What Level Of Education? College or Tech school?

okay ... im in my senior year of highschool now and im not sure what to do next... i know i want to further my education in the computer field and make a living out of it. Im curious from u older members that have finished most thier education and to tell me thier biggest mistakes they made in thier education or the best thing they did to give us younger members ideas of the right path to take.

some of my biggest questions are 4 year college or tech school?
what jobs uve had and what job do u currently have?
what was ur biggest educational mistake?
what was ur best success story bout ur education?
any additional info ud like to pass on to the youth of the computer world

Thanx for all that give positive responses to this post.. please dont waste our time and ur own with negative replys.

_NetSyN_

NetSyn:

I am currently finishing off my Sophomore year of college, and I'd have to say tha which school you go to depends on what you want to do with your life, and what you want to learn there. If you enjoy the administration side of things the most, and you don't know a lot about it, you might want to consider technical school. If you enjoy mathematics and theories of computation then go to college for computer science or engineering. If you would rather be a product manager you might want to go to college for IT or MIS. I'll tell you right now you will learn very little, if any, system administration skills from college courses. Very few colleges have courses in computer/network security, or computer/network administration.

Personally, my advice is to go to a college where you enjoy the environment and the people, and study something that truly interests you. As I stated earlier, if your interests fall into IT, MIS, or Computer Science/Engineering, then take those courses, but make sure you are in all the way. I'm a computer science major, and I've certainly been taken by suprise by the sheer amount of mathematics that is involved in a computer science degree. Not just math requirements, but there are a number of CS courses that are escentially high level math courses (I'm taking one now called 'Models of Computation' which is all about langauges and automata theory). The reason you should really go to college is because when you are up for a promotion to manager, or director, and you are going up against an equally qualified peer, the person with the formal education wins. Not just because of the piece of paper, but because of the broad education that the paper comes with. Don't expect to get far in the corporate hierarchy without at least a BS or BA degree.

Regards,
Wizeman

This is my theory, having both a college education and many technical certifications. It takes a combo of both of these to get a good education. A lot of people just go after the certifications, but I believe that you learn more when you get a college education too. Just one fool's opinion though, make up your own mind.

Quote:

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Originally posted by NetSyn
some of my biggest questions are 4 year college or tech school?
what jobs uve had and what job do u currently have?
what was ur biggest educational mistake?
what was ur best success story bout ur education?
any additional info ud like to pass on to the youth of the computer world


_NetSyN_

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OK I'll give it a shot.
Jobs:
1. Breakin rocks in the hot sun (prison).
Very useful in learning patience.
When you ain't goin nowhere, you take it
one day at a time.
2.Auto mechanic.
Learned logic and diagnostic skills.
If you can't think logically, you can't find the
problem. If you can't find the problem, you can't fix it.
Also learned attention to detail. If you don't do it
right, it won't be right.

Biggest mistake:
Not going to college. Formal education opens doors.
Also, if you study, you might learn something.

Advice to young people in the computer world:
Learn Assembly language!
:cool:

Oh yea, forgot to mention my other stuff. I got my Cisco Certifications (CCNA, CCNP) this past year. I've had internships at Travelers Insurance Company (a member of Citigroup, HA, riiiight). I've also have, and currently still have, a job as a computer consultant at a firm in Albany, NY, near where I go to school.

Also, what is with everyone saying that assembly is the god-send to programmers? Sure, it is powerful, but it is hardly practical. I mean, there are many different types of assembly languages, all of which have different syntax and operations, not to mention that it is processor dependent code, in about 98% of coding situations. My advice to the next gen or computer geeks is: Learn a object oriented langauge as soon as possible. C++ and Java are where it is currently at, and the future seems to be pointing towards more Java. Assembly is very powerful, but should not be seen as the end all be all of programming. Sorry, but I needed to get that off my chest.

Regards,
Wizeman

I have a BS in computer science. Graduated not that long ago. I have done very well finically since graduating and love what I do. Currently, I am doing development work for a power company. Prior to that I did customer support and consulting for SAP. Since graduating I have always been full time and never a contractor. While in colleage I worked for Comapq in end user support (for $35 per call I helped you resolve 95/w3x problems) -this provided me with a great understanding of windoz. I also taught some lab classes (they say public speaking is important to get advancement in the business world).

I wish that I had spent more time learning GUI development for any platform. I would also have liked more database classess. I have thought about getting certified but not being certified as not hindered my career advancement.

I had a great time in college and would not trade it for anything.

Cheers,
-D

hmmm... this quick reply is a nifty addition!!

Well, I sit here at work reading the boards as I finish setting up another sendmail box. And I'm probably going to get flamed for this but hey... why not. Honestly, experience is the most demanded thing right now. Two years ago I was passed up for any job I went for (luckily I already had a career eh?) because I had no B.S. or tech certs. Now, I cant keep from getting calls due to my experience base (7+ years). I did finally get around to taking the A+ and MCSE tests (never took a class though) and am glad I did.

IMHO... go for both, college will teach you coding, and core stuff whereas tech is simply to make you (and your company) more marketable, most people dont learn much from the tech. Most people learn the most with Exp. but I would recommend deciding if you want to be "marketable", "knowledgeable", or good.

if you wanna be good... do all three, start with the college and tech, the exp will only come with time (there's no such thing as a 16 day experience crash course guys thats why it's so valuable!! you cant fake it).

Good question, definately something to think about. For me, I graduated from a four year university last year and landed a great job as a system administrator with great pay. I was an MIS graduate, which where I went to college that degree was half business related, half computer science related. There were many things that I have either taught myself or learned in college that are invaluable. I loved and hated the college experience at times, but in the end, it was definately worth everything that I put into it. I'd recommend that at a minimum, you get an associate's degree from a two year tech school. It'll at least get you in the door at some places. To be quite honest with you though, I would attend a four year university and major in either MIS or Computer Science. In either case, you get the background in computing that you need, a piece of paper saying you have that degree, and the broad education that comes from a four year university. Although I may have hated it at times, taking classes like Earth Science, Literature, etc. helped me in the end (Broadened my knowledge base)

Although it has already been mentioned, experience is key - some may ask, "this employer wants me to have experience to get this job, but how do I gain experience if I can't land a job in the first place." It is frustrating, but if you look hard enough, you'll get your foot in the door somewhere. You may have to work on the low end of the pole for the first year or so, but afterwords you'll move up in either that company or another.

The biggest mistake I probably made was not paying enough attention in college. There were plenty of times when I'd party too hard the night before class, not study for an exam, or generally just not give a damn about college. I wish now that I would have payed more attention to my studies and such, because some things that were taught in the college I'm having to relearn now.

Definately go to school, the four year degree will come in handy, belive it or not. After you get that degree, then go for some certifications.

Hope I could be of some help...