My degree is useless!

My degree is useless. Or is it?

I have a bachelor's in military history from an online for-profit school. I went there for a variety of reasons, most of which centered around getting a degree - any degree - as fast as possible, hence the major; I could transfer in a ton of elective credits, and as a young army officer, writing papers about battles and analyzing strategy was entertaining at least. My life plans changed a lot in the last few years, though, and I am now transitioning out of a military career and into civilian employment as an information assurance manager / IT jack of all trades. My new job will give me a vast array of work experience in everything from virtualization to DIACAP to VoIP engineering to Windows Server and RHEL administration, and I have a few certs to back up my current technical and managerial work experience. What I don't have is a relevant college degree. My employer has education benefits and I have the GI Bill to fall back on, so the financial side is taken care of, but I don't know which direction to go.

My long term goal is to become a CISO, so I'm not going for a CCIE and a network engineer role or a list of SANS certs and a pen-tester job with Mandiant - though I am still very young in my career and I wouldn't rule anything out (and Mandiant sounds like a really fun place to work). Still, I have to pick something to aim for or I will not get anywhere. That said, I will be working full time in a very interesting job, so I can't take a full time course load at a state university; however, I can do distance learning or night school.

Local community college - good introductory computer science / programing offerings, and absurdly cheap (means money in my pocket), but I'd run out of useful courses quickly and nothing would translate to a line on a resume down the road
State university for a BS in Computer Science - respected name, gives me a solid grounding in computer science, but costs a lot in money and time to give me a second bachelor's degree, and I'm thinking that it might not be worth it to have a BS in addition to my BA. It would also be difficult to schedule classes exclusively in the evenings. Not my favourite option
WGU for a bachelor's degree - fast, easy, and cheap, but I'd have two online bachelor degrees. Diminishing returns?
State university for a MS in Computer Science - again, respected, but similar challenges as the state university BS - and I have a long way to go to even meet the academic prerequisites for a graduate program like that
WGU for a masters - reasonably fast, and I wouldn't have any issues with prerequisites, but is it the right alma mater if I'm trying to move up the ladder? I don't have the time or financial resources to do graduate school more than once, and I want to make it count.

What do you think? Should I double up on undergraduate degrees, or shoot for a master's? Will my history degree become a boat anchor or does anyone even care as long as I have good experience and relevant certifications on my resume? Am I way overthinking this? (Yes, haha, I know I am...)

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Comments

markulous

I would think if you have experience and certs that it doesn't matter that you have a degree in a esoteric subject. I can't see many people getting hung up on that.

jeremywatts2005

I do not believe your degree is useless as education is never useless. If I were you and wanted to continue in technology based fields, I would work for a Masters of Science in Info Sec or IT. I have very few certs, but my degrees all in tech get me plenty of high paying work. Plus as an added bonus with a Masters you can teach part time or adjunct on the side if you want extra cash. I have two Masters degrees one in Infosec and one in Digital Forensic Science. I cannot keep the recruiters away from my phone. I constantly am getting calls for work and I can kind of pick where I want to go. Work toward that next degree and make it tech this time. Good luck

lsud00d

It really depends on what the business role/function is of where the CISO spot would be, i.e. I would wager almost all C*O's (CEO, CIO, CTO, CISO, etc) have a masters (some PhD's), and a lot of those are probably MBA's.

Your undergrad isn't totally relevant, more so just a box on a checklist. Especially if you get a masters, nobody really looks at the undergrad. Also, always spin your degree in your favor. I'm sure studying military history has taught you to think critically and outside the box, for example. Bring those strategies into the workplace and draw up at least 3-5 talking points of how you utilize your degree in the real world.

xnx

It might be 'worthless' but it'll tick off the desirable / essential degree requirement of many jobs

N2IT

Not sure if this helps with your decision, but I have found the quality and type of degree matters. I have discovered this first hand. I've been passed up on a lot of jobs because I lack a CS degree or something similar. Certifications are nice but getting a solid degree in a related field is a huge value add. I mean HUGE.

ewright27

I sympathize with your situation!

I majored in History the first time around, and I've spent the last 15 years as Director of Museums and Information Technology for a military history museum in the heart of a major metro area. It sounds great, but what it really means is that I've maxed out at $40k, and have way more responsibility and stress than I get paid for. $40k isn't much when you're paying student loans, so I went back to school online for a BS in Information Systems, and like you, I'm not sure if the fact that my degree is from Indiana Wesleyan is going to count against me when applying for IT jobs.

I just got my first cert, A+, and have a BS in BIS and 15 years of desktop support for a c. 20 person agency. No hands-on server or network experience other than adding users to the domain and sharing printers. I hate to leave my dream job, and I don't have the luxury of taking an entry-level helpdesk gig for $30k, so I'm not sure how this is going to go...

