Big decision

OK, so im starting at WGU on december first. Im getting married after my fiancee finishes her degree in about a year and a half. There is a high chance that we will be moving overseas while she pursues her masters at Oxford.

So the choice im making with the degree emphasis, is between Networks admin, Security, and just the BS in IT. I would prefer I think to go with the security emphasis of the 3 the most. But the trouble lies with the time frame, I seriosuly want/need to be done in 1.5 years. So that I can be done by the time we go overseas and I would prefer to be finished with school by the time I get married. I dont think I can get the whole security program done in 1.5 years, if you guys think I can please let me know and that would be awesome if it is a likely scenario.

I am contemplating going for the basic IT degree just to get through the program in a shorter amount of time. And then I can always pursue other certs that I want or that my area of work dictates or focuses on at a later time.

A little more information about me, I have been working as a Tier Technical support for about a year, and had done some studying on my own for A+ and Network+ and looked at some of the CIW foundations. I had all of the Gen ED transfer in to WGU, so I will only have to focus on the technical classes, which appears to bearound 90 CU's. But because of my experience I definityl think I can blow through the A+ Net+ and CIW foundations fairly quickly.

So what do you guys think I should do, is it worth it to go for the security emphasis even though it will take longer and could complicate the situation some. Or just go for the basic IT degree and "upgrade" later on my own time. So that I can finish sooner.
I work 40 hours a week.

Thanks for your help and input in advanced.

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Comments

msteinhilber

First of all, congrats on the up-coming marriage!

On to your topic, I think the absolute best decision you can in regards to your schooling be it a decision on which school, which program, or whatever it may be - is to consider first and foremost what direction you wish your career to take and what it is you hope to gain from your education. Time to completion, cost involved, personal sacrifices, and so on - are all important factors to consider when making a decision affecting one's career and should certainly be considered - but I think what it is you wish your career to be and what it is that you wish to get out of your career are and should always hold the most weight simply because if you're not happy with you career and what it provides you, then you're going to be even more unhappy if you invested a lot of time and money or made a lot of personal sacrifices to each that point in your career.

That being said, we're only talking about a bachelor's degree here. What program you decide to pursue honestly isn't exactly going to shape your career. You'll be able to work on that through your future employment experience, certifications, graduate degree(s), and so forth. Despite this, still select a program that is going to capture your interest and not leave you questioning as you continue down the path if you should have gone with security over what you end up choosing.

A final bit of advice if I may, try to not focus so much on time - especially if you're soon to be getting married. There is so much more to life than one's career and a lot of people focus far too heavily on their career and it makes it easy to neglect those we love. I'm not implying you would neglect your future wife, but just offering this bit of input because I went through a similar path where I went to school after I was married and made a strong focus on my career. I ended up focusing too strong on my career and enabled myself to do so partly out of justification that I was working hard to advance my career and help my family in the long term with more money. In my case, that only helped contribute to a failed marriage. So I just like to point this out now and then to hopefully prevent others from perhaps falling into the same trap I did since it was pretty easy to fall into for me at least - and not a situation I realized I was in until it was too late.

Pilotreborn

msteinhilber wrote: »

First of all, congrats on the up-coming marriage!

On to your topic, I think the absolute best decision you can in regards to your schooling be it a decision on which school, which program, or whatever it may be - is to consider first and foremost what direction you wish your career to take and what it is you hope to gain from your education. Time to completion, cost involved, personal sacrifices, and so on - are all important factors to consider when making a decision affecting one's career and should certainly be considered - but I think what it is you wish your career to be and what it is that you wish to get out of your career are and should always hold the most weight simply because if you're not happy with you career and what it provides you, then you're going to be even more unhappy if you invested a lot of time and money or made a lot of personal sacrifices to each that point in your career.

That being said, we're only talking about a bachelor's degree here. What program you decide to pursue honestly isn't exactly going to shape your career. You'll be able to work on that through your future employment experience, certifications, graduate degree(s), and so forth. Despite this, still select a program that is going to capture your interest and not leave you questioning as you continue down the path if you should have gone with security over what you end up choosing.

A final bit of advice if I may, try to not focus so much on time - especially if you're soon to be getting married. There is so much more to life than one's career and a lot of people focus far too heavily on their career and it makes it easy to neglect those we love. I'm not implying you would neglect your future wife, but just offering this bit of input because I went through a similar path where I went to school after I was married and made a strong focus on my career. I ended up focusing too strong on my career and enabled myself to do so partly out of justification that I was working hard to advance my career and help my family in the long term with more money. In my case, that only helped contribute to a failed marriage. So I just like to point this out now and then to hopefully prevent others from perhaps falling into the same trap I did since it was pretty easy to fall into for me at least - and not a situation I realized I was in until it was too late.

