WGU - BS IT Management Experiences? Advice for someone new in IT?

astrogeek

Hey all I've been looking at WGU for some time now and hopefully should have the time and funds to be able to get started within a few months now. I had been planning on going with the BS in IT Network Security, but then I noticed the BS for IT Management and I think I'd rather go with this one.

Is anybody out there currently enrolled at WGU for this degree, if so, what are your thoughts about it? Do you already have management experience, or are you trying to get into management with this degree?

I haven't had any managerial experience and am more of a technical person by nature, but as a new guy in the IT industry a big part of me worries about being pegged as "just a tech", or in other words, being stuck at the bottom of the totem pole. My way of thinking is that I can always keep my geeky technical interests while continuously working my way up the corporate latter into management positions. I also figure if I don't like working in management I could still be a tech, it just seems like I'd have more flexibility with this degree than with the BS in IT Network Security.

Regardless of what degree I choose I'm always going to continue to work on getting more certifications and continue to flex out my technical skills. This is partially why I think the combination of some quality certifications + a degree in IT Management would really round out my resume quite nicely.

Can anybody offer your opinions or advice? If you are currently enrolled in WGU's BS for IT Management I'd love to know what your thoughts on the courses are!

astrogeek

I guess nobody here wants to get into management lol

paul78

@astrogeek - I don't really know much about WGU courses but I did speak with one of their counselors a few weeks ago since I had a passing interest in completing my bachelors.

I am in management and have been for a while.

I did take a look at the courses of study on the web site. I actually thought that the course-load was very reasonable and very well-balanced. I especially was glad to see that one of the courses was on ethics.

If you have an interest in pursuing a career in management, this degree (at least from my superficial review) looks to be quite reasonable.

Best of luck to you.

astrogeek

Thanks! I know most people here are probably more into the technical side of things so I definitely appreciate any opinions coming from experienced managers.

paul78

You are very welcomed. One thing that I couldnt figure out on the WGU website was where to find the details of each course. I was curious if any of the legal related courses covered items like intellectual property and employment law. The only topic of the top of my head that I thought may be useful but missing maybe on customer and vendor relationship management and contract negotiations. But it does look like a decent program.

astrogeek

This PDF is about as detailed as I could find, but it doesn't say anything about the ethics/legal courses individually. I'm guessing looking up the required reading of Management: Leading and Collaborating, and Organizational Behavior would detail what they want you to learn. I'm not sure if anything additional to that reading material is provided.

Some of the courses mentioned something about doing presentations, I was wondering how that is done at WGU? Presentation via my Logitech webcam? lol

paul78

Good points that I overlooked. Unlike IT, management requires a high degree of human interaction. And to get the most out of the courses, a dialogue really is required. I would imagine that for topics on ethics and leadership, without the benefit of a roundtable discussion, you may not get much out of those topics. Similarly, if you cannot debate various points with other students, it may be tough to have creative thoughts.

And I agree with your comment about presentations. A large part of presentations is the presentors ability to gauge audience reaction by observing body language and adjust. You may not be able to do that over a webcam.