IT Degrees

[JustWannaBeHuge]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if you can help me out here... I'm back in school now and majoring in finance, however I'm looking at IT as well. Just knocking out the pre-reqs.

The thing that is confusing me, when I go to the school's website, there's several degrees for IT. Not knowing much about the industry, what is the big difference between these degrees? Are the same career paths open for each degree? Would anyone know?

Sorry if this isn't the right forum to ask this

Undergraduate Programs - Students - UMUC

•Computer and Information Science
•Computer Networks and Security
•Computer Science
•Information Systems Management

 

[Aliendogstar]

I've been in IT my whole life and went to school for Management of Information Systems. College had very little to do with my career in IT. It certainly doesn't teach you to work in this field. It's like what someone said in another thread....it's all about PASSION. If you don't have a passion for technology, it probably isn't going to appear out of nowhere. I have a friend that went into this field just because it paid well. He bullshitted his way into getting a job and ended up performing poorly and got fired. So, if you have a knack for technology and are a knowledge seeker and have excellent troubleshooting skills...you could do well. If not, find your passion. With that being said....you asked which path is best?

Information Systems Management - Too broad and general...you'll be qualified to do jack shit

Computer Science - Logical and math oriented. Good programming degree

Computer Networks and Security - Analytical and process oriented. Good degree. Get your Cisco CCIE afterwards and you'll stay employed for life.

Computer and Information Science - Too broad and general...you'll be qualified to do jack shit

I may be biased. I find more value in being a skilled professional as opposed to a generalist like a systems analyst.

Computer Networks vs. Computer Science = Most aren't good at both. I'm not a programmer. I'm involved in the networking side of things. Actually, SAN and NAS to be specific. You don't strike me as a programmer based on your personality...but you never know. I would never guess Osiris to be a programmer....he's too extroverted or at least seems to be.

I don't think I helped very much....kind of all over the place. Hence, why I'm not a good programmer.

 

[JustWannaBeHuge]

Thank you!

 

[JustWannaBeHuge]

thanks for your input as well! It's appreciated.

 

[Curiousity]

If you are going back to school for finance, it might be nice to dip your toe into programming for nothing else than automating the mindless work and calculations that you encounter regardless of what field you end up in. Not with your college classes though...

I'd recommend trying out Udacity's 101 class. It is an introduction class using the Python scripting language. Python is fairly straight-forward and clean language; in addition, it is a high-level language which takes care of the low-level details of programming (memory management, garbage management, etc.) I just took a peek and it looks like python has some financially focused libraries available too. (Programming language libraries = some people already created a lot of functions so you don't have to)

Udacity is completely free and has several self-paced classes all focused on learning using Python as the tool of choice. The only "hard point" on the schedule is the test happens every 8 weeks, but you can take it whenever you want to.

**broken link removed**

 

[joeboo]

Computer Networks and Security - Analytical and process oriented. Good degree. Get your Cisco CCIE afterwards and you'll stay employed for life.


Spot on. This is my degree. I am not a CCIE, but very highly Cisco Cert'd.

If I lose my job this afternoon, I'll have the pick of five to start tomorrow. Be sure to pursue your Certs while in school and get as much experience in your targeted field as you can. Internships are good and volunteer work is abundant as there are plenty of charities out there that can't afford outside engineering. Build your resume BEFORE you get to the job market and your road is paved! G/L

 

[Shade_star]

Here is my advice - I've been in IT since 17 years old (now 33).
I got my degree in computer science but I know network security, infrastructure, San's, database, etc.
I'm currently an assistant vice president and officer for a large bank. Ive been in executive management since I was 25 and the biggest thing I learned was not the technical side.... You can teach network security to a monkey but it's the business end I see my employees lacking. You need to know the tech side but to be successful merge that with the business needs and you'll have a job for life.

Shade

 

[dempc]

Here is my advice - I've been in IT since 17 years old (now 33).
I got my degree in computer science but I know network security, infrastructure, San's, database, etc.
I'm currently an assistant vice president and officer for a large bank. Ive been in executive management since I was 25 and the biggest thing I learned was not the technical side.... You can teach network security to a monkey but it's the business end I see my employees lacking. You need to know the tech side but to be successful merge that with the business needs and you'll have a job for life.

