Pointless degree in computer networking

Ungadunga911

Hello, i was wondering if anyone thinks it would be a good move to drop out of school if you are unable to do anything that the degree is supposed to teach you. I went to a for profit school which was 18 months long for an AAB, which i thought was an AAS, but anyway i didn't learn anything, the instructor sat down and made us go through testout.com. After that ended, i decided to go to a community college which i will admit has taught me a great deal more, i learned how to sub net, but that's about it and i am in my second year. I don't even know how to configure a router, i had help desk from the company of the product walk me through. My laptop constantly gets disconnected from the internet at my house and i have no idea why or how to fix it. I went to YouTube and google but am afraid i will mess something up somehow. Just the other day i was tasked to install a printer through power shell for a project and didn't even know that i needed the printer driver already on my server for it to work, but the best part is that i went to all the top sites and downloaded the driver and it still doesn't work. I just feel that i am wasting my time, cause i think this next year is going to pass and ill be given a peace of paper that doesn't mean anything, and that i will know nothing, not how to build a network, troubleshoot one, NOTHING.

TranceSoulBrother

If I was you, I would sit back and look at the situation without much emotion. Figure out how much money you're willing to shell out in education and the benefit. If you're seeking a piece of paper for HR filters, continue on your path but seek out knowledge through other means like personal discovery, youtube/cbt classes, certification books and the likes.
College will not give you all the practical knowledge that you seek. You will get some theory and a little practice but the rest is gained through OJT and work experience.
COMPTIA has a certification roadmap for various career tracks. Gain the degree, learn the stuff in the cert books and try to find a job or internship for the experience. More than that, just learn through trial and error (example of your printer install - I frankly myself wouldn't know how to do that now because I haven't been exposed to it - but just learn through research).
Good luck.

alias454

What is the alternative? If you quit now, what are you going to do? if I were in your shoes I would try to find a reason to stick it out. You say you aren't learning anything, is that because you aren't understanding the material being taught or something else? If it is the former start asking questions.

Have you thought about the possibility you aren't cut out for IT? I don't say that to be mean but given your printer example from the way you described you did learn something. Much of day in and day out IT work is that exact scenario. You should get exhilarated by being able to figure out. I understand it can be frustrating when things don't go good but being able to resolve a problem after having trouble getting started is one of the best feelings for me.

mbarrett

If you don't understand something, ask. If you are paying for the classes in some way, then they should be obligated to teach you the material but you might need to ask more questions. There's nothing wrong with that.
If you are having no trouble with the classes, then maybe you aren't in the right class to teach what it is that you are wanting to learn.

Ungadunga911

Ya i love to troubleshoot. I was a mechanic in the ARMY for about 5 years, so working on all the different types of vehicles and figuring out whats wrong with them is my strong set of skills. The thing is, i was taught how to read a schematic, i was taught about the vehicle and how it operates and what makes everything turn, from combustion to electricity. Troubleshooting is what i love to do, but people that teach IT seem to be the worst instructors i have ever met in my life, at least at a junior college level.

scaredoftests

Stick it out, just that 'piece of paper' will help you in your search for a job.

alias454

Ungadunga911 wrote: »

Ya i love to troubleshoot. I was a mechanic in the ARMY for about 5 years, so working on all the different types of vehicles and figuring out whats wrong with them is my strong set of skills. The thing is, i was taught how to read a schematic, i was taught about the vehicle and how it operates and what makes everything turn, from combustion to electricity. Troubleshooting is what i love to do, but people that teach IT seem to be the worst instructors i have ever met in my life, at least at a junior college level.

Okay, I can understand what your saying. you just aren't getting help with the fundamentals of what you need to be doing. That can be very frustrating. I recommend you get this book https://www.amazon.com/Upgrading-Repairing-22nd-Scott-Mueller/dp/0789756102/ref=dp_ob_title_bk. Sadly, your remark on the state of some training opportunitites rings true for all of us but ultimately, it ends up being our responsibility to move forward with our learning progression.

