Associates + 4 Years IT Experience + CCNA enough to land a job?

How much experience is needed to waive a "bachelor's degree required" statement on a job posting? I have 4 years experience managing the RQ4 (UAV) network from linux servers (proxies, iptables, web servers, etc) to configuring/maintaining cisco devices (6500, 7200, 3800, 3700, 3500, 2800, ASA firewalls, FWSM).

Current certifications:
-CCNA (Felt this certification was really easy. Received this in November of 2012)
-CPTE
-Sec+
-Linux+

-Received CCNP Security Firewall training (ASA Firewall), but have not taken the exam since I need to take CCNA Security first.

I changed my major so many times before realizing what I love doing, which is networking. I currently have over 130 college credits with a 3.8GPA and will only be getting my associates this year. Our shop is active 24/7 365 so I have had to take online courses that required my schedule to be open to work whenever I get called in. I would say I am one of maybe 2-3 technical people in the work center than have a really good understanding of our network and can resolve technical issues. I created network diagrams using Visio for our work-center within a couple days with specific details from logical to physical so others can get spun up to take over. I will only be able to get my associates before leaving active duty and was wanting to transition to a civilian job that has decent pay (55-70k) while I continue to work towards my bachelor's degree. Also I have been studying for my CCNP and will be taking the routing part of the test soon. Would this be something I should really strive to achieve? After looking over job postings I see nothing but the requirement for a bachelor's degree, which is kinda nerve racking since I have a family to support.

I like to learn random things on my free time as well. Considering my work schedule, school, and family I think I manage my time well. I picked up a little LUA programming and BASIC perl scripting. I would really like to take courses on Perl since it is used widely, but understanding the basics really helps me with my current position and working with our software engineers. Also, created two websites for some of my family using wordpress, but as we all know wordpress is REALLY easy. Researched SEO techniques and their websites have gained rank rather quickly considering the material on the site is not a "hot" topic.
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Comments

Iristheangel

You sound extremely motivated to learn and pick up new skills so if you can show that in your resume or in an interview, you will definitely win over employers. Usually it's "Bachelor's or equivalent experience" so 4 years is good. It also depends on what area of California you're in. The Bay Area and Los Angeles has plenty of opportunities for people with your level of experience and certifications. I would recommend to apply to the jobs that require a Bachelors because a lot of the IT managers will waive the requirement. Another option you might want to consider is going to finish you BS. Somewhere like WGU will take your certifications and AS as credits and it's online so it would be very doable to finish it up in a semester or two while getting that checked box for HR.

lsud00d

FWIW often times when something says "required" it can be mitigated with experience such as you have listed. I'm not sure what part of Cali you're in so I can't comment on pay but it sounds like you should qualify for jobs even if they list a bachelors degree.

justinbreed

Iristheangel wrote: »

You sound extremely motivated to learn and pick up new skills so if you can show that in your resume or in an interview, you will definitely win over employers. Usually it's "Bachelor's or equivalent experience" so 4 years is good. It also depends on what area of California you're in. The Bay Area and Los Angeles has plenty of opportunities for people with your level of experience and certifications. I would recommend to apply to the jobs that require a Bachelors because a lot of the IT managers will waive the requirement. Another option you might want to consider is going to finish you BS. Somewhere like WGU will take your certifications and AS as credits and it's online so it would be very doable to finish it up in a semester or two while getting that checked box for HR.

I am currently enrolled in Florida Tech. I do plan on finishing my degree, but it will not happen within a year. I would like to move back to TX when I leave, but in all honesty I would probably follow the best position that would further my career in IT. Considering I have an active DOD TS/SCI Security clearance I was unsure if I should venture out into other positions away from DOD contracting since my clearance would not be active anymore.

I would rather find a position and take classes at a local college to where I will be working. Not a big fan of online colleges. I don't like the idea of paying someone to teach myself material that I could buy a book and learn on my own.

justinbreed

lsud00d wrote: »

FWIW often times when something says "required" it can be mitigated with experience such as you have listed. I'm not sure what part of Cali you're in so I can't comment on pay but it sounds like you should qualify for jobs even if they list a bachelors degree.

Thanks for the input. I updated my profile to reflect my location. I'm not really familiar with the area I am located at, but compared to Houston I don't see a large market. Also, California cost of living is relatively high. I figure if I can make at least over $50k I can continue the same lifestyle I have now and will be using my GI bill which I will receive another $1500 a month for housing. Once finishing my degree I feel like it would open the doors up for more opportunities or at least move up in a company I transitioned into.

