Your opinions, please. Freelance to Pro? Certs and/or degrees?

So I've been self-taught and on-call for over 15 years now. Besides being a real estate photographer, which is getting quite boring, computer/tech calls have been my source of income. I have a few families and a few businesses as well as slow but steady new calls. I've always been more drawn toward networking & security.

Lately I've been, okay for years now I have been, thinking of getting a few certs and/or a degree. The idea was going to grab a couple certs and possibly use them toward a degree or two (Computer Networking & Security)...or is the degree idea a waste of time?

What way should I go? What certifications would you get? Would you go for the degrees, too? Should I just give in like a normal bloke and get a regular 9 to 5?

Thanks!

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volfkhat

jayvel wrote: »

What way should I go? What certifications would you get? Would you go for the degrees, too? Should I just give in like a normal bloke and get a regular 9 to 5?

Thanks!

Only YOU can answer these questions.

But, hey, if you are really Ready to make a change...... then Make it happen.

A community college degree might be worthwhile for yu.
If you want to learn more about networking, then consider the Network+ curriculum.

a CCNA can help you land on a NOC somewhere.

my 2 cents

TheFORCE

If you dont have any kind of degree then getting one is good. If you have one, then gettinf certifications would be better.

636-555-3226

Certs are great, but most of the everyday security tools you need to learn are all free with plenty of internet walk-throughs. I'll self-promote my past post here:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/security-certifications/125638-free-security-tools-help-you-learn.html

ande0255

For CCNA or anything VCP or MCSA, home lab it, cause you need to get through the technical part of the interview.

Don't follow lab books, make your own labs.

SpetsRepair

I think a degree is nice to have if you are young and it can help you get in the door, but so can being persistent and getting certs.

The thing with degrees and the people I've worked with a lot of them require help on everything since they don't have real world experience and only understand the technology from a class/book perspective. I've also met people who I had to mentor at work who did have a bachelors degree and 6 years previous experience in the field and they required a lot of assistance. They might have degree and some experience but it doesn't mean they are capable of doing everything you need them to do. Take it with a grain of salt and do what you''re comfortable with. One of the things though it might be good to have in upper/middle management roles at "some" companies while other companies aren't worried about the Degree or lack of and they are more focused on if you can do this job effectively etc...

No as for me and my personal opinion, I wasted too much time in college focusing on computer degree and only focusing on passing the classes, I didn't study for certs and had a tough time getting a job since I didn't have the necessary background they wanted. Once I started studying for certs and applying myself in a different way I ended up getting job offers left and right. Certs are good, networking is much better and probably the only thing that actually is useful to any job, network, network, network..

jayvel

Thank you all for your responses. Unlike some forums I've been on, you're all rather positive.