Wondering if it'll all tie together somehow.

jchahn

I've been building computers and doing tech work on them (my personal computer and friends computers) since I was around 11 or 12. I will turn 19 in about 2 days. The second semester of my senior year in high school I was in the co-op program. In other words, I would go to school until noon, then go to work immediately after lunch and get school credit for my job. Well, I got lucky and got a job as an assistant network administrator at a local company. I got great experience at that job. We were in the process of switching all the computers over to linux workstations (for costs reasons, no more MS licensing fees) when I left for college. I got a job here at my college town at another computer company as a help desk technician. (Normally the job would require A+ certification, but the owner of this company is a friend of my old boss at my high school job, it's nice to have hook-ups.) I'm about to get A+ certified hopefully and continue on w/ other upper lvl certifications from there. Anyway, if I haven't bored you to tears yet, I'll get to the main point of this post. I'm majoring in Computer Science in college. I plan to atleast get my Bachelor's in Comp. Science, but hopefully will continue on and get my Master's. I might even get a degree in Business. I'd like to work for a gaming company, or possibly start my own software development or gaming company (thus the possibility of a degree in business.) I've also thought about working as a Computer Scientist for a government agency, such as the National Security Agency. As near as I can tell, the only reason for getting any certifications would be to get better jobs while I'm still in college. Once I get out of college and have my degree, these certs. would be useless, am I right? Would a computer scientist have any use for a microsoft, cisco, or CompTIA cert? I'm just wondering if all these certs I'm wanting to get for my current job, will actually help me w/ my career goals, or if they will just allow me to get better jobs while I'm still in school? On the reverse of things, if I decide I want to do something more along the lines of a network admin or engineer, would a CIS degree be better than a CS degree? Basically, my overall question is: Is computer programming and computer tech work basically unrelated, or would one complement the other? Am I wasting my time doing one if I plan to do the other as a career? :

2lazybutsmart

I think a university degree and a certification on a particular theme within the vast science of computers are two distinct, non-conflicting routes. First of all, one must understand that a university degree is always necessary when applying for a high-ranking computer job, no matter what the case. Equally true is the fact that your employer will most definitely not care much whether you have a uni degree in business, philosophy, social or computer sciences. However, a degree in CS goes pretty well with a bunch of computer related certifications.

Now to get to your overall question: I believe all branches in computers are related one way or the other. I'm a programmer by profession, but I think I'd simply be useless if I couldn't fix a faulty power supply or add a new CD ROM drive to my system. I'd be equally useless if I couldn't figure out what the hell happened to my Internet Connection. However, I believe --and it is so-- that had I had a university degree, my pay would increase substantially. Now here comes the catch. A BBA degree would be just fine, but a CS degree would give me a distinctive touch in regards to my job. On the other hand, a BBA degree would probably get me to the ranks of computer management (CIO, CTO..).

So, it's all relative. Cling on to your uni degree, whatever the case. It will certainly prove helpfull when you go on the battlefield.


2lbs.