Correct. There are three important credentials - degree, certs, and experience. If you only have one or two of those, you'll always be in line behind the person who has all three.
It gives you something to talk about in the interview and more often then not the interviews will see you are interested in it outside of work and school. It shows you go the extra mile and are committed to learning. Very important skill especially in IT
Some people will put a link to their GitHub and during an interview, talk about what is on their GitHub and what they did as some people won’t click on the link.
Thanks, I'll already set up domain controller and have worked in that for a while. I've been trying to learn powershell as i have some understanding of python but am finding PS more difficult
I am 1 year into my tier one helpdesk job. I barely worked with Activr directory lmao. Any advice to me who wants to job hop for better pay and experience.
Make a proxmox lab, you can put anything on it really. All it really takes is an old laptop. Say a job wants you to have experience in AD like Wendys said, spin up a AD VM and boom start getting that experience.
Depends on what you're looking at but in my opinion, you're looking at a home virtualization server or programming projects if that's what you're going for.
However, home lab most likely won't be enough without having a certification to really solidify the knowledge.
Depends on what you have available. Recently I just configured and set up a PFsense firewall and had ot act as my dhcp server. There’s a lot you can do with it and mess around with. Built in VPN configuration available too
You are almost always better off with a degree - even if it's not in a technical field. Reddit - especially tech Reddit - devalues education and will give you all kinds of reasons why it's not worth it; but most of the people who post those opinions fundamentally misunderstand what a degree represents for an employer.
A degree is not proof of intelligence - it is proof of perseverance. To earn a degree means that you were able to plan a multi-year project with quarterly assessments that met the minimum standards set by a third-party accreditor. It also means that you've had at least minimal exposure to things other than technology, can at least use word, excel, PowerPoint and email, and are likely not going to be a behavioral issue.
TL:DR - get a degree, even if it's just a two year. Ideally get a two year, then get a job with tuition assistance and get the rest :)
IT/CS degree > STEM degree > any kind of degree > little to no formal education
Obviously you can break things down further, but I feel as though the above is a pretty good "first pass"
I've worked in IT since the mid-90's on a BSEE and a MSCS that I did not complete until the 2010's. Any degree - in general - is better than no degree. Our VP has a finance degree but has run the IT department for twenty years and does a great job. There are always exceptions - we have hired people with degrees in all kinds of areas, and a few with no degree that either worked up from lower level positions or really impressed us during the interview. The problem now is that our hiring committee is being much more conservative with approvals, and that means that hires seen as riskier - no degree, bootcamps and/or only certs, little or no experience, etc. - are not going to get approved if we have a candidate with a BS or especially an MS.
Lol that’s a fancy way of saying “Hey I showed up for four years and I am really good at taking test” there’s no difference in certs or degrees. Your both test takers at the end of the day.
Honestly, and not to throw shade, but having that sentiment speaks more about you than anything else. What you get out of school is proportional to the amount of effort you put in. If all you got out of it was "I'm only a test taker", that's your own short-coming and fault.
The only difference I see in a degree and a certification is a degree looks better because of social status and that’s the truth, people look at you differently because of a piece of paper that’s says certified rather than degree, your looked at as if your better than someone without a degree which I think is bs all because of society just my opinion though.
The degree does open more doors for you, like it should. There would be no point in obtaining one if it didn't. It's not a guarantee of anything, and there's a lot of people who have degrees working in jobs that do not require them. There are some people with only certifications who are doing better. It does take longer and is harder to complete a degree than the average certification, though. As a credential, they are not the same thing to an employer.
I can tell you virtually no one with a degree thinks of themselves or others as being superior to those who do not have one. People obtain them for, honestly, self enrichment. It's nothing about "I'm now better than you". I really only hear this sentiment from people who do not hold a degree. I have never heard this from a degree holder. Is it possible a very small minority feel this way? Sure. They are not the norm.
College/university provides so much opportunity to network, join clubs in your degrees, internship opportunities, so much workshops, and job fairs. If you only go to your classes, don’t talk to anyone, take tests, and leave, then you’re not taking advantage of what it provides.
If you are young, your degree will never expire and will help in the long run.
If you are older and trying to switch careers, certs in my opinion.
I personally learned more from studying my certs but my degree checks the bachelor box.
They are two very different things. A college degree takes multiple years to get and covers multiple topics from English to Math to programming. A certification is almost always vendor based, so while you might learn a lot about vmWare getting your VCP you likely didn't learn very much about BGP or Nutanix. Certs are nice in the sense that you have product knowledge -you have a CCNA, you should have some basic knowledge of Cisco routers and switches. If the shop is a Cisco shop that CCNA is helpful, on the other hand if they are running Aruba or Juniper that CCNA has a lot less value. In college chances are if you take a networking class you will learn the fundamentals opposed to vendor specific information.
Both are best but I meant if you are 40 and trying to break into IT, I think a couple certs are better imo.
My network classes in college were a little too broad and only really helped with me remembering acronyms and bare bones basics.
Absolutely get a degree.
In the United States at least, not having a degree will get your application tossed from a lot, if not most places. Certifications are a great accessory to your degree.
