Open University Computing and IT Degree or Certification route?

Good afternoon,

I'd like to run a mini survey in here to gather peoples opinions of this subject, a subject that has had me in many sleepless nights of the last few years. If you were me, or a possible employer looking at me would you rather see me dedicate my self discipline, time and continued effort to gather certifications such as Microsoft and CISCO, OR would you rather see me with a Computing and IT Open University degree?

A little background information on myself.
Back in 2011 I attended college and started to continue my studying on IT, however after 6 weeks I unfortunately dropped out due to me not being very academic. I've never been one to be able to sit in a classroom with nothing to do with my hands, I'm the type that would much rather learn with hands on experience, making mistakes and learning from the results. So at this point I really needed some income to help pay the bills I was generating at home for my parents, so I entered what they claimed was an 'apprenticeship', basically they sat students down in a classroom and taught them how to learn and helped me gain my MCDST qualification alongside of my CompTIA A+. 8 grueling months went pas of me doing nothing but note taking, i came out the other side with my qualifications. I then continued studying for my CompTIA Network+ on my own back at home, while job hunting and passed this shortly after. My job hunting never really went too successful though, I ran into the age old situation of being qualified but having zero experience. However, again the bills started to mount up for my parents now i had stopped earning some sort of income, so I felt I had no choice but to start working for the family business in the building trade. After, what was supposed to be 3/4 weeks, 5 years later I'm still getting myself dirty and my body battered day in, day out just to pay the bills.

I then decided enough was enough, just before Christmas last year. I realized it was time to resume to some sort of qualification/degree education to enable me to start applying for a job in IT. Now, I tossed and turned for a couple of weeks over the Christmas break trying to work out whether to get myself a degree or go down the certification route. I chose to go for a degree since I already had some qualifications but no experience and that previously had proved to be an issue. I feel very enthusiastic about networking, installing servers/routers/switches, any networking equipment in general, maybe even server administration too. So at that, I wouldn't say I'm completely clueless about the area that I would like to end up in.

Since the start of my IT interest I have built and maintain a home network comprising of switches, desktops, WiFi devices, Routers, Radio Frequency devices, Small custom made electronics, cable running the office for the business and general electric work around the office too. So its not like I'm completely down on experience, clearly I have experience due to the fact these systems are up and running 24/7.

Current Situation
I now find myself sitting here thinking I have made the wrong decision. I currently feel like a child sitting in school, not an adult educating myself with IT knowledge. So, this brings me back to the question in interest; Would I be better coming away from my University Studies and building on my current qualifications OR remain at University and get my self a 'general computing' degree?

I'm interested in any thoughts regarding this, any thoughts what so ever. Nothing will offend me with regards to your advice, my ears are propped in the open position and welcome every bit of information thrown at them.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post, even though it was like being at University yourself and reading an assignment specification!

Kind regards,
Samuel Matthews.

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Comments

Russ5813

My experience:

I spent 8 years in the military as an MP. Got out in 2012 and decided to go to college for IT. Graduated last year with my BS in IT with a 3.9GPA and started job hunting. I applied to a bunch of entry-level IT jobs- help desk, basically. The only requirements listed were to have a HS diploma and some working knowledge of computers. I interviewed for 4 of those positions, and all 4 passed me over in lieu of candidates with more experience (or so I was told). I actually decided to reach out to my county's volunteer coordinator and told him that I was handy with computer troubleshooting, setting up LANs, etc...and to let me know if he ran across any volunteer opportunities that could take advantage of my knowledge. I also started doing little projects for friends and family; building databases and workbooks, troubleshooting, and so forth. The volunteering didn't really amount to much experience, but I applied for a job in September and the interview board was impressed with my efforts because they hired me over applicants I happen to know were more qualified (through experience and certification) than I. Also practice interviewing. I actually didn't even know some of the technical questions they asked, but answered everything with confidence and maintained my composure, which I think employers appreciate.

Long story short: A degree or more certifications probably won't hurt your chances, but you might consider saving a little money by getting out and looking for opportunities. Volunteer at a local non-profit, look into job shadowing at a business, hop on social media and offer to fix computers for your friends and family. Show employers how dedicated you are to succeed and they will take notice!

samuel235235235

Thank you for spending the time to introduce your story, since you left the military, to me. I'm the 'go to guy' for anything technical in my family and close friends, so I have experience in acting in a professional manor with regards to addressing issues and finding a solution to amend any problems that arise. I have applied for free work and shadowing like you mentioned when I came out of my apprenticeship, got nothing. Tell a lie I got one response of "Sorry, if we don't advertise a job role then whether or not your work is free we will not accept due to the cost of insuring you on site.", that hurt me a little when i received that if I'm honest with you. The only other reply to an application that I ever got was to a big company called Capgemini, I applied for their 'lower apprenticeship' role. I got a response of "Sorry you're too qualified", this was after several conversations to their apprentice hotline where everyone of the call handlers that i spoke to advised me to apply for the lower apprentice placement. However they run a policy of "One application per 5 years".

Thank you for your opinion

@Russ5813 - Could you please re-register your vote, i had to edit the original post to reflect some experience and it has removed your vote. Sorry.

wd40

Short answer: get the Degree.

If a job requires a degree your application will get rejected automatically, and it hurts when that happens!

On the other hand certifications are usually in the (Good to have section), and you can spend a couple of months to get a certificate, on the other hand it will take you at least 3 years to get a degree when it strikes you that you really need a one.

samuel235235235

It makes perfect sense in that respect. However since neither guarantee a job, would it not be better suited to do the thing that comes quicker to get a job and then study on the job for my degree? Would you still advise essentially taking 3 years off to complete my degree over taking 3/4/5 months off to get a cert and then do my degree as part time along side of a much more prosperous job?

silver145

The main answer is: It depends......

Do you know specifically what you like? Desktop support/Programming/Networks/Virtualisation?

as the OU course you recommended is quite "wide scoped"

For example you could do the OU course, second year choose the networking module and sit your CCNA also

End of the course have a degree and CCNA certified.

It purely depends on how much...."umph" you want to put into it.

i graduated 2.5 years ago,(did a BSc in computer networks) and the majority of people i went to uni with ended up happily on level1 level2 tech support for networks, others got CCNP's before finishing the course and went on to graduate schemes at cisco/vodafone/bt etc.

dont just think "oh....one or the other" its about which doors you want to open, also if you end up with the "i have my degree, and certified" but no one will hire me, look at graduate placement schemes, and placement years, these offer lots of experience so the moment the degree is over, you already have 12 months professional experience and that part of your career is over.

wd40

at the end it is up to you.

I have been studying in "Arab" Open University for 7 years now to get my degree (3 Years delay for various reasons), at the same time working a Full time job, have a small family and working on my certifications.

Many of the guys here are doing the same in WGU, look at the WGU threads.

it is difficult but it can be done.

AverageJoe

I have no idea what Open University is, but why assume you can't do both?

While you're going to school is a great time to work on certifications as well. You may even be able to line up classes that will directly prepare you for additional certifications, but even if not, you can still work on them on your own time. You already have some, so you know how achievable they are. Offer to help other students in the computer lab, make sure your teachers know you're interested in any opportunities they learn of, and always have a positive attitude.

While you're going to school is also a great time to be active in clubs and activities where you may be able to get some of that experience you crave. Join geek clubs and compete in robot building or network shootoffs or coding contests or game nights. Or join non-geek clubs and volunteer to be the resident IT guy to help set up audio-visual events, post minutes on the web page, etc. Either way, you wind up networking and increasing your reputation (which may lead to opportunities or references in the future).

Just my 2 cents.