quick question

mokaiba

I don't want to get a masters yet, but I don't want to stop schoolwork.

When I finish the degree I am working on, I will have a BSIT Security, AAS Networking technology, and many certifications related to both of the previous degrees.

What are your (the forum lurkers) thoughts on Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering?

I find both engineering fields interesting and would only learn them, well, just cause I want to (who knows too, maybe itll apply to a job in the future), but I cannot decide between them.


Below is for those who fail at Google:

School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering » Prospective

http://ecee.engineering.asu.edu/programs/undergraduate/whatiselectricalengineering/

CyberfiSecurity

Since you have been doing IT, I would recommend Electrical Engineering. You are referring these programs with Arizona State University, which ABET accredited for the Engineering degree. Just keep in mind that in order to get a state license engineering might required ABET accredited degree. In case you change your mind to another school, ensure to check with ABET accreditation at abet.org and state requirement.

Also keeps in mind that these programs require heavily on mathematics beyond Calculus. If you are weak in mathematic would not recommend it.

mokaiba

im good with math, took calc 2&3 as an elective almost a decade ago (ill probably retake them to be safe). Thanks for the ABET information.

Drethyl

I'm amazed at all the certifications you have. My education is the same as yours A.A.S. Network Technology/Engineering and I'll have my Bachelor's in March of 2015 in Information Cyber Security. I keep running in circles I don't know what certificate to go to first I've been studying Security + for about a month but I recently started researching CCNA and CCENT. Congrats on all your success thus far it must not have been easy.

mokaiba

I finished my AAS a decade ago after taking random classes for a few years when I was in the army. I found getting an IT job difficult at that time because all the places wanted certifications (job market was not that great back then). Due to the difficulty I had with acquiring an IT job, I chose to accept positions in other fields, which lead me to working into finance for a few years. I got tired of the bureaucratic bullshit the company I was at put me through (one of those places that go **** the employee, Im big enough that I can just hire another bum off the street-type company). A week before I was going to put my two week notice in (had an IT job lined up), they fired me for parking in visitor spot (it was next to the employee entrance). Guess my new company called my references and the current company decided, lets **** this guy over and fire him. Since I was out a week, I applied for unemployment to get some of the pay back. Way it works in Arizona, is the company can give a bullshit reason to gov't to not give you unemployment, they did just that and it was denied. whatever I guess, it was a three week vacation. Since then, I have learned again the importance of basic IT certifications. So much so, that I gone and earned the ones I have. I try to keep the certifications that I do get generalized, ie, they are not vendor specific. So far, only the Hyper-V (was a free voucher) and windows server 2012 are vendor specific, rest are vendor neutral. There are many here on these forums who say certifications are not needed, I disagree. If they had no direct job experience and certifications with only an AAS in IT, they would be realizing the stupidity of their statements. Which would directly conflict their current opinion that certifications are not needed. They, unfortunately, are needed in todays IT market. They get you that HR check box marked and allow you to move on to the interview. Only the extremely lucky manage to avoid certifications in the beginning. This is not my opinion on certifications...this is my past decade of experience in regards to them. Degree can get you an entry level job at a help desk but you would have a difficult time getting a network administrator position with only the degree. There are too many people with Degree+certs that will outdo you with 'proof' of knowledge, so you must put yourself on equal ground before you even bother applying for those types of positions.

guess you could say:
Worst -> best
1. No degree
2. Degree and/or experience (sometimes experience is worth more than the degree but not always)
3. degree, experience, and certifications


just some wisdom.

edit (to give perspective on how certifications increased my noticeably):
careerbuilder resume activity results ->

14 views and showed up in 133 searches since 7/27.
Last year, on an old resume (no windows server 2012 and 3-4 other certs less then): 5 views and 20 searches.
year before last (basically, just my AAS and an A+): 1 view and 12 searches.

As I gained more certifications, my views and searches went up. 14 may seem like a low number, however, that is 14 in three weeks with my resume appearing in search results 133 times in the same time frame. That is a significant increase compared to last year. Another way to view it: 14 potential job inquires versus 5 the previous year a month.