My WGU Thread

Armymanis1

As I finish up my last quarter at EWU and start my schooling at WGU, I will track my progress for you guys who want to read the journey.

A little background: When I started my Bachelors at EWU I thought it was super great until I started to get further into the degree. I noticed this was more of an engineering degree then a tech degree. I was not learning anything new and getting A's in all the supposed tech classes.

The word Applied Technology still hindered in the back of my mind as that is what it would say on my degree when completed. Bachelors of Science in Applied Technology. To me that didn't sound very professional and recruiters would look at that and not know what it would mean. As I went further into debt and almost halfway done I found out I would need to take more math. Me being bad at math in general, I was not happy. I was looking for other options and found WGU.

This degree that I would have gotten at EWU would have given me no certs and I would have only had the A+ and a bachelors. I wanted more!

Now: I choose WGU's Bachelors of Science in IT - Network Admin degree because I could get 9 certs and use my AA in Information Technology and my A+ that I already have as transfer credit. This made me really happy.

Another benefit I noticed was I did not have time constraints anymore when it came to the traditional classes. After being out of work for a year and only concentrating on my Associates in the Arts degree which I was awarded in June, I am ready to get back into the help desk environment. By doing this degree at WGU, I can now have a full open schedule and work at any help desk of my choosing. I have 2 years of help desk experience and someday I want to either be a desktop support technician, NOC technician or a helpdesk supervisor.

I feel like I am making headway again now that I have applied to WGU and went through there really easy test process. I will be speaking with a counselor on the phone on tuesday about what i need to do to earn the certs and get the courses done. I have been getting calls from recruiters left and right offering me jobs but could not take any before now because of the time constraints. Now I will be able to do contract work and build my resume until my hearts content. I hope a contract job will eventually lead me into a full time employee position like last time. I am so ready for this journey

IIIMaster

A coworkers of mine went to WGU. He had a good experience there and he was able to leave for a high paying job. His only bone about going to WGU was having to get all the certs and how it became a negative in his job advancement. Too many certs slow down his advancement.

ajs1976

How did to many certs slow down your coworkers advancement?

joemysterio

Probably having to get the CIW ones or other certs that weren't relevant to his career track? I know right now, although enjoying WGU, feel slowed down that my mentor won't let me take my CCENT until the 4th term. I'm in the midst of my 2nd term. If I can't convince him to let me take CCENT in the 3rd, then I'm going to have to go above him and/or change mentors...

Doyen

ajs1976 wrote: »

How did to many certs slow down your coworkers advancement?

I was wondering the same thing unless IIIMaster is saying that the certifications his coworker received were not relevant to his IT field, such as networking certifications for Microsoft or Linux system administration work.

Iristheangel

Not sure how it slowed down his career advancement. Maybe they were irrelevant to the work he does but there will always be classes you take in college that are irrelevant to your career or that you never use again. If your coworker feels that it adds fluff to his resume to have those certifications on there, just don't list them and don't renew them.

IIIMaster

ajs1976 wrote: »

How did to many certs slow down your coworkers advancement?

Too many certs, jobs felt as if he was over qualified. Yeah they guy had a bunch of certs some were not related to his job and some was.

Armymanis1

The certs are relevant to my job though since I am going to be a Help Desk Supervisor or a Desktop Technician one day. I can always leave off certs that aren't relevant on my resume.

bhcs2014

What are you hoping to accomplish with the degree? It seems like you just want to stay in level one support in which case you wouldn't need a degree. Or do you have aspirations to be a network admin/engineer?

Armymanis1

bhcs2014 wrote: »

What are you hoping to accomplish with the degree? It seems like you just want to stay in level one support in which case you wouldn't need a degree. Or do you have aspirations to be a network admin/engineer?

I would really like to be Help Desk Supervisor or a Help Desk Manager. That is my Ultimate goal. I have reasonable expectations for myself now unlike I had five years ago which were all crazy pipe dreams when I was struck with reality. By the time I am 50 I should be able to gain that level. I once thought 5 years ago I would be a supervisor and have a family. Five years has past, and I am 25 and those things have not happened. Life sure slaps you in the face with that kind of fantasy thinking. As I found out I can't have kids and its pretty hard to move up in this century in any high position. I have learned that I am pretty satisfied with doing Level 1 Support and living with my mom. I would eventually like to go to Level 2 Support, but I think that's the highest I am going to get if I am being honest. I do school just to keep myself from getting bored.

I would just like to get out of this mountainous debt I am in by going to a school that wasn't what I thought it was. I learned nothing doing my previous bachelors degree and felt I was just checking off the boxes and wasting time away when I could be working and doing certs and learning something. I am learning that in the Tech world experience, certs and education is better then having none at all. I know with this Bachelors program I can get the certs and degree and I already have two years experience doing help desk support. I am thinking by the time I hit my 6-7 year mark on help desk experience, I can move up to Level 2 maybe.

Khaos1911

Hey, WGU folks....What if you already have CEH and CHFI, and say you are in the MSISA program. How do they handle that? Do you just skip those courses?

Armymanis1

I think you just tell them that you have the cert and give them the ID number. That's what I am doing when I have my phone conversation with my counselor on tuesday. I am going to let her know I already have the A+ and give her the ID number so I can get that waved.