Keep moving up at Dell, or keep focusing on getting my bachelors?

Hello everyone,

I started at Dell when I was 18 and dropped out of college when I got the job. 2 years later I'm still here, have gotten a promotion and love it. I just started college as a freshman part time this year(while working full time) but I'm finding it difficult to stay motivated and do the work. There is so much opportunity to move up as long as you get the applicable certifications. I feel like I'm wasting time going to school when I could be getting certifications and being promoted as a bonus.

Is a college degree something I should still work hard to try and pursue? The irrelevant courses bore me to no end and drain me of motivation. I'm going to a Community College for an AAS in MIS, that then transfers to a 4 year university for a BBA in MIS.

Any advice from others down the road in life with more experience than I do would be great. I'm honestly not sure what to do.
Is college that important?
If I wanted to work for other companies wouldn't my experience and certifications be good enough?

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Comments

snunez889

I would keep moving forward with school, a Bachelors degree will open more doors in the future. Your young and time will pass you by quick so why not take a class or two a semester. It might take some time to complete only doing a few classes at a time but in a few years you will have something under your belt.

NinjaBoy

snunez889 wrote: »

I would keep moving forward with school, a Bachelors degree will open more doors in the future. Your young and time will pass you by quick so why not take a class or two a semester. It might take some time to complete only doing a few classes at a time but in a few years you will have something under your belt.

I agree, imo, the best thing would to have the "triad" of things that will help you in your current/future career:

1. Experience
2. Professional and/or Vocational certifications that reflects your experience and
3. The academic qualifications that employers also want.

FloOz

Maybe give WGU a shot instead? From what I have heard it is a really good program. You also get certifications along the way which may help you out getting a promotion at work.

instant000

Do both.

It is not an either/or choice. We get this question often. Obviously, it is harder doing both at the same time. If you must do more of one than the other, you probably want to do more of the certs now. Keep in mind that you're going to wind up hitting ceilings (sooner or later) without a bachelor degree (especially in a large corporation). If you're mostly technical, this will come later. Still, keep the schooling going, and manage your time wisely.

As a prior poster asserted, WGU has you do certs while doing your degree, so a program from them might make sense for your situation. If you need any ideas, just check what schools higher managers and execs in your division have attended, and see what good ol' boys networks are present.

Hope this helps.

ajs1976

do both. you can get far without a bachelors, but eventually you may hit the glass ceiling. Better to work on it now, so you have it before that happens.

puertorico1985

I was in a similar situation as you not so long ago. I thought that school and work (simultaneously) were impossible. Eventually I hit a ceiling and realized that employers wanted a degree. Certs are great for the now, but a degree is what employers are really looking for, and the doors are virtually limitless with that piece of paper under your belt.

neo9006

It is a matter of balancing your time. I am taking a full load 12 hours and working 40 hours and trust me I am hitting the wall and its the first week. But I look at this way, that degree will help no matter what. Do 18 hours a year. You be taking 6 hours a semester including summer and be done in 6 years.

Jumpman23

I appreciate all of the advice. From what I hear having experience, college, and certifications is the best way to go. So looks like that is what I am going to have to do. I'll look into WGU and start talking to execs who work with me as well.

the_Grinch

Best decision you can make is to keep going to school. If you're happy where you are at and they aren't pushing it, take one class at a time and continue with certs. Slowly, but surely the days of having no degree are dying out. Recent government job I got, every new person has a degree and in the last five years (unless they have a ton of experience or some juice) everyone has had a four year degree. If you can pull off the triad, then you will be light years ahead of your peers.

N2IT

Both with a lean towards your position.

blargoe

N2IT wrote: »

Both with a lean towards your position.

This! You already have forward momentum with your career, so keep riding that wave. Continue making progress toward a degree, if you have to shift to part time student, that is fine. You are young, you can handle it. Don't drop out again, though - balancing job and college becomes exponentially more difficult when you add 10-15 years in age, and you have the wife and kids. Trust us on that one.

MeatCatalogue

I have heard nothing but absolute horror stories about Dell, so expect to be fired at any time. This is not an exaggeration in the slightest. Get certs, go to college if you feel you need it and keep your resume polished. Apply regularly to other jobs just to keep your interviewing skills polished and decline offers if you feel its not as good as what you have currently.

Jumpman23

the_Grinch wrote: »

Best decision you can make is to keep going to school. If you're happy where you are at and they aren't pushing it, take one class at a time and continue with certs. Slowly, but surely the days of having no degree are dying out. Recent government job I got, every new person has a degree and in the last five years (unless they have a ton of experience or some juice) everyone has had a four year degree. If you can pull off the triad, then you will be light years ahead of your peers.

Thanks for the insight. Personally I have noticed how much degree's are starting to be required regardless of practicality for your position. I'm going to really push myself for the triad.

Jumpman23

blargoe wrote: »

This! You already have forward momentum with your career, so keep riding that wave. Continue making progress toward a degree, if you have to shift to part time student, that is fine. You are young, you can handle it. Don't drop out again, though - balancing job and college becomes exponentially more difficult when you add 10-15 years in age, and you have the wife and kids. Trust us on that one.

I won't be dropping out, after reading your post and seeing advice from others I definitely need to keep going. Lots of co-workers with a family have said similar words about the difficulties of studies when you have a wife and kids.

Jumpman23

MeatCatalogue wrote: »

I have heard nothing but absolute horror stories about Dell, so expect to be fired at any time. This is not an exaggeration in the slightest. Get certs, go to college if you feel you need it and keep your resume polished. Apply regularly to other jobs just to keep your interviewing skills polished and decline offers if you feel its not as good as what you have currently.

Most of the bad stories I have heard are sales department related, not Enterprise Tech support since that is their entire business. However, I still do keep my eyes open for the unexpected and will keep myself polished in case I hit a bump in the road. I appreciate the advice about promotions to, I've never thought lateral moves were the best option to take when trying to keep a strong resume. Your post confirms it for me.