Same scenario different person. (Career Guidance)

Kyrius

Like most here, I've been looking at the forums and very much liking what I see here, and even after this post hope to become active in this community. You all seem like a pretty good bunch, all with insightful knowledge.

That being said, (along with the title), same scenario different person.

Currently, I'm working towards my associates degree, I'm still in my early twenties, and think I'm a little lost in terms of direction. I currently hold a position as a Break/Fix repair technician at a store and I've held that for about a year. I have A+/Net+, pretty good writing and communication skills as I've been told, and have an interest in System Administration. My degree is for System Admin and I can wait to finish my degree, but I feel like I'd like to try getting an MCSA, and going full-time as help desk at a corporate company or maybe something now for the fact of wanting more experience now at a young age, but any who, thoughts?

(Sorry, if that all sounds confusing, I can clarify things if need be.)

cshkuru

I am in my 50s and got my first full time job at 13 moved into the tech industry as a Test Engineer in the late 90s and have jumped back and forth into help desk, network admin, regulatory compliance and testing.

The background is to just provide some basis for where my observations are coming from.

My experience has been that despite how much people talk about it being a meritocracy and "what you can do not what paper you have" that just isn't true. That degree will mean a great deal. When crunch time comes and they need to make layoffs guys without degrees will be the first too go. When it's time for a promotion a lot of times the degree will be the deciding factor. I got by for a lot of years without one but my life would have been much easier if I had had it.

TL:DR - Get the degree. No reason that you can't do a degree and an MCSA at the same time. It wont be easy but not much in the working world is anymore.

nelson8403

I agree with cshkuru, you can get jobs without a degree and some people will have very successful careers without a degree. IT is becoming more and more competitive, that degree can be the difference between getting an interview and being passed over in the pile of papers, even if you're the most qualified.

I have been in IT for 15 years and I didn't have my degree and it really limited my potential growth, I ended up having to stay at a company for much longer than I should have because I couldn't get into the field I wanted without my degree. I was able to finish my degree and within weeks of finishing my degree I was able to get an interview and finally accept a position that I was striving for.

Degrees may not exactly equal experience and knowledge, however they will help you get your foot in the door, especially at larger companies.

Kyrius

Absolutely appreciate the feedback given guys. Little minor update, I've switched to the bachelors degree program at my school and I guess I will try to reduce my hours at my repair job to 15-20 hours and will attempt MCTS ( for Server Admin ) as I feel that will help me get in the door for an I.T Position and may help me move up quickly, thoughts?