Thank you for your advice. And I would never want to neglect my wife, and I understand how important it is to balance all things in life. This is part of the reason of why I want to get the degree finished within a year and a half, so that once we are married I want have to focus on getting that done in addition to working full time and spending time with my wife and adjusting to all the new things involved with being newly married. I will just be able to focus on her and our relationship and my job.

And as far as what I want from my education and where I want my career to go. Im fairly young, im 21. So im not entirely sure, I mostly want the degree and certifications to be able to market myself to get a better job. Im a quick learner, I am currently working as a tier 1 support technician for a wifi company. And I got this job to get my foot in the door to the tech world. So I was hoping that between my work experience hear and with my degree and certifications post graduation I will be able to get a decent job. I would like to work as a network admin, or in more of a management position similar to tier 3 or a equivalent position. I understand there are steps with work experience to get to wherever I want to go. So thats why I was hoping to get some advice from you all on the best path a choice to make in this situation.

Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it.

it_consultant

What is your wife-to-be pursuing at Oxford? My understanding is that not just anyone can be admitted there.

Pilotreborn

She is a Psychology Major, she is finishing up her undergraduate at Oglethorpe University here in Atlanta. This school has a close connection with Oxford because it is designed after it and the founder of the school went to Oxford.

Pilotreborn

So based on my situation and my future career desires. What do you think the best path would be for me? Im leaning towards just getting the BSIT and letting my career build from there, because that would be the fastest way to start marketing myself.
Thoughts?

tbgree00

With one year experience in IT it's pretty hard to decide on a specialization. It takes time, exposure, and finding interest. That said I would suggest going with the plain degree. If you can compare the programs and see any overlap you should try to start there just in case you decide that you really like network or security. It has taken me three years to really decide what I'm interested in. I took a lot of tests and deployed a lot of stuff at work before I really found my stride.

So yeah, do the BSIT and see if anything else catches you. If you can do units that work for any/all of them first all the better just in case you really liked networking or security.

SteveLord

Get your feet wet some more until you decide what you really like to do and want to know more about. You can excel, enjoy and earn well in just about anything.

Turgon

it_consultant wrote: »

What is your wife-to-be pursuing at Oxford? My understanding is that not just anyone can be admitted there.

Your not kidding. Astonishing grades or influence helps. There are inside tracks that can make it easier on you if you are connected to the right professor, school or ambassador. The latter was advice a foreign student gave me years ago.

I had a sabattical at Cambridge University in 1995. Nice places to visit and study at.

Turgon

Pilotreborn wrote: »

So based on my situation and my future career desires. What do you think the best path would be for me? Im leaning towards just getting the BSIT and letting my career build from there, because that would be the fastest way to start marketing myself.
Thoughts?

How long are you and your wife planning on being the UK together. What accomodation will you seek? If your wife has a bursary she may be able to pay for halls residence. I believe the colleges do have accomodation for married couples but dont expect much and the prices would be high. You can rent privately but Oxford is expensive. The place is full of international students and some of them have plenty of money behind them.

Are you planning on working in IT to bring in a wage while your wife studies? If so your short term study goals may be better placed helping you get some work over here. Have you checked out the work permit requirements? There are IT companies sprinkled around Oxford so there could be some work for you there depending on what you can do.

Pilotreborn

Turgon wrote: »

How long are you and your wife planning on being the UK together. What accomodation will you seek? If your wife has a bursary she may be able to pay for halls residence. I believe the colleges do have accomodation for married couples but dont expect much and the prices would be high. You can rent privately but Oxford is expensive. The place is full of international students and some of them have plenty of money behind them.

Are you planning on working in IT to bring in a wage while your wife studies? If so your short term study goals may be better placed helping you get some work over here. Have you checked out the work permit requirements? There are IT companies sprinkled around Oxford so there could be some work for you there depending on what you can do.

We would just be in the UK for a year +/- a few months because her masters is a one year program, and yes I would be working in IT while she is going to school, and we were looking into apartments nearby to stay at.

And what do you mean exactly by "If so your short term study goals may be better placed helping you get some work over here."?

I have looked some into the work visa's and it doesnt seem like it will be a problem for 1 year.