Good luck, and thanks for your service.

petedude

xnx wrote: »

It might be 'worthless' but it'll tick off the desirable / essential degree requirement of many jobs

I'll second this. Unless the job posting reads "in a related field" the OP should be OK. Best to follow up with an MS in CS or IT though.

damsel_in_tha_net

You could use the community college to take any courses that the State U would want as prereqs for its Master's program. The CC would also be good for "hours", if, for example, the State U won't accept some of the hours from your current degree due to it being unaccredited.

While you're taking the CC courses, you'll be getting further along in your career so you'll have a better idea of what you really want to do. At that point, you either decide to move forward with your education, or not...but at least you won't have spent as much.

da_vato

Here are two schools you may be interested in:

MSIA - Master of Science in Information Assurance - Dakota State University
https://www.capitol-college.edu/academics/graduate-academics/information-assurance-ms

I am currently looking at their Doctoral programs and have talked to some of the professors. Both schools would most likely accept your CISSP for proof of IA experience. Remember that a military friendly school will run a Dantes and AARTSevaluation. With your current MOS you will have qualified credentials in the IT field.... enough?.?.?. I can't say for sure but it's worth a shot.

Also, WGU if I am not mistaken streamlines the entrance process of the MSISA if you hold the CISSP as well.

DissonantData

So do you need a related degree after all? Posters here have been saying a related degree isn't necessary and just having any kind of degree is what matters for MOST IT jobs. Will an unrelated degree keep people out of the technical areas? Having an unrelated bachelors doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as having an unrelated masters. Perhaps at the entry level a related degree isn't required.

networker050184

I know it sounds like a cop out answer, but it depends. Are there going to be some managers or companies out there only hiring people with CS degrees for certain positions? Sure, but that would be more the exception than the rule. I don't think someone with an unrelated degree would have much trouble finding and keeping steady work in IT as long as they have the skills.

aftereffector

Thanks for the helpful replies, everyone! I really appreciate getting your opinions and advice.

If I were to recap what I've read so far, I think I will be okay with my unrelated bachelor's as long as I eventually follow it up with a relevant master's degree. In the meantime, I will take some entry level programming courses at the local community college to remedy my fundamental lack of any useful scripting and development knowledge.

N2IT

DissonantData wrote: »

So do you need a related degree after all? Posters here have been saying a related degree isn't necessary and just having any kind of degree is what matters for MOST IT jobs. Will an unrelated degree keep people out of the technical areas? Having an unrelated bachelors doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as having an unrelated masters. Perhaps at the entry level a related degree isn't required.

Necessary No.

Advantageous YES!

JockVSJock

Your degree isn't totally worthless...it got you an Officer's rank in the US Army, correct?

My advise is to stay away from another bachelors degree and instead go for a masters in whatever works best for you. And follow you passion in tech.

LinuxNerd

I think the experience matters more than the degree. I have a Bachelor's in History. A second Bachelor's would be an incredible waste of time in my opinion.

Just get a Master's Degree and after you have your masters simply put Bachelor's of Science on your Resume. I doubt anybody will care what your Bachelor's Degree was in if you have a Master's in Information Technology or something similar.

Params7

+1 for masters. Lots of people change careers, your Bachelor's doesn't have to strictly say what you'll be doing for the rest of your life.

datacomboss

You should check out the highly ranked online masters programs the University of Texas at San Antonio and Sam Houston State University offer.

University of Texas at San Antonio - College of Business - Department of Information Systems, Infrastructure Assurance, PhD in Information Systems, Computer Security, NSA Center of Academic Excellence, AT&T Chair in Infrastructure Assurance and Secur

Master of Science in Information Assurance and Security

anoeljr

Your degree isn't worthless. Education isn't worthless. I'll echo the sentiments of the other folks here and say that if you want to get another degree, it would be better to get a Masters then another bachelors. When you get the masters, most people won't care what your bachelors was in anyway. Good luck.

@datacomboss
Those programs look great, especially the one at UT San Antonio. I might check them out myself.

TeKniques

JockVSJock wrote: »

Your degree isn't totally worthless...it got you an Officer's rank in the US Army, correct?

My advise is to stay away from another bachelors degree and instead go for a masters in whatever works best for you. And follow you passion in tech.

Definitely agree with this - my advice would be to not even entertain the idea of getting another bachelors degree. Get a Masters in something that has a good ROI for your career plans.

BradleyHU

xnx wrote: »

It might be 'worthless' but it'll tick off the desirable / essential degree requirement of many jobs

yeah, i got to agree with this...