Degree or certifications or both?

Long time lover of I.T. but new to the education side of it.

I am looking into WGU and a local Community College however I also hear that just getting as many Certifications as possible is also a good route to take.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Where should I be putting my time in? What will be more beneficial in the long run?

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scaredoftests

Experience helps in the long run, followed by certs/educations.

NetworkNewb

Experience >>>>>>>> Degrees/Certs

Both degrees and certs are good to have. Some places place higher priority on degrees and some place higher priority on certs. Best to have both. Experience is king though. Practice what your learning in a lab to get the most out of your efforts.

DatabaseHead

It really depends on your direction.

Just for the record I am a less is more guy. Love certs and degrees, but think too many is a waste of money.......

Management - Degree
Help Desk, Degree or Cert(singular)
Desktop Support - Cert
Infrastructure - Certification on that particular stack
Networking - Cert
Security - Cert
Development - Degree
ETL / Database - Degree
Project Management Degree
Business Analyst Degree

This is just my opinion so make sure to do your own research. Of course experience is king.

networker050184

Get both and add in the experience. The more things you have going for you the better.

Hatch1921

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Experience >>>>>>>> Degrees/Certs

Both degrees and certs are good to have. Some places place higher priority on degrees and some place higher priority on certs. Best to have both. Experience is king though. Practice what your learning in a lab to get the most out of your efforts.

^^^^ This^^^^^

Hatch

daviddws

think of it like a three legged stool (Experience / Degree / Certs). You need all three for more money. If you have one or two you can fall over..but its not the end of the world.

markulous

WGU would be a better option than a CC IMO. A Bachelor's is way more valuable than an Associate's, plus at WGU you get certs. If you're goal is to move up, then you're probably going to want a degree so you can get past any hard requirements from HR, but certs are great too.

Like everyone said though, experience is king. There's no shortcut for that.

Blucodex

I would get the degree. The degree will get you in the door without experience, I don't think a cert will.

My advice (take it with a grain of salt) would be to get your degree and knockout a few certs while you're at it.

jelevated

daviddws wrote: »

think of it like a three legged stool (Experience / Degree / Certs). You need all three for more money. If you have one or two you can fall over..but its not the end of the world.

Exactly. Your competition will have all three, especially in the Infosec world, and they're are enough of them that they can form a pretty good pool just using this criteron. Even masters degrees are becoming more common today along with a high power list of certs.

A cert won't get you the job on its own but there are cases wherein can help immensely. For instance, if a job req requires a certificate is required or nice to have, count on going up against atleast a couple of candidates who have that certificate.

If you have a job req for an senior network engineer/architect and you really like having Cisco certified staff on your team, and you could interview only two, who would it be:

- Candidate A has 12 years experience
- Candidate B has a bachelors, 5 years relevant experience and a CCNA
- Candidate C has a masters, 8 years of relevant experience and active CCIE

Candidate "C"s exist all around. Many of them are on this board.
Certification doesn't make you the hottest thing on the block, but atleast a hiring manager will be able to say, at one point in your life, you were knowledgable about the core competencies outlined by the vendor/certification body and you proved this knowledge through examination, and you are willing to learn. that is useful just on its own.

Honestly certs are pretty cheap and they're tough to get and maintain (even if you're a genius you have to study and take the test) but its so small cost compared to the amount of doors that it can open, just grab a couple and hop of the train, no need to be an addict like the junkies here. Quad CCIEs and such.

skswitch

The stool analogy used is great way of seeing it. I always use the saying "building your Triforce"

. (Education, Experience, Certification)

Having a degree doesn't guarantee you a job.
Having a few cert's isn't getting you 100% of the interviews.
Having years of experience doesn't make you a shoe in for the position.

What each will do is allow a checkbox to be marked off. Yep. All that hard work and years of toiling allows one stupid white blank check box to be ticked off in a application. Yet those boxes added up is what gives you a better shot a job offer.

And its your safety net. Too many people get comfortable thinking their 10+ yrs of experience with no progression is their job security. They have to ask themselves is that 10 years experience relevant today or 10 years ago. Don't be like that and avoid that way of thinking before it even starts.

