Perusing Bachelors Degree And Certifications?

Hello, I have been surfing the forums here and gaining some insight into the different certifications as I am looking to pick up a couple. I just finished my second year at Penn State and am perusing a Bachelors degree in Information Sciences and Technology. To complement my degree, I have been thinking of getting some certifications. Does this sound like a good idea? Are there any certifications that you guys would recommend looking into over others?

I have not totally decided what specific career path within I want to get into yet.

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N2IT

Hoffer wrote: »

Hello, I have been surfing the forums here and gaining some insight into the different certifications as I am looking to pick up a couple. I just finished my second year at Penn State and am perusing a Bachelors degree in Information Sciences and Technology. To complement my degree, I have been thinking of getting some certifications. Does this sound like a good idea? Are there any certifications that you guys would recommend looking into over others?

I have not totally decided what specific career path within I want to get into yet.

Depends on what you want to do. I wouldn't start down the path of certification until you discover a passion. Networking, System Adminstration, Database Development, Developer, ITSM, Helpdesk, etc

IMO focus on school and the pleasures it brings. Keep your grades up, work extremely hard, and have fun. Attend job fairs and make sure you get internships. You have your first year out of the way no more excuses get an internship with a corporation. Best thing you can do to be honest.

I'll bullet it out to make it easy.

1. Get good grades and learn the material well
2. Network with other people including the professors
3. Get an internship with a large corporation if possible. If not get one at any company. Try to get one in a high level department. With a degree from Penn State I would be open to travel for an internship. It's critical and it can and will save you the pain and suffering that many of us go through when we hit the helpdesk, some never escape. Leverage the quality of education and your flexibility to travel and you will be a star.

Good luck with your journey.

***Note I just noticed you completed your second year. It's do or die time now. You must have an internship your 3rd year. Trust me it's ultra critical. Make sure you get into a large corp if at all possible.

JMHO

ChooseLife

Hoffer wrote: »

I have not totally decided what specific career path within I want to get into yet.

Career-wise, until you make the decision, any cert has a potential of turning into wasted money. Knowledge-wise, I don't believe in such thing as unnecessary/unneeded knowledge, so anything you learn will benefit you.

Now I'll move out of the way and let others praise Comptia...

hiddenknight821

N2IT wrote: »

IMO focus on school and the pleasures it brings. Keep your grades up, work extremely hard, and have fun. Attend job fairs and make sure you get internships. You have your first year out of the way no more excuses get an internship with a corporation. Best thing you can do to be honest.

Amen to this! This is what I did. When I was in high school, I took a few computer programming courses, because I thought I would like it since I was aspired to do some computer stuff after attended a 4-week "computer-science" camp the summer after my junior year. The camp was okay. I figured it was not so great or reinforcing since I didn't do pretty well in my programming classes in high school. Didn't really understand squats and got away with it.

So, I decided to go to college that will broaden my horizon of what I may be dealing with in the future. After a while, I started fall in love with problem solving in programming, but then I realized I'm not the kind of person sitting in the front of the screen 24/7, excels in Calculus, or appreciates the art of physics. I need to get my hands dirty. So, just stay in school, and get good grades, so you can get better chance of getting internship offers.

Hoffer

Thank you for the insight. I didn't mention this in my original post, I am working at my second internship now.

veritas_libertas

ChooseLife wrote: »

Career-wise, until you make the decision, any cert has a potential of turning into wasted money. Knowledge-wise, I don't believe in such thing as unnecessary/unneeded knowledge, so anything you learn will benefit you.

I agree with this statement. Decide what you want before you go down the certification trail.

N2IT

Hoffer wrote: »

Thank you for the insight. I didn't mention this in my original post, I am working at my second internship now.

Excellent

Work on developing relationships and see if you can leverage your work experience into a full time position with that company. Nothing looks more sexy then coming out of a high end university into a middle level gig and then ascending.

You have a great opportunity.

Cisco Inferno

pick up an internship at the school or surrounding companies.

QHalo

I see nothing wrong with getting yourself foundational certifications like A+, Net+, etc as they are pretty universal and not terribly difficult if you have the time. But I wouldn't focus too much on those just yet.

Like others have said though enjoy school and what it has to offer. There aren't many things I regret in life but going away to school and enjoying the freedom of being on my own and have no other responsibilities other than school is something I wished I would have done. Personally I wouldn't start looking to certify if I had the time until I was close to the end of my degree.