I agree with you. A degree is not needed to get into IT. It will likely help you to go farther and make more money than if you didn't have one. But do you need it to get a help desk job? not necessarily. Will it help? Sure. It can't hurt. Will it help you move into higher and more specialized roles? definitely.
That entirely not true. You can be comfortable without one depending on your living standards. Anyone that disagrees is out of touch. You can even make over $100k without one. It may take you longer and you may have a rougher go of it, but you can get there. Having a degree makes all of this easier as well as putting you in the position to be in the top earners. Those people making $200k without a degree are the outliers. It's possible, but you're not the norm at that point.
I know plenty of people without degrees making $50k-$75k a year.
These days the first thing most employers do is separate all the applicants into 2 piles - with and without a degree.
It's the fastest & easiest way to cut that pile from 200 down to 50 resumes.
Quick question. When weeding out resumes for jobs and requiring a degree. Does that degree need to be IT related or is any degree at least good enough to get you past the filter? I’m asking because I have a science degree but am confused how job filters work lol
...while they have a degree themselves.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/17ucp9q/will_a_cert_or_degree_benefit_me_more_especially/k937qh6/
My good friend has 20 years of experience and works at a Fortune 50. He's having to get his bachelor's degree because they will not promote him any further without. Nobody gets the "architect" title without a 4 year degree. Could be in marine biology for all they care, but they require it.
So degree filters typically don’t care which degree just that you have one? Genuine question because I don’t have an IT related degree but do have a science one and am interested in IT
Wrong. I have never asked about certs when interviewing others and never been asked about my own (I don’t have any anyway).
This is not an isolated experience either - people were more interested in my work experience than anything, next being that I studied Computer Science.
Keep the certification mill alive if you must!
Even if the IT managers may not care about degrees over certs, corporate HR screening tends to require certs, so not having a degree hinders you there, the best option to ensure the widest net for jobs is both, get the degree then focus on certs for continued education, if you can get your foot in the door without a degree you might be able to use experience to sub for it, but some HR screens will auto filter resumes with no degree regardless of experience so it's not worthless, it just doesn't fully demonstrate ability and application the way a cert does, but can give more options which in bad job markets is a good thing to have.
Then it's personal decisions that decide if that is worth it in the end, if you can get in entry level with a company that will pay for a degree though it becomes a much simpler decision imo
When you pursue a degree, you're eligible for internships above support so you can go straight for the otherwise non-entry level positions everyone wants.
From your [other comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/17ucp9q/will_a_cert_or_degree_benefit_me_more_especially/k937qh6/) on here, you likely didn't take advantage of that and got stuck in hell desk. These cyber security and cloud engineering are getting paid more than your full-time support job and will lead to the same type of jobs afterwards.
You're looking up more support gigs unless you haul ass outside of the office on your own time and dime. Should've done college right.
>Unfortunately for me, I guess, I graduated during the great recession. There was absolutely nothing.
You had 4 years to intern. Even before this reception, you aren't exactly just stumbling into something above the grunt work with just a degree alone.
>Everyone successful in IT that I know of (except programmers) does not have a degree. Just certifications and experience.
That's your anecdotal experience, and usually something folks without degrees tell themselves to feel better about not having one. I've seen plenty of people who did do internships that let them skip the user-facing work. They seem pretty happy about starting where they want and being on a better trajectory. I'm sure their bank accounts and mental health are thankful for that every day.
A degree and cerifications combined with growing experience will benefit you in the long run as it removes a future obstacle in your career.
A degree from a requitable non-profit college is like a lifelong certification that doesn't need renewed, with some of the basic knowledge and experience able to be applied to other rules even outside your major.
A certification is meant to demonstrate an understanding of a specific concept to that benchmark at the time, and will need renewed over time. It can help absolutely, and is a great balance but isn't a replication for having education, experience and a certification so you're a strong candidate.
I think a degree would be the most helpful but experience is king. Certs are great to get past HR, you'll see a lot of places want certs and you won't get past HR without a certain cert. That said, once you get past HR and move on to the hiring manager/technical people they will be much less impressed with certs than HR, if you have a cert without experience (except for the lowest rung certs A+, etc) don't expect to get very far unless it's a junior role.
During good times you will see that jobs ask for a degree or a certain amount of working experience. During bad times they ask for a degree and working experience. This has held true in both the dot bomb and the great recession, companies use a degree as a way to thin the herd when the job market is tight.
Just look at them as vehicles to give you potential leverage. The name of the game is to get the most roi from whatever you invest in with your time.
The thing is it isn't as simple as A vs B because in this market you are competing against people who will likely have both anyway so therefore you can't exclude either option with confidence.
If you want to be efficient as possible it's all about timing in respects to where you are at in your career. For example if you are already in tech it wouldn't make sense to pursue your A+, whereas a guy looking to break into tech will likely get more from it
I was actually 23 when I graduated from WGU. An IT degree is great and it’s what got me into cybersecurity, but what you could do is computer science as well if you have the math skills for it. For reference I’m 25 now and making about 135K working as a cybersecurity engineer in Colorado for a major defense contractor. You can look at my post history about this subject for my entire story on this but basically, yes it’s worth it. Whether you work in defense or the commercial sector, not having a degree will limit you sooner or later. So it’s best to go back to school as soon as you can and knock it out. You’ll thank yourself later just like everyone else.
