them very much. I obviously don't know if that's true right now.

Perhaps WGU would be a good option in the future; it seems fairly affordable, actually, provided the education and training is good (and after reading a lot about it on these fora, it seems pretty good!).

This guy obviously has no certifications. Especially not any Microsoft certifications. Those exams are extremely difficult to just study for and pass. There isn't even one resource that covers everything. Heck, it's hard to pass some of them even if you've been in the field for 10 years! I think you could make an argument that certifications show a better degree of useful field knowledge than a college degree does.

In reality though, I think that compliment each other. Experience will trump all though in my opinion.

bobloblaw

Rymbeld wrote: »

The guy I was talking to who insisted I get a Masters said this: certs don't mean anything, all they show is that you can study for and pass a test, but don't indicate any real degree of knowledge, so employers don't care about them very much.

Stop taking career advice from this guy immediately.

techtex

As far as needing a degree it again depends on who you are working for, me personally nope never been asked or needed one and I have what you would consider an exec level job in the Mid-Size business market in IT. I have held fortune 100 company positions as well in IT, although Corporate is not my thing to much boxing in to skills.

That being said, me , when I hire someone I will look at experience over a degree any day. If you come in for a position and you have a bachelors in tech vs a guy with 2-3 yrs experience in tech I am hiring the experience guy.

Now if you have both, I will defiantly take a second look at it and make my evaluation based off of personality as well as passion.

While colleges in general have attempted to keep up with revolving technology, and some are doing a much better job the fact is unless your at a bleeding edge school whatever you learn outside of basic principals will be dated by the time you get out.

Im not hiring a guy straight out of college to be a Cisco ENG, or a Systems guy, would I hire him for an entry level tech positions and train him up sure but a degree has little merit in that aspect except ambition.

Once you get into the F500 group, it is more important from a management level position but anyone that knows there stuff, which most Managers will not fully realize a CIS degree does not make you a wan,san,systems,pbx,voip,firewall etc etc specialist.

Does not hurt, but I have interviewed/mentored SO many people that come fresh out of college with degrees and do not understand why they cannot step into a 75K+ job right off the bat. And lets not even get into the development side of things when it comes to coding, thats even worse imo.

techtex

I second this notion 1000%, there are multiple advantages to certs from a company perspective and maintaining partner levels and from a devil in the details perspective. However do not confuse someone having a certification to mean they are an expert in that field, take the saying of there is the cisco way and then the 100 other ways to accomplish it as an example

daviddws

Another reason not being considered is pay. There are many people who have no credentials and work in IT, however it you look in the aggregate it's pretty obvious that lower pay is the reward. You may be an expert with Cisco switches, or a M$ server master, but unless you have a credential, again in the aggregate your pay will be significantly lower. Also you have to think about what sort of companies hire employees without credentials. Many times those positions will be short term or have poor working conditions.