If you are wanting to see which to do first... why not do all them at once? Are you in the IT field currently? I can't recommend WGU enough to people who want their degree and desire getting certs. What a combo deal!

volfkhat

For the most part, a Degree is just a "certification" that never expires.
(Drastic oversimplification.... but i stand by it)

I have an A+ certification from over 15 years ago.
I also have a CS Bachelors from over 15 years ago.

Both are laughably outdated; but One still has artificial value (at least according to HR).

/shrug

mzx380

DatabaseHead wrote: »

It really depends on your direction.

Just for the record I am a less is more guy. Love certs and degrees, but think too many is a waste of money.......

Management - Degree
Help Desk, Degree or Cert(singular)
Desktop Support - Cert
Infrastructure - Certification on that particular stack
Networking - Cert
Security - Cert
Development - Degree
ETL / Database - Degree
Project Management Degree
Business Analyst Degree

This is just my opinion so make sure to do your own research. Of course experience is king.

I think this just about sums it up perfectly

Queue

This Thread is posted quite frequently on this site and has the same answers repeatedly. I've had a few different managers/directors and I've asked all of them how they felt about certifications since I was actively seeking them.

Most recent director stated that they were great for learning, but he really only seemed interested in the Cisco certs as he heard from the network guys at his last role that they were challenging....

Director before him was talking about giving raises based on degrees/certs, but that would have never happened at this organization anyways.

Last manager was all about experience and didn't like certifications, probably was one that didn't like going above and beyond so didn't want to give people who go above and beyond their role praise.

My point being in my small time in IT field I've had 3 leaders (that were hiring managers) and they all have different opinions. I would work on that three legged stool, but the whole goal is a paycheck. Get in somewhere at the ground level and work your way up while collecting a check.

It's all going to be who is making the decision (hiring manager) on what they value most be it degree, certifications, or experience.

DatabaseHead

Queue wrote: »

It's all going to be who is making the decision (hiring manager) on what they value most be it degree, certifications, or experience.

There is no question about this.

IMO, the best way to answer a question like this is to place your own experiences, like you and I did and others. Then the OP sifts through the results and can do what they will with the information.

The OP dropped this.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Where should I be putting my time in?

What will be more beneficial in the long run?

I personally don't like the 3 legged stool approach, I think it's extremely wasteful and lazy from a tactical perspective.

The OP has to figure out what he/she wants. Let's assume help desk, then I would conclude a degree OR a customer service/client support certification would be your best bet. Note I said OR not AND.

Get some experience then reset expectations and make another decision.

What do you want to do next? Desktop support? Maybe the certification that you have is enough to secure a position okay next......

Management? Degree
System Admin, Linux or MS certification on the server stack
Network, CCNA or NP?

That's the approach I would use. You won't rack up a bunch of debt and useless certifications...... Or worse yet a degree that isn't being used.

Blucodex

skswitch wrote: »

The stool analogy used is great way of seeing it. I always use the saying "building your Triforce" . (Education, Experience, Certification)

Having a degree doesn't guarantee you a job.
Having a few cert's isn't getting you 100% of the interviews.
Having years of experience doesn't make you a shoe in for the position.

What each will do is allow a checkbox to be marked off. Yep. All that hard work and years of toiling allows one stupid white blank check box to be ticked off in a application. Yet those boxes added up is what gives you a better shot a job offer.

And its your safety net. Too many people get comfortable thinking their 10+ yrs of experience with no progression is their job security. They have to ask themselves is that 10 years experience relevant today or 10 years ago. Don't be like that and avoid that way of thinking before it even starts.

If you are wanting to see which to do first... why not do all them at once? Are you in the IT field currently? I can't recommend WGU enough to people who want their degree and desire getting certs. What a combo deal!

Last but not least. WHO YOU KNOW!

kurosaki00

Go to a decent college close to your home, doesnt have to be fancy or expensive. Just a decent college that is certified by middle state and local state.
While you are in college, it is the easiest way to get an internship/coop/job. There are thousands of resources online to get yourself your first internship or job while in school and many more with your local college.

You can start with an associate if you just want to test the waters, get an internship, get some leadership groups, go to meetings, do extracurricular stuff that will put you out there and will give you leadership, teamwork, work experience.