Shade

This is true.. I can speak from being on the technical side of things. The ones who are the most successful are the ones that can carry a conversation outside of 1's and 0's ...you have to be able to communicate in dollars and cents to the business side so that they can understand the value that IT brings to the business.. what you cost them, etc...

Good post

 

[JustWannaBeHuge]

Thank all of you for your input, I start class this Monday, will be going to school full time and working full time, I'll also look at the certs and see how I can work them into my schedule, may have to wait until I can knock out 2 semesters before I do the certs though.

Thank all of you again!

 

[portman1]

I'm starting my last year going for a degree in Management of Information Systems. I agree with Aliendog.. I have only touched the water on a lot of stuff(2 sap courses, 3 java, 4 excel, 2 analyst classes + all the business classes that go with a business degree). I feel comfortable with most of the stuff I've learned, but nothing near enough to go into a job and use it lol

 

[jack of all]

Been in it for almost 20 years. Everyone that is successful in it that I know do not have degrees at all. Colleges are too slow to keep up with the changing technologies. My best skills that allowed me to stay employed and well paid are, learn quick, have a natural troubleshooting ability, and can communicate technical speak to non technical people.

I am no programmer, I have always done system engineering with Microsoft and Citrix systems. The only reason I would need a 4 year degree is to be a manager which I have zero desire to manage technical people, they are the worst. My current jib requires a degree but I had the skill, the certifications, and the experience so the degree didn't mater.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

[JustWannaBeHuge]

Been in it for almost 20 years. Everyone that is successful in it that I know do not have degrees at all. Colleges are too slow to keep up with the changing technologies. My best skills that allowed me to stay employed and well paid are, learn quick, have a natural troubleshooting ability, and can communicate technical speak to non technical people.

I am no programmer, I have always done system engineering with Microsoft and Citrix systems. The only reason I would need a 4 year degree is to be a manager which I have zero desire to manage technical people, they are the worst. My current jib requires a degree but I had the skill, the certifications, and the experience so the degree didn't mater.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

I'm pretty technical as I used to work with video equipment, and switchboards, setting them up and working them. So I'm pretty good with that, IMO, i think I could learn how to do most things with just hands on, but the area I'm in, most places are a requirement with a 4 yr degree.

My brothers fiance said that after I finish up and have that degree, she'll be able to get me into her job and I'll be making a nice income, but with how the things are now, she can't get me a job without the degree.

 

[JustWannaBeHuge]

I'm starting my last year going for a degree in Management of Information Systems. I agree with Aliendog.. I have only touched the water on a lot of stuff(2 sap courses, 3 java, 4 excel, 2 analyst classes + all the business classes that go with a business degree). I feel comfortable with most of the stuff I've learned, but nothing near enough to go into a job and use it lol

Good luck, I'm sure you will do great!

I have about a year and a half left due to having a lot of credits from before when I was in school.

 

[LMR]

Nice reply Aliendogstar. You hit this one on the nose. Im the posterboy for this comment. I have a degree in law only. I worked in hosting companies since the 90's doing graphic design. I was sent to seminars on adobe and web programs. Working in a team we had to learn each others lingo and communicate what we need from each team member to make a site work. I picked up on cart systems and back end work with a passion. I have no college education in IT. I worked around IT specialists and with them for so damn long I picked it up like a fat kid in chocolate factory.

I really like what I do trouble shooting comes easy to me. I've worked on several sponsors cart systems here and completely rebuilt databases from front end to back end. Im the guy you come to when your IT guy cant get the job done. It's all about passion and loving to learn technology. I've mastered zencart, opencart, prestashop mostly because they are all based on a PHP engine.

I've been in IT my whole life and went to school for Management of Information Systems. College had very little to do with my career in IT. It certainly doesn't teach you to work in this field. It's like what someone said in another thread....it's all about PASSION. If you don't have a passion for technology, it probably isn't going to appear out of nowhere. I have a friend that went into this field just because it paid well. He bullshitted his way into getting a job and ended up performing poorly and got fired. So, if you have a knack for technology and are a knowledge seeker and have excellent troubleshooting skills...you could do well. If not, find your passion. With that being said....you asked which path is best?