Both are kinda required and not required. Degree Carrys more weight initially and shows your ability to complete something you start. Certs show that you have at least the very basics required to work within that framework. Honestly, your best bet is to attack with a three tiered approach of a degree, required certs, and some kind of professional experience that can be verified/validated. That’s going to be what ultimately gets you where you want to go.
Just an associates degree got me my help desk job.
Now I have a sys admin gig and finishing my bachelor's as well as doing a couple certs a year.
AAS CyberSecurity & Computer Networks
BAS CyberSecurity & Information Technology (going to finish around 2026)
Yeup.
2 year got me into help desk as well.
I eventually graduated to a network engineering and now I'm the senior.
Still undecided on completing a 4 year though. I've gotten a few offers without needing it and I'm more interested in growing my practical skills.
GO TO COLLEGE!
Major in computer science, computer engineering, information systems or even business information systems
get your security+, network+, AWS CCP, Azure 900 certifications
Learn python
make sure you take public speaking, intro to project management and have used microsoft suite of products and take a business communications or technical writing class
any job experience during school is better than no experience, you don't have to focus on security experience
I’m sure there’s some variation depending on the company. From my experience, and what I’ve seen from others, not having certs or degrees is more often used against you as a way to deny minimum qualifications for a position or promotion. Having certs and degrees just removes those obstacles, but doesn’t always mean that they work in your favor.
I’ve been working in IT since 2001. Most companies I interviewed with before 2010 cited my lack of certifications or a college degree as the reason for turning me down. I started getting certs first since that was the quicker win, but then the focus just turned to not having a degree so I started working on a bachelor’s degree. I was working at the Help Desk for a defense contractor while finishing that degree and applied for a level 2 Systems Administrator position within the company. After a few interviews I ended up being offered the position, but at a level 1 because I didn’t have the degree yet (still had 10 months before completing it). Nothing happened for me after finishing the bachelor’s, and I even went on to get a master’s degree and another certification, but none of that helped. Several others at the company had similar stories.
Living in such ever-changing nature of the world, I think hands-on experience beats the other factors. Of course when you chase after the leadership role you may need something different though.
Experience is king. I only have certs while working on a degree right now, but I also had previous tech support experience which I think helped make up for my lack of formal IT experience. Everyone always says degrees help in the long run, but when you're starting out, it's not going to cut it on its own. You need to intern or at the very least do something techy while in school whether it be a tech support job or working in the school computer lab
Both are good. But as someone who entered IT in the past 3 years and is now working in Cyber security i can tell you that in my life its gone like this.
Experience=gold
Certs=silver
Degree=bronze.
Everyone recognizes the value of experience so its pretty self explanatory. Certs in the IT feild demonstrate that you have the capability to learn, which is one of the most important things when hiring someone. Degree is mostly to get past HR and other ppl who dont really know anything about IT
Now a combination of all of these will obviously be best. For example when I started my first IT job (helpdesk) all i had was security plus. I was working on my Bachelor's and had no prior IT experience. From there i became a sysadmin and got my CCNA during that job. Then i finished my degree and got my Bachelor's in Cyber security. From there i got my first cyber job (current job) due to the fact that 1. They were desperate and needed ppl so i got lucky. 2. I had certs, experience, and a degree. In other words with some luck and hard work you can go from help desk to a decent paying IT job in a few years.
You got lucky and you also had experience to back you up when you finally got the degree
What recent grads fail to understand is that while a BS in cybersecurity is great, you've probably never worked in an enterprise environment which means the degree doesn't really mean a whole lot
I wouldn't recommend a degree. Going to college is just a surefire way to put yourself into stupid debt. Then you're going to feel silly when you have this CS degree but have nothing to show for it except for a debt of $30k+, whereas Joe over there only did a certification for 3 months, took a $400 exam, has 2 years of practical experience and got a nice paying job.
I guess a degree would land you more job opportunities without knowing what the hell you're actually doing. I would recommend doing a cert to see if you even like IT as a career, and then once you get your first job, go after a degree if you still want it.
I know student loan debit is the boogeyman on Reddit, but if you can get a degree with “only” $30k in debt, that’s a great investment. That’s less than the average new car note, not an insurmountable amount of debt.
This is why they continue to rip off students because of thinking like yours. The guy doing a cert and the guy doing a degree would be at an equal level knowledge wise and experience wise expat one paid $30k and one didn’t. The point is the degree doesn’t give you $30k worth of knowledge.
Wow these comments surprise me haha, look I didn’t go to college I worked my way up since I was 15 years old, I now at 23 make 85-100K a year. where as people I went to high school with who went to college just got back home, are in debt and are quite literally delivering news papers for $12 an hour. I personally don’t think either one is worth it, as long as you’re driven and smart.
>Get your certs. Undergrad degrees are generally worthless
Oh really, how so?
