Dropped out of college, question.
Anonymouse
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So I've worked in IT for the past two years now and before that I was doing an Associates degree program at a tech school. I ended up not finishing my degree. Do I even bother putting that on a cover letter and/or resume when I apply for a job? I didn't finish so I have nothing to show for it really.
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It's a good idea to mention it, at the very least it says you worked towards a degree. Should be enough to get you through the HR filters.
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As for whether your school should be on your resume, yes. I think I would list attended dates rather than semesters.
It is entirely possible to have a decent career in IT without a degree. I don't have one, and I'm doing pretty well. I do recommend that people finish their degree though.
I usually just list the dates I attended school and a short synopsis of classes I've taken.
List it, potential employers will want to know your educational history as a whole, if you didn't complete it, it's not a big deal. What I do to spice it up a bit is list my accomplishments while in school, for example I had a high GPA and even had a 4.0 GPA for the first year so I list "President's and Dean's List Honor Roll".
Of course, I don't have a good excuse on why I didn't complete it, fell only 15 credits shy (basically a semester) of completion.
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Decent, yes. But I know many people that have only an associates degree and that holds them back from being on a higher pay scale and can narrow down which jobs they can even apply to.
A good friend of mine is a teacher at a community college. He has a full time day job and does some teaching on the side. He is a great teacher (I actually had a few classes in the past which is how I met him.)
Because he only has an associates, he gets paid less, he gets pushed around from the school, and he is extremely limited at which schools he can teach at since most require at least a bachelors. He has been in the IT field for about 20 years and holds about a dozen certifications ranging from electronics, to Active Directory, to CWNA. Along with being a good teacher, he is also a very passionate one. He will spend 8 hours preparing for a 4 hour class, despite the fact that he has already taught the same class 10 times before.
I bring this up because it sickens me that just because he doesn't have a peice of paper that he gets pushed around by my former school and is unable to do much about it because other schools won't even bring him in for an interview. He loves teaching students and his wife is a stay at home mom with 3 kids, so the money is always needed too.
I've tried to talk him into going back to school to get the bachelors and stop putting up with the S*** politics that he has to work with. He is easily smart enough to do it, he just is concerned about the pay cut that would be involved by leaving his part time teaching job, and certainly couldn't do both timewise.
So it is best to get it now then get stuck in a situation like my friend.
Sounds like tomahawkeer is in a similar situation.
On that note, I make over $100k and just got hired on at a fortune 500 company. So anything is possible.
To answer your question, some experience is better than no experience. I've been asked about not completing my degree in an interview before and simply explained my situation and that was more than enough. Many people understand that not everyone can afford to go to school when they're young.
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As other have said when asked about my schooling I give a valid reason for not finishing and that always seems to satisfactory answer for them
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I'd say YMMV. AFAIK, my previous manager does not have any type of degree. Don't even think he attended college at all. I had another manager who only had AS degree and had a chance to be a regional manager but didn't take it because of his family. The position needed to move to another state.
I'll agree with this. Not having a degree, does not railroad you out of a high level job. It depends on who you work for, and what you do. Your skills outweigh your degree 9 times out of 10. Do companies sometimes require a degree? Sure they do. I do think you should get your degree, and if you are in school I would recommend you stay there.
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That being said, I am now finding the lack of a degree to be hindering my progress. I am currently looking at doing an online college on the side (WGU Anyone?). If I had to do it over the only thing I may have done differently was maybe to have picked up night school from the start.
I also did not have the oportunity to go to college due to lack of $$ and I started with kids right after high school. My advice would be to finish now, and it won't haunt you later like Devilsbane said...
I'm glad that someone finds value in what I said. Somebody else decided to give negative reputation with the comment "bull". I was just speaking about my own experience with my friend. Someone else's situation may be different, but the story was certainly not made up.
Good luck with getting back in school. I know some people that are working full time and are only able to take 6 credits or so a semester. It will take them awhile to graduate, but it is certainly possible to do.
I happen to agree with you as well. It's just the relativity of where we are headed. Where I live most every decent job in server administration is looking for a BS, and any of the government jobs "prefer" a Master degree.
I take it this is supposed to read does not mean.
Fixed. Thanks for pointing it out.
LOL. Someone just send a negative rep. Didn't know my post wasn't written in English. Pardon my English as it is not my native tongue.