Information Systems Management - Too broad and general...you'll be qualified to do jack shit

Computer Science - Logical and math oriented. Good programming degree

Computer Networks and Security - Analytical and process oriented. Good degree. Get your Cisco CCIE afterwards and you'll stay employed for life.

Computer and Information Science - Too broad and general...you'll be qualified to do jack shit

I may be biased. I find more value in being a skilled professional as opposed to a generalist like a systems analyst.

Computer Networks vs. Computer Science = Most aren't good at both. I'm not a programmer. I'm involved in the networking side of things. Actually, SAN and NAS to be specific. You don't strike me as a programmer based on your personality...but you never know. I would never guess Osiris to be a programmer....he's too extroverted or at least seems to be.

I don't think I helped very much....kind of all over the place. Hence, why I'm not a good programmer.

 

[myFriend]

You can't really go wrong with any in this arena. I like the idea of getting a "broad" degree that's more portable across the others such as Comp Sci.

 

[LMR]

I almost look forward to an issue so I can troubleshoot the problem and learn one more thing to add another tool in my tool box. Over the years of communicating with server admins, tech support, other specialists. I've managed to become quite the expert. I feel very comfortable in any server or back end shopping cart from all the experiences I've accumulated. I had a client with prestashop recently. I've never worked in this environment before. But because it was very similar to other cart systems like open cart. I took a look into the account and back end and discovered I could help this account with confidence and quickly. I like IT work very much. I get a high from going into a problem or a request and resolving the issue. Built up a lot of contacts through the internet to consult with and have become extremly resourceful. I've learned to make the internet a powerful tool for my benefit with out having to get a degree in IT. Although, I still think as this thread is getting me thinking. Would like to go back to college to look into atleast a certificate in IT just to have that as a credential and maybe learn something new I dont know yet.

Been in it for almost 20 years. Everyone that is successful in it that I know do not have degrees at all. Colleges are too slow to keep up with the changing technologies. My best skills that allowed me to stay employed and well paid are, learn quick, have a natural troubleshooting ability, and can communicate technical speak to non technical people.

I am no programmer, I have always done system engineering with Microsoft and Citrix systems. The only reason I would need a 4 year degree is to be a manager which I have zero desire to manage technical people, they are the worst. My current jib requires a degree but I had the skill, the certifications, and the experience so the degree didn't mater.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

[legaljuicer]

Been in it for almost 20 years. Everyone that is successful in it that I know do not have degrees at all. Colleges are too slow to keep up with the changing technologies. My best skills that allowed me to stay employed and well paid are, learn quick, have a natural troubleshooting ability, and can communicate technical speak to non technical people.

I am no programmer, I have always done system engineering with Microsoft and Citrix systems. The only reason I would need a 4 year degree is to be a manager which I have zero desire to manage technical people, they are the worst. My current jib requires a degree but I had the skill, the certifications, and the experience so the degree didn't mater.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

Ditto...no degree and I have been a IT manager for two differnt companies. Currently a Network Supervisor for a large Hospital.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[bomb401]

Just get an IT degree that has real programming classes or networking classes in it. Some IT majors just have crap classes - avoid those. Like everyone else here says most of what you need to know you will be teaching yourself anyway.

 

[kr0n0z]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if you can help me out here... I'm back in school now and majoring in finance, however I'm looking at IT as well. Just knocking out the pre-reqs.

The thing that is confusing me, when I go to the school's website, there's several degrees for IT. Not knowing much about the industry, what is the big difference between these degrees? Are the same career paths open for each degree? Would anyone know?

Sorry if this isn't the right forum to ask this

Undergraduate Programs - Students - UMUC

•Computer and Information Science
•Computer Networks and Security
•Computer Science
•Information Systems Management

Get the finance degree get a Database cert you be very employable that way. I went the IT degree route myself and have done well in the UNIX field but could have done the same with just the certs needed to do the job.

 

[anarchocapitalist]

I work in the IT dept of a college. I have no academic education in computers just certs.

My advice would be get a 2 year diploma and something like Cisco CCIE and you'll have a good career ahead of you.

If you can look for a smaller company where you can get your hands into a little bit of everything and see what you like.