My 1st and most important advice to anyone in college is DO NOT GRADUATE WITHOUT EXPERIENCE.
While in college you can go for your first cert while studying and working part time.

dave330i

Most experienced IT professional horribly fail my fundamental interview questions.

ITSec14

Find a good balance between the 3 (experience, certs and education). You don't want to appear under or over qualified. Yes, I said over qualified. I've met a lot of people in IT who think because they have 15 years experience, 10+ certs and a masters degree that they will likely get any job they apply for. In some cases, this could be true based on the demand of their skill sets or what the company is looking for, but there is also something called being a good fit for the job. Humility and willingness to learn go a long way in this field. What good is a seasoned veteran if the company knows they will leave in less than 2 years? Focus on a steady progression in your career and balance yourself with a healthy mix of exp, certs and education. Pursue certs that relate to where you are going/want to go and build solid experience around that knowledge.

ITHokie

volfkhat wrote: »

For the most part, a Degree is just a "certification" that never expires.
(Drastic oversimplification.... but i stand by it)

I have an A+ certification from over 15 years ago.
I also have a CS Bachelors from over 15 years ago.

Both are laughably outdated; but One still has artificial value (at least according to HR).

/shrug

Love this.

One thing I don't usually see mentioned in these discussions is that a degree is just not going allow granular control of what one wants to learn. Whatever the degree program, many hours and and significant financial resources will be spent on core classes and even technical classes that won't help in the near term.

Whether or not a degree is the right investment for long term marketability is a worthy but different question. I'm just saying that if one knows exactly what they want to study, training and certifications can build those specific domains of knowledge more quickly.

Tibs

Obviously experience plays a large role in "What will be better for me in the long run?"; so it is important to include that as part of an answer when someone is asking about getting a degree vs. certifications. But I will focus down on the degree vs. certifications part since that seems to be the OP's current considerations.

I don't think that either one is necessarily better than the other. Both are intended to show that the applicant whom places that information on their resume is supposed to be knowledgeable in that field. But also, neither are always true. That is to say someone can go to a "boot camp" or use online material to cram for a certification exam, but may still be completely novice to the certification material. It is also possible that someone holding a BS could have passed their courses through a majority of attendance and homework, without truly developing skills. So the best answer if you really want to maximize your chances but don't have "resume worthy experience" yet, would be to work on both.

You mentioned you were looking into WGU. All of the undergrad IT degree plans at WGU include certifications at no additional cost, in fact earning those certifications is what counts as passing the relevant courses. Being able to tackle both at the same time and using the same funds would be better than trying to compare the individual cost and time spent for just a degree or just certificates. As an additional note, many IT degree programs at many colleges these days also include certifications, so you're bound to pick some up on your way to your degree regardless.

So to the OP; I think the question you should ask yourself is "Do I want to go to WGU or not?" as a whole. If the answer is "yes", then your degree vs. certifications conundrum is almost entirely irrelevant. If you still are not sure then you are really left with three decisions (excluding trying to gain resume experience):
- Attend college for a BS that may not include certifications. (Financial aid can help with funds, may take a few years to complete if following course paths)
- Get certifications that you feel are relevant to your career interest. (Possibly paying out of pocket for all exams, time spent is based on quantity and what you do or don't already know or need to study for)
- Attend a college which offers a degree that includes certifications. (Financial aid can help with funds, "go at your own pace" colleges like WGU can expedite the process)

Since your main question is "degree vs certifications", it sounds like taking the option that supplies both would be ideal.

Dakinggamer87

Holy Triforce: Degrees+Experience+Certs = Winning!! #threadover

Blucodex

dave330i wrote: »

Most experienced IT professional horribly fail my fundamental interview questions.

Please divulge

dave330i

Blucodex wrote: »

Please divulge

Not much to divulge. Part of my responsibility is to interview potential candidates. Many of them have more experience than I do, but ~90% of them fail my fundamental questions.

scaredoftests

and the questions are....?

bpenn

Blucodex wrote: »

Please divulge

Yes, I need to know if I am an idiot or not!

jibtech

My favorite question to ask:

"Aside from IT, what are you passionate about?"

You learn a great deal about someone in the conversation that ensues.