Have you got a degree?

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I got an essay to write and I need a poll so you the lucky guys! Question is simple:

Have you got an IT-related degree, if so what is it? Also do you think the industry values you more because of your degree and did it help with finding jobs?

Thanks guys!

 

Sparky you got a degree AND a masters....

 

dont take this the wrong way but im not a big fan of master's... i think companies were right to turn you down... a degree is one thing a masters is another... i can see how they looked at you finding jobs borning but sparks this is my take on it and i hope you dont get offended.

edit: for 291 dont think its a normal ms exam... 3 months for me 5 hours a day wasnt enough... you need at least 4-5 for this beast, so much material then you reach routing and remote access and you go - ok! best of luck and shout if you need any help- put to RRAS that is!

 

No I don't have a degree in fact I have no school qualifications at all, not even an 11 plus or a CSE to my name. I left that hell hole otherwise know as 'school' at age 15 before sitting my GCEs to get a job as an apprentice TV technician. Never looked back, once I rid myself of that so-called learning institution I began to actually start learning things. I attended adult education - night school at Croydon Technical College for 5 years, so by the time I was 21, I was a fully qualified Radio / TV and electronics tech with 6 years practical experience. Damn I was good for a young whipper snapper even though the pay sucked

Nobody I know of at that time (1969) progressed to a degree from Lanfranc School, most kids were lucky to get through that stage with their physical and mental well being in tact

Since then, most of my education has come from the university of life. 36 years working and never been unemployed, when I left the UK in 2001 I had a departmental managers job earning 50K and a BMW as a company car, so I don't think not having a degree has held me back one iota.

Now I work for myself and a degree is not a prerequisite in my business

 

I have a bachelor's degree in Computer Network Support (I also have a BA in Psychology and an MS in Counseling but I guess they don't count).

 

The man with the three degrees

 

I don't have a degree but I do plan to get one once I'm steady enough in my IT career. If all goes as planned it'll be a joint honors in psychology and philosophy.

 

I have an FdSc in IT Networking and am just starting a BSc (Hons) in Network Systems.

Has it helped me? In terms of employment - No. I terms of my knowledge and understanding of the subject - Yes, definately.

 

I dont have any degrees and I aint bothered about them...never like University anyway, only been there 6mths and most of the time I was in the computer room chatting in chat rooms...hehe...the way I see it its all about hands on experience not a piece of paper...lol...

 

I did a year of a Computer and Electronics degree and it got very boring very quickly. We were learning Java just as the rest of the world was waking up to the fact that Java wasn't going to be the next big thing after all. We were doing courses on the History of Computing going right back to Charles Babbage. In the electronics labs we were mainly soldering components onto circuit boards (something I'd already done two years of in a Design & Technology GCSE) and in the computer labs we seemed to spend most of the time doing thigs with Office. Yawn. Here's my year summed up:

Number of times I saw the inside of a PC=0
Number of times I saw anything to do with networking=0
Number of times I saw anything to do with anything "up-and-coming"=0
Number of things I learned that I could honestly say has helped me in employment=0

The problem is that most of the faculty were retired from industry and had one foot in the past.

At least some universities are waking up to the fact that degrees aren't helping people get jobs in IT and are including certs and the like as part of their syllabi.

 

Life story...

I started a degree in computer networking and dropped out after a couple of months.

Reason being: it was all theory work! no practicals what so ever and I'm thinking to my self "What is the point when employers are looking for experience?"

This wasn't the only main reason. All the course material was based around Cisco... no problem you say it'll help towards the CCNA... yup but the lectures were copying from the Cisco website and not really producing the work there self it was all copy/paste and they tell us not to do it for assignments and stuff?

What also didn't help was i did start doing the CCNA for a couple of weeks, and people were using calculators copying material from books etc to pass the exams on the Cisco website... So bisically people were cheating there way through the exams and not actually learning any of the material... the lectures were not paying enough attention.

The uni in question here is University of Greenwich at Medway. Not exactly a top uni but i would expect better!

When i dropped out of uni i decided to see if i could go back to college and do a HNC in Computing (Higher National Certificate) and managed to get in. Reason for doing so was because i had a few friends on the course and had nothing else to fall back on. I also knew the college would provide practicals, labs etc.

So now I'm doing a part time course whilst in an IT company (Company agreed to me doing a part time course). I'm also spending time studying towards Certs that i feel is a lot better then what they would have teached at uni... because i get to actually follow stuff in books and actually do practicals!

I don't regret dropping out of uni, hell I'm glad i didn't waste 3 years of my life in a uni that i hated, sure i could have transfered etc but i had a enough.

This may bite me in the arse in the future and maybe wish i did a degree.. but I'm hopeing my HNC will make up for some of it.

Thats my life story and experiences.

 

i nearly went to greenwich! yeah a degree is out dated but something you all missing is that it teaches you soft skills and these are things people expect IT people to have today

 

here is my story:

Basicaly finished high school and got my diploma, I then went to a college where I studied commerce but I didnt finish it, I still have 1 year left so I'll probably go back later down the line since I am so close to finish. Anyways I left college because I found something that interests me more a more, plus it was an intensive course, kind of like trade school, I pretty much did microcomputers and network support course for 16 months including a 2 month stage and thank god, and I mean thank god I was able to land this amazing job that I have now. I dont do help desk but I actualy deal with hardware and servers inside the company.

So in my opinion a degree in IT does mean something for sure, but its not necessary to have in order to be successful.

 

What kind of soft skills?

I'm in my 5th year at college previously done a GNVQ, BTEC and now a HNC in IT... The amount of stuff i have learnt has so far been useful especially System Analyst, which was teached a lot...

Is a degree just more in depth on the skills such as System Analyst but taken to the extreme?

 

I think that it is more the soft skills that you learn whilst doing academic study than the course that you are doing.

The academic approach to learning can get you more involved in the learning process than the sole persuit of certifications can. For instance academic study (regardless of the course) involves working in a team, pesenting your findings, etc, all so called soft skills that will serve you well in the workplace.

 

personally my degree didnt help me one bit in finding a job, it was a mixture of cert and previous experience (which was only 2 months) that got me a job...i think if its IT support job, most of the degrees dont teach u anything about it, certs and previous experience does! On the other hand if u r aiming for something in programming, degree is the way to go...