Any IT Geeks Here?
 

I've been tossing around the idea of pursuing a degree in IT as a plan B. I've always thought it would be a good idea. While it's nothing that I have actively pursued in the past, I do feel it is an area of interest so it's nothing something I would hate to go to school for. I already a bachelor's degree in another area but, was wondering if you still need to take some other preliminary courses before starting this.

So I'm just opening the floor to anyone that wants to pitch some knowledge my way in regards to where I would get started, estimated costs, timeline and what types of salaries are out there depending on degree types. I believe there is Helpdesk, DSS and other types of jobs available.

-Alex

^^ What he said. This has been on my mind also. Pretty much identical situation.

I just graduated with a degree in Business Information systems. The degree focused heavily on business with just enough IT. If I would have done it all over again I would have majored in Computer Science because I learned during my internships and towards the end of my degree that I really like the technical side of IT such as programming, development, etc... I may try to make a move into development eventually. A degree like MIS (management information systems), CIS (computer information systems), or BIS (business information systems) will set you up essentially to be a systems analysts or something similar. Basically the liaison between the core business and developers. I graduated from TCU (tuition was free for me) and the department chair of the BIS major does not have enough students to fill positions for companies that come recruiting on campus. IT is not going anywhere. Software is always being developed, maintained or modified. Plenty of job security and opportunities, especially in the DFW area. As a fresh grad out of college I'm making great money (not going to post my salary here but lets say well over 55K), plus a nice sign on bonus, rent paid for six months, great benefits, grad school financial assistance, etc. The company I work for is great. I know some grads making 70K+ in consulting starting out. As far as tuition, I know places like UNT and UTA which have good programs cost around 4k per semester. What was your undergrad in? The department chair of my major had an undergrad degree in Botany, lol.

I feel like Steve is in the IT realm as well. Maybe he can chime in.

I graduated with a bachelors in Business Management and Marketing when I was your age kiddo lol. I couldn't tell you what my associates was. A fellow co-worker of mine, actually one of my ex's friends works in IT now doing Helpdesk stuff making about the same as me and I have been there for over 7 years:lewx4:.

I spoke with her about it briefly, just doing some ground work. As you can tell, it's been a few years since I have been in school so the whole process isn't exactly fresh. Since I do have a bachelor's already, would you say that I may have already completed some "pre-requisite" courses (math, science, language, etc) that you need to do prior to actually jumping right into the course work for IT?

-Alex

I've been doing it for a long time. Great field to get into, but you'll need to specialize these days. The era of the "many hats" IT guy is over.

A computer related degree will likely not help you much at all. Experience and certifications go much farther with prospective employers. Security is, has been, and always will be, a hot field. Virtualization is another hot field, and that's what I do. My current project is VMware's Horizon View virtual desktop product. I've rolled out 350 desktops on two different environments, for users in FtW, Houston and Buenos Aires, all managed here locally. We'll be expanding the usage to include most everyone on the FtW campus over the next year, so that will be approx. 2500 users. It's a neat product, the newest version adds hosted applications via RDS farms, and it tickles the bosses when you show them you can save the company (in our case, anyway) about 3 million dollars every 3 years by doing away with hardware refreshes.

The bottom line is, it's good clean work, no real physical side to it, can be stressful at times, the pay will be decent when you start out (and you'll probably start out in Help Desk) and if you play your cards right, the pay gets much better (mine has ranged from $10.00 an hour as a part time help desk tech right out of school, to $65k a year as a network admin, to more than twice that now as a VMware admin). You'll get to work with cool technology and seriously weird co workers. The hours can be long, depending on the project (Disaster Recovery time, end of business year, things like that) and other times, it feels like a 3 day work week. But, like anything else, you need to want to do it, to have a passion for the work. Without that, it will get boring with a quickness.

Help desk would get boring to me. I would hate answering phones. Yeah, depending on where you graduated from, I'm sure quite a few credits would transfer over. Depending on what route you go, especially CS, you will probably need Calc 1 bare minimum for IT. CS would probably require higher level math courses other than just Calc 1 and 2. Have you though about just applying for a job at a tech company? Once you get a little experience in an IT project or a tech type job you could just learn on the job and move around within the field. I know plenty of IT people that started off in engineering, accounting, general business, or even in totally unrelated fields like history. Maybe take a few java courses and a PM class if you can without needing tons of prereqs.

Installs. Lol.

Yes, a CS degree requires way more math than calc 1&2. I know because I have an EE degree. IT would be a lot easier than a CS degree, but there are many more job opportunities and a higher base salary for a CS major.

Doing CS would be like starting all over again. Sounds like IT is your better bet.

I will say this much, it depends on what area of IT you're talking about getting into for your career. Just saying "IT" paints a very broad brush.
It can be anything from entry level helpdesk stuff to network engineering, or coding/programming, network security and so on.

Degrees? Certifications > degrees.

A degree can get you in the door at certain companies, but more often than not it's your knowledge/ability is more important. Those current certifications are vital. Master your area you choose to be in which ever side you choose to be on. (hardware/software) Also, don't stop learning. In the IT field, it's very important to be up to date on your knowledge and skills. It's all too common for some IT people to get too comfortable in one area, making a decent living, only to find themselves outdated before they know it. I know some coders who didn't even make it through high school who are making over $200k a year.

Right now, the hot area is network security. With all of the networks that have been hacked you have seen on the news (Target, Wal-Mart etc) the field is on fire because companies are scrambling to prevent a PR disaster. (But to be honest here, ALL major Fortune 500 companies have been hacked to some degree at this point.)

I've been in IT since right after high school (1999) and never got a degree. I started out in a small business, then kept moving up and now work for a big ass bank. When I started I was THE IT guy, it was just me. As mentioned earlier those days are over unless you're good making 30-40k at a small company. It's been said many times already security and programing are very hot and will never go away.

I myself hate programing/writing code so I focused more on the infrastructure/security side. You need certificates, then you're at least in the door, but a guy with no certs and 2 years experience will likely still get the job over a guy with certs but no experience.

I currently (and for the last 5 years) am focused only on application delivery, security, and infrastructure specializing in F5 products. There is a massive shortage of people who actually know and understand these boxes, we need many more people. Jobs for that stuff will start around $65-75K and go WAY up from there. Let me know if you want some insight to where to start on that stuff, but it can be learned at home with VM editions and some studying.

Discrete Math....I have a BSIE and I took almost every math/physics they had to offer including all Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Statics, Dynamics, Thermo. etc. I had more difficulty understanding Java and C++ than any of the math that I took. But after I took Discrete Math my senior year all of the computer courses made perfect sense.

That was a long time ago. I probably couldn't do any of that math to save my life without pulling out a calculator or opening a spreadsheet. What a waste of money...

Any IT Geeks Here?
 

I'm usually pretty good at "pluggin and chuggin" when I have a formula sitting in front of me but I'm glad I didn't waste my time after hearing this from several people. I feel like none of that is needed for most dev jobs unless they're writing autopilot software for some sophisticated fighter jet.

Coding takes a certain type of personality. It can be very tedious and frustrating at times. One little error in a line can throw everything off so attention to detail is a must have with coding/programming. I just look at it like a big puzzle trying to be put together.

Like has been said, you really need to pick a specialty. I can answer any questions you may have about the security side of it.