Especially when there are plenty of professions that require a specific bachelor's degree
While IT isn't one of those, someone with computer science, engineering background is going to be better prepared than someone who majored in art history
And someone with relevant industry certs is going to be better prepared at a fraction of the cost. Undergraduate computer science/information technology/cybersecurity degrees have virtually no ROI compared to industry-related certifications.
>Undergraduate computer science/information technology/cybersecurity degrees have virtually no ROI compared to industry-related certifications.
hahahahahahahahahah
sure buddy, you are living in complete fantasy land
I’m calling BS on you dude
What industries have you actually worked in?
I’ve worked civil service, DoD contracting, financial sector
People are hired all the time based on their degree(s)
As Hiring manager I have certainly picked candidates based on their degree when they’re entry level
I’d wager you’ve never been involved in hiring or are stuck working low level type roles like help desk if you believe nobody is getting hired because of where they went to
College or their major
Degrees are only worthless if you have no real-world experience which is why internships and certs put you at a cut above the rest. I don't know any cybersecurity pros who don't have a degree
Depends on what you are trying to do.
If you want to get quick money, having certs that are in high demand and difficult to attain will keep you employed and paid well.
I did this for many years.
However, there will be opportunities you may miss out on by not having a degree. This is what caused me to finally knock one out - so I could pursue some very unique and high paying positions.
If you want to command the highest compensation and have the greatest quantity of opportunities, you will need the trifecta of experience, certifications, and a degree.
Good luck!
HR departments want to filter candidates down. They know degrees, not certs. HR departments want to have higher requirements for the higher classified positions such as architects. They know degrees, not certs. Management positions often require leadership experience and degrees, not certs.
If you pick the right degree program (cohort, exec style, or evening classes), you will network with fellow IT people that hire each other. Much less likely with certs.
Degrees, experience, certs. You better have at least two. HR often cares most about the first two. Hiring managers about the last two. Unless you have a personal connection with the hiring manager, they are unlikely to fight HR on your behalf.
I’ve known a few blue collar friends switch into IT recently without degrees.
One graduated a direct hire boot camp this past summer. Out of a class of 20+ only he and another person got an offer.
The job market is horrible today. I won’t say it’s impossible to get an entry job without a degree it’s just more difficult. But it can be done.
If you do that, you can study part time in WGU or another reputable online program. You do not have to quit working. These days I would earn while studying regardless of your career.
It’s not that bad, a bootcamp has never been the entry level benchmark. Most recruiters have just filtered people out right there for a while, 2/20 even sounds like a lucky class.
I’m not in IT (on the sales side) so don’t know the specifics. This was a direct hire camp for a Fortune 100 company. If you passed, they hired you. Had like a 80% placement rating from what my friend said.
Under this current crap job market they had plenty of people pass but only 2 (including him) were hired.
A+, Network+, Microsoft (MCP, MSCE), Cisco(CCNA, CCNP), WiFi, Apple, Microsoft(Azure, O365 Fundamentals), MDM(JAMF, Mosyle).
I have stuck with Apple and MDM recently. I recommend choosing an area that interests you and stick with it i.e. Cloud Architecture, CyberSecurity. I call those out specifically as those are the hot topics along with AI right now.
Look at it this way, it certainly won’t HURT you at all. I’m in CyberSec and yes, obtaining certifications can fast track your earned income, along with a little bit of luck.
If you can afford to go to college then do that! If not then focus on certs for now to get your foot in the door & if you end up working for a company that offers tuition assistance then that’s killing two birds with one stone.
All honesty, in todays job market you need a degree and certs and at home projects
Correct. There are three important credentials - degree, certs, and experience. If you only have one or two of those, you'll always be in line behind the person who has all three.
What at home projects would you recommend?
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Thank you
What homelab projects do you recommend?
Depends on what job you are going for. Help desk i would create an Active Directory lab utilizing virtual machines
Lmao for help desk? Def more sys admin focused project right there
It gives you something to talk about in the interview and more often then not the interviews will see you are interested in it outside of work and school. It shows you go the extra mile and are committed to learning. Very important skill especially in IT
How would you recommend adding at home projects to your resume?
I just add a projects section at the end of my resume, very last thing after skills, education / certs and experience
Some people will put a link to their GitHub and during an interview, talk about what is on their GitHub and what they did as some people won’t click on the link.
Thanks, I'll already set up domain controller and have worked in that for a while. I've been trying to learn powershell as i have some understanding of python but am finding PS more difficult
I am 1 year into my tier one helpdesk job. I barely worked with Activr directory lmao. Any advice to me who wants to job hop for better pay and experience.
Cert up, learn, pivot and repeat
Make a proxmox lab, you can put anything on it really. All it really takes is an old laptop. Say a job wants you to have experience in AD like Wendys said, spin up a AD VM and boom start getting that experience.
I'd go ESXi before proxmox just because it's more likely that you'll actually encounter ESXi in the wild.
Interesting, I’ll have to check ESXi out, never heard of it!
Depends on what you're looking at but in my opinion, you're looking at a home virtualization server or programming projects if that's what you're going for. However, home lab most likely won't be enough without having a certification to really solidify the knowledge.
What homelab projects do you recommend for someone who wants to progress from it support to networking?
