Need advice for IT education

[mindpilot]

Certifications and a Tech degree are WAY better in the Short Term...they give much better real life experience. A 4 year degree is a piece of Paper that is outdated by the time you want to use it, but it carries alot of weight with some large Corporations.

[bballad]

Originally posted here by machinehead
I'll take a well certified, experienced tech any time over someone with a degree. Just my 2 cents

Are you in HR? HR will useulay count a degree over anything besides 10 years of experience. If you can't get past HR you don't get a job

With out a degree you will very quickly hit a Plato in your career unless you are self employed. and you will never get chosen for a position vers some one with equal experience and a degree (the degree doesn’t have to be in CS but it helps). In the current economy there are a lot of people with degrees and experience looking for work so you wont get a decent job without one. I agree if you are not going to be a programmer a CS degree seems like a waste, but I am not an HR rep...no one here is an HR rep, an HR rep wouldn't be able to figure out how to open a web browser let alone log into antionline but they control access to jobs. HR considers degrees all-important then certs then experience...its stupid, it sucks but its how life is.

Now I would suggest going to the least expensive school you can find (read a state school) but get the degree.

It took a friend of mine a year to find a job after getting laid off in 2001, he had 5 years of experience, MCSE NT and 2K, and CCIE...he didn't get a position until he finished his associates.

It took me 15 months to find a position after I got laid off, it’s at less pay then I was getting at my last job and I am A+, Network+, Server+, CNA Novell 5, CCNA, MCSA, MCSE 2k with 5 years of professional experience…certs are not all that great.

[vescovono]

contect IIIT hyderabad or IIT's in india they have some seats reserved for foreigners they are wordl class institutes and not too costly

Man I wish I would have known about that school before. I would have worked to get into there and/or MIT. 'Course I would have also had to have been a lot smarter, but oh well.

Overall I would say again the key is three-fold: formal (university) ed + certs (in your desired field(s)) + experience. Once you have those, then you have to stay current in IT with news, trade-rags, and more classes. It never friggin' ends, 'course we're geeks and that's what we do. Well, that and collect coffee mugs, pens, and t-shirts from vendors.

[noODle]

My advice is get some practise tests.
Find out what is your skill and move on with that.

The best way to learn things is first hand pratice so learn to hack what you are using. Books come in handy.
Visit:
http://www.transcender.com
http://www.certify.com/
http://www.mcseguide.com/

Best way to learn is like said 'first hand practice'. Get around with your box. Find every possible exploit.

[Kulay]

I think what matters most is what youve learned and not the degree matters. Here in our place, IT is a very high commodity for most establishments making our place an IT Hub in the entire country. Thats what they think. IT grads here doesnt have enough knowledge and comprehension to satisfy the needs of the employer. Its quiet sad though and to tell you the truth, I know IT grads here dont even know how to make C\C++ programming or even understand simple HTML codes...

[D0pp139an93r]

The degree is of course important, but it's not the only thing. If a company sees that you can do something, they can usually get around not having a Bachelors.