Is it possible - associates degree in IT/ Cisco networking

I have no prior experience and little knowledge, but I am interested and in a position to take online courses. Would it be a mistake for someone like myself to try and obtain this degree?

I'm also looking for an affordable online school that could help me in this goal. I breifly played around with the university of phoenix, but for the 23 month class will run about 25,000.

any help, leads, suggestions, warnings, or how tos would be much appreciated.

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Legacy User

Just so you know online courses are not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of dedication and motivation. Do not expect anyone to hold your hand. Now that I got all of that out of the way you could get a degree at WGU its around ~$2800 per 6 month term. Depending on the program you choose you can get certifications and such out of it along with a bachelors degree. I highly recommend you take a course at straighterline to get a feel of the self study environment to find out if you have the drive before you make the leap and start piling on debt.

Also, when you say "someone like myself" what do you mean?

Khaos1911

Wow, that's expensive. We have a community college here in town that offers an Associates in Networking and they are a Cisco partner and offer the Cisco curriulum. I attended a little while before I realized networking/Cisco was boring and mundane as all hell to me. No offense, "Cisco warriors." Classes were about 300 bucks a couple years ago and you really did learn the material. Online would be tough for me, but you just have to find what works for you and if it's worth the investment.

Check and see if there are any Cisco academies nearby and how much that would run you.

gbdavidx

Its actually a lot cheaper then other online schools that cost 40-60k. It may be a good idea to take ge classes at community college that can transfer then do last 2 years at WGU, they should transfer and then it would only cost ~11,200 for roughly 2 years

alot of community colleges have evening/night classes as well as most popular may have an online option too

MsMcNett

Indeed, it is a lot cheaper than some of the more well known programs.

Hatch1921

I fully agree with the recommendations to research your area for a local CC which offers Cisco classes. I went this route and found it extremely beneficial, not to mention the costs were so much less than taking classes online with someone like U of P. The interaction with the instructor and students helped me gain knowledge I know I would not have been exposed to in an online course. Not to mention, being able to physically setup and use routers and switches in the lab is different than using packet tracer to simulate a network. Building cables... testing... hooking up the equipment and programming it... all things you just can't do online.

As mentioned above.. you might find out the Cisco path ins't for you... this will allow you to explore your options and it won't cost you an arm and a leg to do so. Plus, you might find out a Linux or Windows path is more to your liking. Again... something you wouldn't know by taking just Cisco classes online.

On the flip side... some people love online classes and it works for them. I've taken classes in house, online, and in a hybrid format. For me... in class has been the most rewarding...

Just my $.02
Frank

eansdad

2nd all of it...Look around for a Community College that is a Cisco Partner (Cisco's Network Academy). The local CC is and you get your AS in Networking and from taking the 4 courses from NetAcad you get a voucher to take either ICND1+2 (CCENT/CCNA) or direct CCNA exams. Since you are new to IT (No certs or exp) going straight to online might be a big mistake.

Poor Boy

thanks for all the replies!

when i said someone like myself, i meant someone with little knowledge and exp.

as far as finding local schools in my area... there are plenty, but i have 2 kids and my wife works at night and i have a full time day job. i do have all the freedom in the world with this job though. i am on call, but have to be in the building and even then, this job is slow. i do maybe an hours worth of work from each 40 hour work week. online classes would be ideal for someone in my position.

its funny someone brought up linux. i do have a bit of exp using linux and enjoyed it quite much. i also believe linux will be used more and more as we move on. ****, i work with a bunch of IBM guys and they are all complaining because at&t is making the switch in some departments which means they now have to learn it. where could i start if i were interested in the linux path? if it helps, i was approved for a little over 15k with financial aid.

NavyIT

Look at Coastline Community College online. I have an A.S. from there that reads "A.S. in Computer Networking: Cisco"

You take ICND 1-4 and do labs remotely. It was a good fit for me at the time, but looking back I would have rather just went for my B.S.

Good luck!

Poor Boy

thanks. ill check them out now.