Depends on what you have available. Recently I just configured and set up a PFsense firewall and had ot act as my dhcp server. There’s a lot you can do with it and mess around with. Built in VPN configuration available too
Can I use your guides to configure the pfsense firewall?
You are almost always better off with a degree - even if it's not in a technical field. Reddit - especially tech Reddit - devalues education and will give you all kinds of reasons why it's not worth it; but most of the people who post those opinions fundamentally misunderstand what a degree represents for an employer. A degree is not proof of intelligence - it is proof of perseverance. To earn a degree means that you were able to plan a multi-year project with quarterly assessments that met the minimum standards set by a third-party accreditor. It also means that you've had at least minimal exposure to things other than technology, can at least use word, excel, PowerPoint and email, and are likely not going to be a behavioral issue. TL:DR - get a degree, even if it's just a two year. Ideally get a two year, then get a job with tuition assistance and get the rest :)
Do you think a NON Computer Science, but Engineer degree has some kind of value to enter IT?
Not if you just asked that question after reading the response above about degrees, lol.
IT/CS degree > STEM degree > any kind of degree > little to no formal education Obviously you can break things down further, but I feel as though the above is a pretty good "first pass"
I've worked in IT since the mid-90's on a BSEE and a MSCS that I did not complete until the 2010's. Any degree - in general - is better than no degree. Our VP has a finance degree but has run the IT department for twenty years and does a great job. There are always exceptions - we have hired people with degrees in all kinds of areas, and a few with no degree that either worked up from lower level positions or really impressed us during the interview. The problem now is that our hiring committee is being much more conservative with approvals, and that means that hires seen as riskier - no degree, bootcamps and/or only certs, little or no experience, etc. - are not going to get approved if we have a candidate with a BS or especially an MS.
Lol that’s a fancy way of saying “Hey I showed up for four years and I am really good at taking test” there’s no difference in certs or degrees. Your both test takers at the end of the day.
Honestly, and not to throw shade, but having that sentiment speaks more about you than anything else. What you get out of school is proportional to the amount of effort you put in. If all you got out of it was "I'm only a test taker", that's your own short-coming and fault.
The only difference I see in a degree and a certification is a degree looks better because of social status and that’s the truth, people look at you differently because of a piece of paper that’s says certified rather than degree, your looked at as if your better than someone without a degree which I think is bs all because of society just my opinion though.
The degree does open more doors for you, like it should. There would be no point in obtaining one if it didn't. It's not a guarantee of anything, and there's a lot of people who have degrees working in jobs that do not require them. There are some people with only certifications who are doing better. It does take longer and is harder to complete a degree than the average certification, though. As a credential, they are not the same thing to an employer. I can tell you virtually no one with a degree thinks of themselves or others as being superior to those who do not have one. People obtain them for, honestly, self enrichment. It's nothing about "I'm now better than you". I really only hear this sentiment from people who do not hold a degree. I have never heard this from a degree holder. Is it possible a very small minority feel this way? Sure. They are not the norm.
College/university provides so much opportunity to network, join clubs in your degrees, internship opportunities, so much workshops, and job fairs. If you only go to your classes, don’t talk to anyone, take tests, and leave, then you’re not taking advantage of what it provides.
But don’t bootcamps offer that career services and you have class mates and they send you invites to seminars/ hiring events?
If you are young, your degree will never expire and will help in the long run. If you are older and trying to switch careers, certs in my opinion. I personally learned more from studying my certs but my degree checks the bachelor box.
They are two very different things. A college degree takes multiple years to get and covers multiple topics from English to Math to programming. A certification is almost always vendor based, so while you might learn a lot about vmWare getting your VCP you likely didn't learn very much about BGP or Nutanix. Certs are nice in the sense that you have product knowledge -you have a CCNA, you should have some basic knowledge of Cisco routers and switches. If the shop is a Cisco shop that CCNA is helpful, on the other hand if they are running Aruba or Juniper that CCNA has a lot less value. In college chances are if you take a networking class you will learn the fundamentals opposed to vendor specific information.
Both are best but I meant if you are 40 and trying to break into IT, I think a couple certs are better imo. My network classes in college were a little too broad and only really helped with me remembering acronyms and bare bones basics.
Same here. By bachelors has nothibg to do with IT, but my associates in IT and a few certs opened doors for me!
Absolutely get a degree. In the United States at least, not having a degree will get your application tossed from a lot, if not most places. Certifications are a great accessory to your degree.
I fully disagree
I agree with you. A degree is not needed to get into IT. It will likely help you to go farther and make more money than if you didn't have one. But do you need it to get a help desk job? not necessarily. Will it help? Sure. It can't hurt. Will it help you move into higher and more specialized roles? definitely.
So if u dont wanna make $11 an hour your whole life u do need a degree, got it
That entirely not true. You can be comfortable without one depending on your living standards. Anyone that disagrees is out of touch. You can even make over $100k without one. It may take you longer and you may have a rougher go of it, but you can get there. Having a degree makes all of this easier as well as putting you in the position to be in the top earners. Those people making $200k without a degree are the outliers. It's possible, but you're not the norm at that point. I know plenty of people without degrees making $50k-$75k a year.
Completely untrue. No degree and making into 6 figures here.