TechGromit

Ungadunga911 wrote: »

I went to YouTube and google but am afraid i will mess something up somehow.

This is your number one problem, if you do not try you will not learn. Personally I broke lots of stuff messing around with them, but I learned from my mistakes and knew what to do next time. Troubleshooting is all about separating things into testable parts to come up with an answer, If your afraid to touch things you will never learn. Yes, you will break things, spend time trying to fix things you screwed up, but so long as you learn it's a good investment in time. Also make sure your "learning" in a test or controlled environment, lets see what this button will do in a production environment isn't the wisest career move.

alias454 wrote: »

Have you thought about the possibility you aren't cut out for IT?

This is also another possibility. when people find out they can make 120k a year in Cyber security and say I want to be earning that much money. But may not have a proficiently that will allow them to excel in the field. It's possible to teach anyone to do any job, but they have to have an attitude for it to be good at it. I for one would make a lousy singer, don't have the voice for it, but there are plenty of schools that will be more than happy to take my money to teach me to become a singer.

cyberguypr

I don't know man. This doesn't sound like a problem you can solve with formal education. YOU NEED TO TINKER! I'm very good at what I do. And you know what, I didn't gain all this knowledge at college. It was mostly my drive to figure out how things work. when I was a kid I would see a broken radio or whatever in my neighbors garbage and I would go pick it up. Many times I was able to bring it back to life and enjoy it for a long time. And this was pre-Internet. This is 2016 and there are more educational resources with greater accessibility than ever, so in my eyes there's no excuse. You can have the worst teachers in the world and still thrive if you have a strong desire to progress. If something doesn't click, look for alternate sources. After you've read about it, go do it. There's a big gap from the book to the real world and only by doing what TechGromit said, breaking things, is that you'll understand how to fix them.

scaredoftests

I have learned more from screwing things up (many times..lol).

cyberguypr

^ absoutely. That's why my MSISA actually means Masters of Screwing-up Information Security Artifacts

shochan

Ungadunga911 wrote: »

Hello, i was wondering if anyone thinks it would be a good move to drop out of school if you are unable to do anything that the degree is supposed to teach you. I went to a for profit school which was 18 months long for an AAB, which i thought was an AAS, but anyway i didn't learn anything, the instructor sat down and made us go through testout.com. After that ended, i decided to go to a community college which i will admit has taught me a great deal more, i learned how to sub net, but that's about it and i am in my second year. I don't even know how to configure a router, i had help desk from the company of the product walk me through. My laptop constantly gets disconnected from the internet at my house and i have no idea why or how to fix it. I went to YouTube and google but am afraid i will mess something up somehow. Just the other day i was tasked to install a printer through power shell for a project and didn't even know that i needed the printer driver already on my server for it to work, but the best part is that i went to all the top sites and downloaded the driver and it still doesn't work. I just feel that i am wasting my time, cause i think this next year is going to pass and ill be given a peace of paper that doesn't mean anything, and that i will know nothing, not how to build a network, troubleshoot one, NOTHING.

Finish school...not doing that will only hurt your chances at making a decent living. Start reading the CompTIA A+ book, watch A+ videos on YouTube, find Professor Messer A+ videos too. If you have a job currently, save up and buy a used pc or get one at a garage sale to troubleshoot or learn how to reload OS's/Install hard drives/memory or just identify specific hardware...use that A+ book to figure out the guts of a system. This will also teach you about software, like how to install drivers for different hardware (like printers). Having this basic knowledge will possibly get you more interested in computers. Once you feel confident enough, take the A+ exam (its 2 separate tests). Then you can put this on your resume & get yourself in the door at a computer company. After that, you can decide which area you really like in IT (Helpdesk/Sys Admin/Networking/Security/Programming/etc). Best of luck on your endeavors! Cheers!