SwitchingGears

I also took the Cisco Networking academy at the local community college; they changed the exam track last year during the middle of it, and I didn't take modules 3 & 4...so now I'll have to redouble my study efforts in order to pass the CCENT. It was a hybrid class, meeting once per week, with lots of reading and labs.

I'll say this, if you have a full plate, and it sounds like you do, do not get discouraged. I am older, with a family, and a full-time career, and I found learning IT is difficult, even in a classroom setting, mainly because my head is awalys someplace else (like, how I'm going to pay bills, kids homework and tons of other life responsibilities). But, what I'm finding is, you will find a niche that you enjoy, and that makes it easier to learn. So take different IT courses, networking is not for everybody. I dropped $3500 on forensics, only to learn it's not something I want to do as a career.

kohr-ah

My associates degree is Computer Internetworking Technologies. I think all together the degree cost me 7k.

The classes covered everything.
A+
Net+
Sec+
CCNA
You could take CCNP, I instead took digital forensics and there was a lot others.

The classes were either mid day or late night and the night ones were 8 weeks long each which made it easier and faster

eansdad

Poor Boy wrote: »

thanks for all the replies!

when i said someone like myself, i meant someone with little knowledge and exp.

as far as finding local schools in my area... there are plenty, but i have 2 kids and my wife works at night and i have a full time day job. i do have all the freedom in the world with this job though. i am on call, but have to be in the building and even then, this job is slow. i do maybe an hours worth of work from each 40 hour work week. online classes would be ideal for someone in my.

<---- 4 kids ... 15, 5 and 18 month old twins. Since the twins were born I've had 2 full time jobs while attending WGU (2nd last 4 months before I got burned out and guess I screwed up). Over the last year I've attended both community college (Army benifits paying me for it) and working on WGU. 7 classes left at WGU now, 1 class left at CC and signed up and paid for spring 1 at Stanley CC for VMware class. You would be surprised what you can do when you need to. I hate my current position and employer and all of this is to get to a better place so my wife and kids can have everything they want. Don't let family be the excuse. Remember life is what happens when your busy making other plans, so get out their and do what you need to to get where you want to be.

If you want to do WGU I would suggest taking your A+ and Security+ exams along with some Straightline courses to get a feel for self study online schooling. Some people just can't handle it. It sounds easy but self studying for all my classes has been a lot harder then going to a class.

Poor Boy

that is some sound advice and it looks like there might be some free courses out there that would assist in A+ and Security+. thanks!

CoolAsAFan

eansdad wrote: »

If you want to do WGU I would suggest taking your A+ and Security+ exams along with some Straightline courses to get a feel for self study online schooling. Some people just can't handle it. It sounds easy but self studying for all my classes has been a lot harder then going to a class.

+1 on this^.

Also, WGU allows you to accelerate your degree at no expense. This means you can take 4 classes for that $2800/term, or ALL of your classes (and everything in between) for the same $2800. For instance, I am still in my first term and will have finished 28 CU (~credits) and still only paid $2800. But as eansdad mentioned, you should "test the waters" so to speak to see if an online school is right for you.

SwitchingGears

eansdad wrote: »

<---- 4 kids ... 15, 5 and 18 month old twins. Since the twins were born I've had 2 full time jobs while attending WGU (2nd last 4 months before I got burned out and guess I screwed up). Over the last year I've attended both community college (Army benifits paying me for it) and working on WGU. 7 classes left at WGU now, 1 class left at CC and signed up and paid for spring 1 at Stanley CC for VMware class. You would be surprised what you can do when you need to. I hate my current position and employer and all of this is to get to a better place so my wife and kids can have everything they want. Don't let family be the excuse. Remember life is what happens when your busy making other plans, so get out their and do what you need to to get where you want to be.

If you want to do WGU I would suggest taking your A+ and Security+ exams along with some Straightline courses to get a feel for self study online schooling. Some people just can't handle it. It sounds easy but self studying for all my classes has been a lot harder then going to a class.

Wow, congrats to you, that's quite an age spread.