Should I wait to go to WGU?

Basic85

I'm receiving my associates degree soon in computer networking and wanted to attend WGU in Cyber Security, however I'm currently unemployed and am worried about how I would pay for it.  Should I wait to find work than attend WGU?  I want my employer to hopefully pay for it.  I could take out loans and get a scholarship to help pay for it as well. I want to get done in one term, however 2 terms is ok, in order to minimize cost. Thanks in advance.  

kaiju

Are you in a comfortable housing situation?

Do you think your work history and Associates Degree are enough to land a full time gig in your area? If not, get yourself a part-time gig and do WGU at the same time.

mikey88

Basic85 said:

I'm receiving my associates degree soon in computer networking and wanted to attend WGU in Cyber Security, however I'm currently unemployed and am worried about how I would pay for it.  Should I wait to find work than attend WGU?  I want my employer to hopefully pay for it.  I could take out loans and get a scholarship to help pay for it as well. I want to get done in one term, however 2 terms is ok, in order to minimize cost. Thanks in advance.  

My vote is to definitely wait. Get a CCNA and start hunting for junior level networking jobs. With that experience, you'll have a better chance of getting into cyber security once you get that degree.

thaiguy314

as a guy with a significant amount of student loans, i'd definitely say wait. between the stresses of finding employment and figuring out how to finance the education, it could be hell and make your financial situation worse. on top of that, a degree won't guarantee you a job the minute you graduate, it just helps your chances a little more. in my experience, certifications and experience carry more weight than a degree unless its from an ivy league institution with a wealthy network of alumnus. Mikey88 probably has the best suggestion which is to spend a couple hundred bucks on CCNA trainining material, pass the cert, and search "CCNA" on indeed and see what you qualify for but the whole situation is also dependent on your circumstances like kaiju said.

Infosec_Sam

thaiguy314 said:

as a guy with a significant amount of student loans, i'd definitely say wait. between the stresses of finding employment and figuring out how to finance the education, it could be hell and make your financial situation worse. on top of that, a degree won't guarantee you a job the minute you graduate, it just helps your chances a little more. in my experience, certifications and experience carry more weight than a degree unless its from an ivy league institution with a wealthy network of alumnus. Mikey88 probably has the best suggestion which is to spend a couple hundred bucks on CCNA trainining material, pass the cert, and search "CCNA" on indeed and see what you qualify for but the whole situation is also dependent on your circumstances like kaiju said.

I agree that a bachelor's degree is great, but it's definitely not the only way to get into the industry. I've mentioned this before, but an instructor at my old community college was telling me about how meaningful it was to have an CCNA degree, and he said he very rarely sees a CCNA-holder go without a job. That being said, I would also encourage you to consider certifications over a degree, unless it's personally important to you to earn your bachelor's degree.

shochan

yup, grab up some certs...I have an AAS degree w/ 20yrs in IT, and thought about going after my WGU BA/MA degree, however, I rather spend the money on certs on my own...they are just as valuable as a degree if you take the right ones.

MontagueVandervort

In your circumstance, I would ...

Get a job.
Work on a cert or two.
Then appy to WGU.

Don't take out loans or use any forms of credit that you can't immediately pay for.
It's a death trap.

Johnhe0414

MontagueVandervort said:

In your circumstance, I would ...

Get a job.
Work on a cert or two.
Then appy to WGU.

Don't take out loans or use any forms of credit that you can't immediately pay for.
It's a death trap.

I agree with this...

Basic85

kaiju said:

Are you in a comfortable housing situation?

Do you think your work history and Associates Degree are enough to land a full time gig in your area? If not, get yourself a part-time gig and do WGU at the same time.

mikey88 said:

Basic85 said:

I'm receiving my associates degree soon in computer networking and wanted to attend WGU in Cyber Security, however I'm currently unemployed and am worried about how I would pay for it.  Should I wait to find work than attend WGU?  I want my employer to hopefully pay for it.  I could take out loans and get a scholarship to help pay for it as well. I want to get done in one term, however 2 terms is ok, in order to minimize cost. Thanks in advance.  

My vote is to definitely wait. Get a CCNA and start hunting for junior level networking jobs. With that experience, you'll have a better chance of getting into cyber security once you get that degree.

Thanks for the responses,  I've got my housing situation taken care for now at least.  It's been very hard for me to find work, probably due to my job gap.  

Basic85

thaiguy314 said:

as a guy with a significant amount of student loans, i'd definitely say wait. between the stresses of finding employment and figuring out how to finance the education, it could be hell and make your financial situation worse. on top of that, a degree won't guarantee you a job the minute you graduate, it just helps your chances a little more. in my experience, certifications and experience carry more weight than a degree unless its from an ivy league institution with a wealthy network of alumnus. Mikey88 probably has the best suggestion which is to spend a couple hundred bucks on CCNA trainining material, pass the cert, and search "CCNA" on indeed and see what you qualify for but the whole situation is also dependent on your circumstances like kaiju said.

