Where oh where do I go from here?

I got my CCNA after 2 years experience and 2 months studying and I know that in 2 years I will want to move and be looking for the best job possible...

Should I

a) go back to school online and try to turn my 110 credit hours trying pursuing a computer science degree into some kind of bachelors degree. and if so where can I get this done? and how many semesters of non-networking non-interesting classes do you think i would have to go through?

b) pursue more cisco certifications as I really did learn a lot doing my ccna.. I feel I could do CCNP in the next 6 months.. and CCIE possibly before the 2 year mark ?

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Comments

earweed

As far as the school goes check out WGU as a lot of people on here have gone that route. They're regionally accreditted and your certs count toward your degree. Having that many hours already done you should be looking at a short time to finish your degree.

erpadmin

To expand on this a bit further and that's why I've gone the WGU route (paraphrased from Dr. Charles Paddock--IT Program mentor at WGU)

Certifications expire; a bachelor's degree is for life. Even though I'm earning certs through my degree program, the bachelor's that ones earned will be with you, especially from a regionally accredited instituion such as WGU. Many moons ago, this site's own Webmaster has stated that a degree is much more important than certs. (Wish I could find that...it was stated a very long time ago, but I definitely remember it...)

With the CCNA that you have, you can even go the IT Security route, as that involves getting the CCNA Security. I'd definitely would look into it.

www.wgu.edu

levensailor

I'm just considering whether it's better if I'm going to invest all the time and energy to not get a degree from somewhere not known for it's online program.. such as umass or Penn state, etc

on one hand I just want a bs and don't care where from.. I'm just a little concerned that an A+ is one of the things I will learn with a bs in information security. I skipped this 8 years ago because I thought I was past this and don't need to go over cable pin voltages and printer troubleshooting techniques..

earweed

What's your MCITP? If it's enterprise support, SA, or EA then it knocks out your requirement for the A+.

erpadmin

levensailor wrote: »

I'm just considering whether it's better if I'm going to invest all the time and energy to not get a degree from somewhere not known for it's online program.. such as umass or Penn state, etc

on one hand I just want a bs and don't care where from.. I'm just a little concerned that an A+ is one of the things I will learn with a bs in information security. I skipped this 8 years ago because I thought I was past this and don't need to go over cable pin voltages and printer troubleshooting techniques..

I understand and shared your concerns. I had known about WGU for years, and did not think it was a "real" school. After independent research, as well as reading the WGU threads here, my fears were definitely allayed.

I went to UMASS-Lowell for a semester. I took a C programming class and was doing well in the beginning. Then, work started getting very busy and long story short, I wasted about $948 dollars on one class! I dealt with UMASS-Lowell because it was a "real" school online, but getting in touch with professors (especially this one) was a full time job, in and of itself.

The thing with WGU is that it's regionally accredited. It shares the same accreditation with Brigham Young, the big name school in Utah. That's actually the most important thing with ANY college/university. Think of the no-name B&M schools in your area....and think of the big-name, Division 1 colleges with it's football/basketball programs (Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc). All you're paying for is the name with Div 1 schools. The education you can get anywhere. WGU is no different than your no-name brick-and-mortar (B&M) school. Spending my money on UPENN online, or Drexel would be worth it for a masters. But I'm going to shoot for a B&M program after I graduate (hopefully). But I encourage you to do your own research, as I did, online. Google is definitely your friend in that regard. You will definitely earn a degree and as long as you put the time in whenever you can (nights and weekends for me), you will do well. Plus, folks there definitely get back to you within 4 hours. That's actually part of their agreement with you. I have never experienced any issues with WGU as I did with UMASS-Lowell.

levensailor

I was looking at umass when like 10 seconds ago..

I'm just going to do tons of research to see who will take the most of my 110 credits (all my general studies are done and half the computer science program)

along with certs I'm looking to finish a degree in 7 or 8 quarters with 2 3 credit courses per quarter.. do you think this is possible?

also a+ is hardware and tech support and my mcitp is sa which is server 2008 software.. I'm curious to why one substitutes the other.

I have a lot of googling to do apparently..

earweed

Yeah your MCITP:SA will satisfy your A+ requirement for WGU. It has more to do with that you've demonstarted the competency of a person with an A+ through getting your MCITP. With all your geneds done and since WGU is 6 month terms you could probably be done in well under a year. If you went Network Management or Security you'd be well on your way to a degree there.

earweed

Here's a link to get to the transfer requirements. http://kb.wgu.edu/utility/getfile.asp?rid=528