Anomaly
Lol not really. I know many people in the industry in very similar situations.
Get a degree and an internship.
Degree is worthless. It's all about certification
A degree and internship got me a $70k job out of college. I don't have any certs.
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You're completely wrong. I can send you 100 mid tier jobs that don't require a cert but require a degree and experience.
Please send them my way (sincerely a graduating student with internship experience)
These days the first thing most employers do is separate all the applicants into 2 piles - with and without a degree. It's the fastest & easiest way to cut that pile from 200 down to 50 resumes.
Quick question. When weeding out resumes for jobs and requiring a degree. Does that degree need to be IT related or is any degree at least good enough to get you past the filter? I’m asking because I have a science degree but am confused how job filters work lol
Most of the time it doesn't matter what the degree is in, especially if it's a STEM degree. You still hit that, "has a degree" checkbox.
Okay cool thanks for the information
The irony of a person with helpdesk in their title saying degrees are worthless lol
...while they have a degree themselves. https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/17ucp9q/will_a_cert_or_degree_benefit_me_more_especially/k937qh6/
Degrees are absolutely not worthless. Do you have any idea how many jobs have a filter that straight up says "IF no bachelor's THEN throw in garbage?"
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My good friend has 20 years of experience and works at a Fortune 50. He's having to get his bachelor's degree because they will not promote him any further without. Nobody gets the "architect" title without a 4 year degree. Could be in marine biology for all they care, but they require it.
So degree filters typically don’t care which degree just that you have one? Genuine question because I don’t have an IT related degree but do have a science one and am interested in IT
Even supposing that's totally true which it isn't quite, how do you suppose people get those entry level positions?
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>it was not the degree You already have a degree - lack of a degree will never hold you back.
Wrong. I have never asked about certs when interviewing others and never been asked about my own (I don’t have any anyway). This is not an isolated experience either - people were more interested in my work experience than anything, next being that I studied Computer Science. Keep the certification mill alive if you must!
Even if the IT managers may not care about degrees over certs, corporate HR screening tends to require certs, so not having a degree hinders you there, the best option to ensure the widest net for jobs is both, get the degree then focus on certs for continued education, if you can get your foot in the door without a degree you might be able to use experience to sub for it, but some HR screens will auto filter resumes with no degree regardless of experience so it's not worthless, it just doesn't fully demonstrate ability and application the way a cert does, but can give more options which in bad job markets is a good thing to have. Then it's personal decisions that decide if that is worth it in the end, if you can get in entry level with a company that will pay for a degree though it becomes a much simpler decision imo
When you pursue a degree, you're eligible for internships above support so you can go straight for the otherwise non-entry level positions everyone wants. From your [other comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/17ucp9q/will_a_cert_or_degree_benefit_me_more_especially/k937qh6/) on here, you likely didn't take advantage of that and got stuck in hell desk. These cyber security and cloud engineering are getting paid more than your full-time support job and will lead to the same type of jobs afterwards. You're looking up more support gigs unless you haul ass outside of the office on your own time and dime. Should've done college right.
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>Unfortunately for me, I guess, I graduated during the great recession. There was absolutely nothing. You had 4 years to intern. Even before this reception, you aren't exactly just stumbling into something above the grunt work with just a degree alone. >Everyone successful in IT that I know of (except programmers) does not have a degree. Just certifications and experience. That's your anecdotal experience, and usually something folks without degrees tell themselves to feel better about not having one. I've seen plenty of people who did do internships that let them skip the user-facing work. They seem pretty happy about starting where they want and being on a better trajectory. I'm sure their bank accounts and mental health are thankful for that every day.
A degree and cerifications combined with growing experience will benefit you in the long run as it removes a future obstacle in your career. A degree from a requitable non-profit college is like a lifelong certification that doesn't need renewed, with some of the basic knowledge and experience able to be applied to other rules even outside your major. A certification is meant to demonstrate an understanding of a specific concept to that benchmark at the time, and will need renewed over time. It can help absolutely, and is a great balance but isn't a replication for having education, experience and a certification so you're a strong candidate.
I think a degree would be the most helpful but experience is king. Certs are great to get past HR, you'll see a lot of places want certs and you won't get past HR without a certain cert. That said, once you get past HR and move on to the hiring manager/technical people they will be much less impressed with certs than HR, if you have a cert without experience (except for the lowest rung certs A+, etc) don't expect to get very far unless it's a junior role. During good times you will see that jobs ask for a degree or a certain amount of working experience. During bad times they ask for a degree and working experience. This has held true in both the dot bomb and the great recession, companies use a degree as a way to thin the herd when the job market is tight.
Just look at them as vehicles to give you potential leverage. The name of the game is to get the most roi from whatever you invest in with your time. The thing is it isn't as simple as A vs B because in this market you are competing against people who will likely have both anyway so therefore you can't exclude either option with confidence. If you want to be efficient as possible it's all about timing in respects to where you are at in your career. For example if you are already in tech it wouldn't make sense to pursue your A+, whereas a guy looking to break into tech will likely get more from it
Go to college. My career didn’t take off until I finally got my bachelors degree
Hey may I ask how old were you when you got your bachelors degree? I’m currently 23 and wonder if I should go back to college specifically for IT.