The thing is with money you can always make back for the most part, however time you never get back so I feel like I must pursue WGU right after or soon after receiving my AA degree.  Yeah that is true no guarantee of a job, school is more of an investment than anything.  

MontagueVandervort said:

In your circumstance, I would ...

Get a job.
Work on a cert or two.
Then appy to WGU.

Don't take out loans or use any forms of credit that you can't immediately pay for.
It's a death trap.

Yeah, I wasn't planning on taking out a huge loan but hopefully get a scholarship and the rest maybe some job in retail.  Thanks for your input. 

 shochan said:

yup, grab up some certs...I have an AAS degree w/ 20yrs in IT, and thought about going after my WGU BA/MA degree, however, I rather spend the money on certs on my own...they are just as valuable as a degree if you take the right ones.

That is true, however certs expire and degree's don't, at least not in the sense of a time and date.  

Basic85

kaiju said:

Are you in a comfortable housing situation?

Do you think your work history and Associates Degree are enough to land a full time gig in your area? If not, get yourself a part-time gig and do WGU at the same time.

mikey88 said:

Basic85 said:

I'm receiving my associates degree soon in computer networking and wanted to attend WGU in Cyber Security, however I'm currently unemployed and am worried about how I would pay for it.  Should I wait to find work than attend WGU?  I want my employer to hopefully pay for it.  I could take out loans and get a scholarship to help pay for it as well. I want to get done in one term, however 2 terms is ok, in order to minimize cost. Thanks in advance.  

My vote is to definitely wait. Get a CCNA and start hunting for junior level networking jobs. With that experience, you'll have a better chance of getting into cyber security once you get that degree.

Thanks for the responses,  I've got my housing situation taken care for now at least.  It's been very hard for me to find work, probably due to my job gap.  I"ll definitely keep all of this in mind.  

JDMurray

Basic85 said:That is true, however certs expire and degree's don't, at least not in the sense of a time and date.  

When was the last time you had an employer ask you if your certs were up-to-date or not? Most employers don't even bother to verify that you have the cert you say you do on your resume. I let all my certs expire, except for my CISSP, and have never had an employment problem with it.

MontagueVandervort

Basic85 said:

MontagueVandervort said:

In your circumstance, I would ...

Get a job.
Work on a cert or two.
Then appy to WGU.

Don't take out loans or use any forms of credit that you can't immediately pay for.
It's a death trap.

Yeah, I wasn't planning on taking out a huge loan but hopefully get a scholarship and the rest maybe some job in retail.  Thanks for your input.

Retail? Why are you going to get a job in retail when you're just about to graduate with an Associate's degree in Computer Networking??

Use your degree...
Apply to entry-level positions.

Basic85

MontagueVandervort said:

Basic85 said:

MontagueVandervort said:

In your circumstance, I would ...

Get a job.
Work on a cert or two.
Then appy to WGU.

Don't take out loans or use any forms of credit that you can't immediately pay for.
It's a death trap.

Yeah, I wasn't planning on taking out a huge loan but hopefully get a scholarship and the rest maybe some job in retail.  Thanks for your input.

Retail? Why are you going to get a job in retail when you're just about to graduate with an Associate's degree in Computer Networking??

Use your degree...
Apply to entry-level positions.

I've been applying but cannot for the life of me get offers =(.   Probably because my interviewing and technical skills isn't the sharpest.  I'm telling you my life has been cursed.  

MontagueVandervort

Cannot get offers? ... Are you being called to interviews? ... then just not making it?
Or just not being called to many interviews at all?

If not being called to many interviews, then the answer is in improving your resume.

If being called to plenty (stressing the word plenty here) of interviews and you're just not making the cut, then you'll need to work on actively trying to improve your interview skills.

Watch some vids on interview skills, read some articles, do practice interviews, go to your college's resource/career center for assistance in building good interview skills.

Most of us weren't born with good interview skills. It's something you get better at with practice and knowledge..

You're not cursed. Thinking like that can curse you in interviews and even life though.

Life has a tendency to hand us what we expect from it.

scaredoftests

You should post your resume.. leave out the personal stuff..

iBrokeIT

Basic85 said:

I've been applying but cannot for the life of me get offers =(.   Probably because my interviewing and technical skills isn't the sharpest.  I'm telling you my life has been cursed.  

A Bachelors degree isn't going to fix those things. MontagueVandervort and scaredoftests posted some strong advice.