degrees

[bishopsgarthstockton]

I would stay clear of degree. I went to Uni for about a month when i decided a computing degree was a waste of time. I left uni to study from home.

 

I started with the easy stuff and did Comptia A+ and N+

 

after that i went on to do the 70-270 exam MS XP and now im working on the 70-290 Slowly working towards MCSE. as well as im doing the CISCO CCNA course at local CLC £500.

 

Im happy i jacked uni in, i have got loads more experience and probably better qualified than some one with a graduate degree.

 

stay well away from thouse companies that offer IT training, i went down that route and they went bust. i had to pay back my loan. Its cheaper and easyer to go out and buy the books. Also emule has plenty of testOut videos to watch.

[budgester]

I would stay clear of degree. I went to Uni for about a month when i decided a computing degree was a waste of time. I left uni to study from home.

 

Being part way through a OU Computing degree (Started it at 31), I'm gonna disagree with you here.

 

I've worked in IT since I was 20, and thought that degrees were worthless as some of the graduates I'd worked with were clueless. However if you put experience together with education, then things start to get interesting.

 

The degree part is introducing me to concepts that in the past I would have passed over. As an example I didn't really 'get' Object Orientated programming and all the fun stuff with testing, boundry checking until I did the course, before that I was very much a nike coder (just do it). But now I have options.

 

Logic trees, binary searching, stacks vs arrays and many other weird computing theory things.

 

And of course there is the writing element. By writing degree level assignments you learn a lot about how to get ideas across and answer questions with relevant information.

 

So don't knock degrees, however they only seem to get interesting in what would be the second and third year of a full time degree course. The first year seems to be just getting everyone up a to level to do the second and third year.

 

Regards

 

Budgester

[kingswood]

I agree with Budgester.

 

Discounting the value of degrees *with* experience could be a dangerous career move.

[bishopsgarthstockton]

budgester

 

and thought that degrees were worthless as some of the graduates I'd worked with were clueless

 

That was one of my main concerns

[Lee_K_81]

I agree with Budgester and kingswood, as a graduate myself when I left uni I found it very, very difficult to get a job, as i had no experience. I ended up taking a job as a technician, which was advertised as only needing BND / HND qualifications. 6 Candidates were interviewed, all graduates. I thankfully got the job.

 

Since starting here I have moved up very fast, replacing my former boss as Systems Manager, when he left 18 Months after i started. I think the thing to remember is a uni degree / OU degree with teach you the theory behind things, so while they may not teach anything you go and use tomorrow, you know the theory behind it. It also shows a determination.

 

Although somebody without a degree may also progress very high, maybe even higher than some graduates (because some are REALLY thick), you may find you hit a glass ceiling, especially when good graduates catches up on you with the experience and professional certs.

[bishopsgarthstockton]

the A+ and N+ talked me the basics, pluss from an electronics engineering background, i personally feel i made the best decision.

 

may be in a few years time i may consider looking at doing an OU computer degree.

[budgester]

the A+ and N+ talked me the basics, pluss from an electronics engineering background, i personally feel i made the best decision.

 

may be in a few years time i may consider looking at doing an OU computer degree.

 

The OU degree is hard work, not technically hard, you just have to get used to doing assignments on deadlines. I'm personally end up doing the reading a week before the deadline and spending two evenings doing the assignment.

 

Which reminds me I've got an assignemt coming up at the start of feb, must start the reading.

 

Regards

 

Budgester