Western Governors: Masters Edition (MSITM)

jibtech

Z0sickx said:

i'll be following this thread...thought about doing this particular masters, and it would technically make a nice check box for government contracting gigs but are you getting the value out of this Master? meeting your expectations and developing/learning skill sets that can be applied? i have a technical background so trying to get an feel if this is worth the commitment

I have mixed feelings on it, but that is more about my circumstances. I have been in the field for 25+ years, including serving as senior management. One one hand, much of this is repetitive. That said, there is a great deal of focus on agile methodologies, as well. I am fundamentally an ops person, so I still tend to look at "agile" with a great deal of suspicion.

Ultimately, I was trying to decide between 3 options: MBA, MS,Cyber and MS, ITM. This is how I reasoned it out.

• I gain all of the benefits of a Master's, with any of these choices.
• I only gain further benefit in the marketplace if I have an MBA from an AACSB accredited school.
• I have my BS in Information Security. 
• I want to improve my marketability both internally and externally.
• I am primarily a technically driven person, even as a manager.

My thought was that the MS keeps me on the more technical side, than the MBA. It might matter if I got my MBA from an AACSB school, but the MBA side of things just doesn't interest me as much. I was also concerned that going for the MSCSIA might tend to pigeonhole me. I work in InfoSec as it is. I have a degree in InfoSec. But, my career has been all over IT, and I don't to lose out on a chance to move up through Ops, just because someone sees only the Security side. It may be logical, it might not be. But that is what I reasoned out.

End of the day, it is more technical than an MBA would be, but set realistic expectations. A Master's is all about the business and the management side. Project management, financial management, globalization, etc. Most of these classes use IT as the backdrop, but focus on those kinds of skills. The only class that had an kind of actual IT focus was C954. And that class was a runaway train slamming into a dumpster fire, while carrying sewage and burning tires. (Yes, I have let WGU know exactly how bad the course was.)

Overall, it is worth it for me. You can see what my concerns were, and why I made the decision I did. Your situation may be completely different. But, I did my BS through WGU, and really love the way the courses are structured. So for me, it is absolutely worth it. In fact, I am strongly considering going back for another Bachelors when I finish. 

Z0sickx

jibtech said:

Z0sickx said:

i'll be following this thread...thought about doing this particular masters, and it would technically make a nice check box for government contracting gigs but are you getting the value out of this Master? meeting your expectations and developing/learning skill sets that can be applied? i have a technical background so trying to get an feel if this is worth the commitment

I have mixed feelings on it, but that is more about my circumstances. I have been in the field for 25+ years, including serving as senior management. One one hand, much of this is repetitive. That said, there is a great deal of focus on agile methodologies, as well. I am fundamentally an ops person, so I still tend to look at "agile" with a great deal of suspicion.

Ultimately, I was trying to decide between 3 options: MBA, MS,Cyber and MS, ITM. This is how I reasoned it out.

• I gain all of the benefits of a Master's, with any of these choices.
• I only gain further benefit in the marketplace if I have an MBA from an AACSB accredited school.
• I have my BS in Information Security. 
• I want to improve my marketability both internally and externally.
• I am primarily a technically driven person, even as a manager.

My thought was that the MS keeps me on the more technical side, than the MBA. It might matter if I got my MBA from an AACSB school, but the MBA side of things just doesn't interest me as much. I was also concerned that going for the MSCSIA might tend to pigeonhole me. I work in InfoSec as it is. I have a degree in InfoSec. But, my career has been all over IT, and I don't to lose out on a chance to move up through Ops, just because someone sees only the Security side. It may be logical, it might not be. But that is what I reasoned out.

End of the day, it is more technical than an MBA would be, but set realistic expectations. A Master's is all about the business and the management side. Project management, financial management, globalization, etc. Most of these classes use IT as the backdrop, but focus on those kinds of skills. The only class that had an kind of actual IT focus was C954. And that class was a runaway train slamming into a dumpster fire, while carrying sewage and burning tires. (Yes, I have let WGU know exactly how bad the course was.)