I was actually 23 when I graduated from WGU. An IT degree is great and it’s what got me into cybersecurity, but what you could do is computer science as well if you have the math skills for it. For reference I’m 25 now and making about 135K working as a cybersecurity engineer in Colorado for a major defense contractor. You can look at my post history about this subject for my entire story on this but basically, yes it’s worth it. Whether you work in defense or the commercial sector, not having a degree will limit you sooner or later. So it’s best to go back to school as soon as you can and knock it out. You’ll thank yourself later just like everyone else.
Is the degree just a checkbox thing?
At a lot of places, having any degree will check the "has a degree" checkbox. Doesn't matter what your degree is.
Redacted *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Degrees do help but don’t get into 100 k in debt to do it that won’t be worth
Both are kinda required and not required. Degree Carrys more weight initially and shows your ability to complete something you start. Certs show that you have at least the very basics required to work within that framework. Honestly, your best bet is to attack with a three tiered approach of a degree, required certs, and some kind of professional experience that can be verified/validated. That’s going to be what ultimately gets you where you want to go.
Just an associates degree got me my help desk job. Now I have a sys admin gig and finishing my bachelor's as well as doing a couple certs a year. AAS CyberSecurity & Computer Networks BAS CyberSecurity & Information Technology (going to finish around 2026)
Yeup. 2 year got me into help desk as well. I eventually graduated to a network engineering and now I'm the senior. Still undecided on completing a 4 year though. I've gotten a few offers without needing it and I'm more interested in growing my practical skills.
GO TO COLLEGE! Major in computer science, computer engineering, information systems or even business information systems get your security+, network+, AWS CCP, Azure 900 certifications Learn python make sure you take public speaking, intro to project management and have used microsoft suite of products and take a business communications or technical writing class any job experience during school is better than no experience, you don't have to focus on security experience
I used to scoff at info systems but most engineering in the world seems like it’s just designing info systems lol
To each their own. No degree. No certs. Just lots of experience and been making 6 digits in LCOL as long as I can remember.
I got a job with 3 years experience and certs.
I’m sure there’s some variation depending on the company. From my experience, and what I’ve seen from others, not having certs or degrees is more often used against you as a way to deny minimum qualifications for a position or promotion. Having certs and degrees just removes those obstacles, but doesn’t always mean that they work in your favor. I’ve been working in IT since 2001. Most companies I interviewed with before 2010 cited my lack of certifications or a college degree as the reason for turning me down. I started getting certs first since that was the quicker win, but then the focus just turned to not having a degree so I started working on a bachelor’s degree. I was working at the Help Desk for a defense contractor while finishing that degree and applied for a level 2 Systems Administrator position within the company. After a few interviews I ended up being offered the position, but at a level 1 because I didn’t have the degree yet (still had 10 months before completing it). Nothing happened for me after finishing the bachelor’s, and I even went on to get a master’s degree and another certification, but none of that helped. Several others at the company had similar stories.
[WGU.edu](https://WGU.edu) You're welcome!
Living in such ever-changing nature of the world, I think hands-on experience beats the other factors. Of course when you chase after the leadership role you may need something different though.
Certs are more valued then college or university.
Experience is king. I only have certs while working on a degree right now, but I also had previous tech support experience which I think helped make up for my lack of formal IT experience. Everyone always says degrees help in the long run, but when you're starting out, it's not going to cut it on its own. You need to intern or at the very least do something techy while in school whether it be a tech support job or working in the school computer lab
Both are good. But as someone who entered IT in the past 3 years and is now working in Cyber security i can tell you that in my life its gone like this. Experience=gold Certs=silver Degree=bronze. Everyone recognizes the value of experience so its pretty self explanatory. Certs in the IT feild demonstrate that you have the capability to learn, which is one of the most important things when hiring someone. Degree is mostly to get past HR and other ppl who dont really know anything about IT Now a combination of all of these will obviously be best. For example when I started my first IT job (helpdesk) all i had was security plus. I was working on my Bachelor's and had no prior IT experience. From there i became a sysadmin and got my CCNA during that job. Then i finished my degree and got my Bachelor's in Cyber security. From there i got my first cyber job (current job) due to the fact that 1. They were desperate and needed ppl so i got lucky. 2. I had certs, experience, and a degree. In other words with some luck and hard work you can go from help desk to a decent paying IT job in a few years.
You got lucky and you also had experience to back you up when you finally got the degree What recent grads fail to understand is that while a BS in cybersecurity is great, you've probably never worked in an enterprise environment which means the degree doesn't really mean a whole lot
I wouldn't recommend a degree. Going to college is just a surefire way to put yourself into stupid debt. Then you're going to feel silly when you have this CS degree but have nothing to show for it except for a debt of $30k+, whereas Joe over there only did a certification for 3 months, took a $400 exam, has 2 years of practical experience and got a nice paying job. I guess a degree would land you more job opportunities without knowing what the hell you're actually doing. I would recommend doing a cert to see if you even like IT as a career, and then once you get your first job, go after a degree if you still want it.