Iristheangel

Sacramento? Yeah, not so great of an IT area. If you can migrate south after leaving the military, you can get jobs in both San Jose or Austin/Houston depending on your desired state

lsud00d

I know Houston has a HUGE market for IT, and with your skillset, degree(s) (in progress), and certifications, I can't see why you wouldn't get a $50-60k job...unless you just don't interview well

justinbreed

lsud00d wrote: »

I know Houston has a HUGE market for IT, and with your skillset, degree(s) (in progress), and certifications, I can't see why you wouldn't get a $50-60k job...unless you just don't interview well

Not worried about interviews. Just worried about not getting them lol. I have worked with people who have Bachelor's degree and over 6+ years IT experience and they come to me with technical issues. Only issue is I don't work with a wide range of routing protocols on a daily basis since we use static routes for ALL traffic within our network so the extent of my knowledge is from studying CCNP routing and classes I took regarding them. Of course I find using routing protocols would make life easier at work, but not allowed in our environment.

chmod

I have always applied to position that required a bachelor degree, that never stopped me from getting the job i even got into management before i turned 25 and still did not have a bachelor degree if you have the skills and you work hard enough and demonstrate you are better that the ones that already have a degree you'll get the chance but is up to you.

Have you ever been involved in a recruiting process for IT? sometimes you have a incredibly smart guy with lots of skills a nerd/geek who loves programming and probably 22 in the other hand you have a 28 yrs old engineer witha a degree who is very good but is average and you realized he does it for the money not also for the passion(we all work for money but we need to be passionate about what we do), you have to demonstrate during the interview that passion and desire + your skills to get the job to make them choose you instead of the others.

justinbreed

chmod wrote: »

I have always applied to position that required a bachelor degree, that never stopped me from getting the job i even got into management before i turned 25 and still did not have a bachelor degree if you have the skills and you work hard enough and demonstrate you are better that the ones that already have a degree you'll get the chance but is up to you.

Have you ever been involved in a recruiting process for IT? sometimes you have a incredibly smart guy with lots of skills a nerd/geek who loves programming and probably 22 in the other hand you have a 28 yrs old engineer witha a degree who is very good but is average and you realized he does it for the money not also for the passion(we all work for money but we need to be passionate about what we do), you have to demonstrate during the interview that passion and desire + your skills to get the job to make them choose you instead of the others.

Sounds good. How much of a pay increase would obtaining the CCNP net? Or is this merely a way of securing a job opening?

chmod

There is no way to know that you earn based on what you can bring to a company and if that knowledge is useful in that specific position.

darkerz

I must live in a unusually hot area for IT jobs (Seattle-Area) because with an associates, 4+ years experience and a few certs, I'm able to do absolutely fine and need to fend off the recruiters almost daily.

I suppose having very specific skills in Networking and Data Center monkey'ing earlier on makes the case.

I can't imagine with your portfolio that you'd have issues getting a mid-level job.

ptilsen

"Equivalent experience" is up for interpretation, but I would say any reasonable interpretation is that you've met it. I think you'll do fine. Finish your bachelor's at some point since you have so many credits, but in the meantime I think you should have no problems even without an associates. At this rate, in two years you'll have CCNP, a bachelors, six-years of progressive network/security/Linux experience and more job opportunities than you know what to do with.

justinbreed

ptilsen wrote: »

"Equivalent experience" is up for interpretation, but I would say any reasonable interpretation is that you've met it. I think you'll do fine. Finish your bachelor's at some point since you have so many credits, but in the meantime I think you should have no problems even without an associates. At this rate, in two years you'll have CCNP, a bachelors, six-years of progressive network/security/Linux experience and more job opportunities than you know what to do with.

Looking forward to that day:). I guess I let my co-workers and supervisors get into my head. Have a ton of people on a daily basis try to convince me to stay in. As much as I love my job and the big picture of what I do I can't pass up on making more money as a civilian with a lot less stress. I take home roughly ~40k a year, but figured as long as I make over 50k I won't take a pay cut considering I have free health/dental and such right now and only taxed on around 25k.

neo9006

Well being I am from the Houston area, you guys are giving me hope of finding something. thanks

lsud00d

neo, Houston is one of the major international cities for the US. It's a HUGE port city so there are many fortune 500 companies there, mainly oil. I'm sure Chevron, Shell, BP, etc are always hiring. That, and plenty of SMB companies.

instant000

EDIT: To be clear, it shouldn't take you another year to get a BACHELOR's, let alone an Associates.

With 130 credits, I believe that you need to research the Big Three, and get an accredited bachelors.

Check out this forum: DegreeInfo Distance Learning - online degree forum - The Front Page

You'll see that Charter Oaks, Excelsior, and Thomas Edison provide some very attractive options to get you going on a Bachelor's that rolls in much of the work you've already completed, and can transfer in most credits to get you a regionally accredited bachelor's.

If you have a clearance you should look at http://clearancejobs.com . There's usually stuff all over the place.

If you're on LinkedIn, you should have recruiters after you all the time.

Hope this helps.