Overall, it is worth it for me. You can see what my concerns were, and why I made the decision I did. Your situation may be completely different. But, I did my BS through WGU, and really love the way the courses are structured. So for me, it is absolutely worth it. In fact, I am strongly considering going back for another Bachelors when I finish. 

Thanks for taking the time for the overview, i'm just hitting the 10 year mark so i need some of the business side of things to get better rounded and ready to sink my technical background if it pushes me into management with something i enjoy with higher pay bands, i've pretty much hit as high as I think technical goes pay wise and to hit the higer pay band in that 10 percentile salaries (200-230k) you need to be really really good.

I do feel somewhat like i've flat lined but still incrementally improving via certs that don't necessarily add value to my resume but for my own benefit

jibtech

More than happy to help. @jdmurray can confirm, I am not afraid to type a wall of text. 

dragonsage

How's it going? Any updates? I just started MSITM this month and have cleared Leadership course. Working on Project management and IT Management. Any tips for the IT management course? It looks like a beast.

Thanks!

jibtech

Its going well! I am finishing up the second term in 10 days, with 3 classes left. I haven't powered through like I did with the Bachelors, mostly due to real life. I don't want to sacrifice real life for a Masters, only to have nothing left on the other side. In related news, I got married two weeks ago!

As for IT Management, there really isn't a good way through it. The class simply sucks. There is a lot of memorization, and I wasn't able to identify much of a shortcut through it. Definitely request and follow the study guide. It at least makes it a little better.

On the positive side, everything gets easier once that is done!

dragonsage

jibtech said:

Its going well! I am finishing up the second term in 10 days, with 3 classes left. I haven't powered through like I did with the Bachelors, mostly due to real life. I don't want to sacrifice real life for a Masters, only to have nothing left on the other side. In related news, I got married two weeks ago!

As for IT Management, there really isn't a good way through it. The class simply sucks. There is a lot of memorization, and I wasn't able to identify much of a shortcut through it. Definitely request and follow the study guide. It at least makes it a little better.

On the positive side, everything gets easier once that is done!

Congratulations! I wish you a long and happy union!

Thank you for the heads up.

z0mbi404

I will be starting my ms in august, hope it goes well and glad to see you can have a life and get it done. 

z0mbi404

Hi, so I'm having trouble with c783, this class seems like it's too much info, and not sure where to start. I can write down the knowledge areas and process groups, but then I realized there were ITTO's in each of the 49 processes, it really scared me. Do I need to know every one of the processes with their ITTO's to pass? I think i know the answer just looking to find a better way to study. If anyone has any input I would appreciate it.  

COBOL_DOS_ERA

@ Z0mbi404, this is from 6th ed, I belives it still applies to 7th ed of PMP exam. Ricardo did make it easy to follow and memorize. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7pN8Mjot8&t=3s

jibtech

z0mbi404 said:

Hi, so I'm having trouble with c783, this class seems like it's too much info, and not sure where to start. I can write down the knowledge areas and process groups, but then I realized there were ITTO's in each of the 49 processes, it really scared me. Do I need to know every one of the processes with their ITTO's to pass? I think i know the answer just looking to find a better way to study. If anyone has any input I would appreciate it.  

Not sure if it helps or not, but for some people, misery loves company. I am currently struggling with the same issues. The best we can do is keep at it and get through.

You got this!

dragonsage

I just pasted the WGU test for this. They say you can't brain **** the test, but I got 2 cheap brain **** practice test off ebay and spent 1 week going through them non stop for 1 week. Took practice exam and got a decent score. Took exam and got a pass. Just make sure you got the rest of the info and even if you don't get the ITTO's you'll pass. look at the scoring, it's by section not by exact number of correct or incorrect answers. Use that to your advantage and get close as you can to 100% on all other section and you'll get the green check mark!!

Good luck we in this together and I want to see you at commencement!

z0mbi404

Thank you guys, for your input, this is the only class that has truly stressed me this much, but just need to break it down. I would like to do something like @dragonsage for my first attempt since that's usually how I do best. I have seen the very helpful youtube video @promethuschow Thank you for that. and feel comfortable with the concept but now knowing how questions are, gets me nervous. @jibtech I know this class might be hard but we need to keep pushing somehow thank you for your time, everyone. really do appreciate it.