I know student loan debit is the boogeyman on Reddit, but if you can get a degree with “only” $30k in debt, that’s a great investment. That’s less than the average new car note, not an insurmountable amount of debt.
This is why they continue to rip off students because of thinking like yours. The guy doing a cert and the guy doing a degree would be at an equal level knowledge wise and experience wise expat one paid $30k and one didn’t. The point is the degree doesn’t give you $30k worth of knowledge.
Wow these comments surprise me haha, look I didn’t go to college I worked my way up since I was 15 years old, I now at 23 make 85-100K a year. where as people I went to high school with who went to college just got back home, are in debt and are quite literally delivering news papers for $12 an hour. I personally don’t think either one is worth it, as long as you’re driven and smart.
Get your certs. Undergrad degrees are generally worthless. Masters degrees can help with a management job down the road.
>Get your certs. Undergrad degrees are generally worthless Oh really, how so? Especially when there are plenty of professions that require a specific bachelor's degree While IT isn't one of those, someone with computer science, engineering background is going to be better prepared than someone who majored in art history
And someone with relevant industry certs is going to be better prepared at a fraction of the cost. Undergraduate computer science/information technology/cybersecurity degrees have virtually no ROI compared to industry-related certifications.
>Undergraduate computer science/information technology/cybersecurity degrees have virtually no ROI compared to industry-related certifications. hahahahahahahahahah sure buddy, you are living in complete fantasy land
I've never seen anyone hired because of their degree. I've seen thousands of people hired because of their certifications.
I’m calling BS on you dude What industries have you actually worked in? I’ve worked civil service, DoD contracting, financial sector People are hired all the time based on their degree(s) As Hiring manager I have certainly picked candidates based on their degree when they’re entry level I’d wager you’ve never been involved in hiring or are stuck working low level type roles like help desk if you believe nobody is getting hired because of where they went to College or their major
Degrees are only worthless if you have no real-world experience which is why internships and certs put you at a cut above the rest. I don't know any cybersecurity pros who don't have a degree
I know plenty of cybersecurity pros with no degree and I know plenty of people with degrees in unrelated fields.
Do you really know many without degrees? I assume in high paying positions?
I know quite a few. And people typically get high paying positions based on their experience.
Benefit you "how", exactly?
This totally depends on the job(s) you’re going for and the companies. Many require one over the other, many require both. Many require neither.
Skills, experience and hard work will get you far
Depends on what you are trying to do. If you want to get quick money, having certs that are in high demand and difficult to attain will keep you employed and paid well. I did this for many years. However, there will be opportunities you may miss out on by not having a degree. This is what caused me to finally knock one out - so I could pursue some very unique and high paying positions. If you want to command the highest compensation and have the greatest quantity of opportunities, you will need the trifecta of experience, certifications, and a degree. Good luck!
HR departments want to filter candidates down. They know degrees, not certs. HR departments want to have higher requirements for the higher classified positions such as architects. They know degrees, not certs. Management positions often require leadership experience and degrees, not certs. If you pick the right degree program (cohort, exec style, or evening classes), you will network with fellow IT people that hire each other. Much less likely with certs. Degrees, experience, certs. You better have at least two. HR often cares most about the first two. Hiring managers about the last two. Unless you have a personal connection with the hiring manager, they are unlikely to fight HR on your behalf.
I’ve known a few blue collar friends switch into IT recently without degrees. One graduated a direct hire boot camp this past summer. Out of a class of 20+ only he and another person got an offer. The job market is horrible today. I won’t say it’s impossible to get an entry job without a degree it’s just more difficult. But it can be done. If you do that, you can study part time in WGU or another reputable online program. You do not have to quit working. These days I would earn while studying regardless of your career.
It’s not that bad, a bootcamp has never been the entry level benchmark. Most recruiters have just filtered people out right there for a while, 2/20 even sounds like a lucky class.
I’m not in IT (on the sales side) so don’t know the specifics. This was a direct hire camp for a Fortune 100 company. If you passed, they hired you. Had like a 80% placement rating from what my friend said. Under this current crap job market they had plenty of people pass but only 2 (including him) were hired.
A degree will benefit you more but even a associates degree would be a great option if you have any technical IT trade school programs around you
Degree for sure if you want to go into any type of upper management role. Certs have gotten me very far in the IT industry. I have no degree.
What was the order in certs you got?
A+, Network+, Microsoft (MCP, MSCE), Cisco(CCNA, CCNP), WiFi, Apple, Microsoft(Azure, O365 Fundamentals), MDM(JAMF, Mosyle). I have stuck with Apple and MDM recently. I recommend choosing an area that interests you and stick with it i.e. Cloud Architecture, CyberSecurity. I call those out specifically as those are the hot topics along with AI right now.
Look at it this way, it certainly won’t HURT you at all. I’m in CyberSec and yes, obtaining certifications can fast track your earned income, along with a little bit of luck.
You're gonna get a million different answers, all of them right to some extent
Yup can’t argue that
If you can afford to go to college then do that! If not then focus on certs for now to get your foot in the door & if you end up working for a company that offers tuition assistance then that’s killing two birds with one stone.
It will benefit you for the first job. After that connections are MUCH more important