Does Anyone Here Have A BSIT?

[Shitty Rambo]

I'm strongly considering taking online classes to earn a degree in Information Technology. My current employer will reimburse any school expenses as long as it is something I can use within the company and I should take advantage of their offer.

Anyways, if anyone here has a degree in IT what types of courses did you need to take? Did school take a long time or were you able to complete it in a few years? Were you able to find work easily or did you have to complete an internship prior? Is there a lot of variety in your work area or do you focus on one specific task? How is the pay?

I want to primarily focus on software work and network maintenance. Since I basically fix all my friend's and family member's computers and devices for free on a regular basis I think this is something I'd be good at. Any addition info would be great!

[Guest]

I have a degree in Computer Information Systems with a specialty in Cisco Networking. I went part time for about 3 years to get an associates, it would have been a lot faster had I not had to do an internship. Do you know anything about networking parts (switching, routing protocols, etc)? Cisco designs the courses for the major, so it's all cisco stuff. It's not hard, but it's not easy since cisco stuff is all command based and not GUI. If I can remember my log-in information to the cisco class site you're welcome to have it to take a look at the books and stuff.

[Shitty Rambo]

I have a degree in Computer Information Systems with a specialty in Cisco Networking. I went part time for about 3 years to get an associates, it would have been a lot faster had I not had to do an internship. Do you know anything about networking parts (switching, routing protocols, etc)? Cisco designs the courses for the major, so it's all cisco stuff. It's not hard, but it's not easy since cisco stuff is all command based and not GUI. If I can remember my log-in information to the cisco class site you're welcome to have it to take a look at the books and stuff.

A very small amount, mostly just tinkering with my network at home. I would appreciate any help I could get though! Thanks man!

[Tardcore]

I have a degree in Management Information Systems.  It was sort of a general program that covered project management as well as light programming, database, and networking topics.  I ended up getting away from the actual programming side of things and work mostly in project management with a lot of database work (SQL).  If I had it to do all over again, I would have gone into the programming.

 

I think that whatever you do, you should get an idea of what actual jobs are out there and what you would like to do.   You could even go so far as to identify companies you would like to work for and keep an eye on their job listings.  There is no such thing as a general "IT guy" anymore.  The guy who fixes desktops isn't likely to be the same guy who manages the network or handles security.

 

An internship goes a long way.  Education doesn't get as much respect as having actually done the work.

[Shitty Rambo]

I have a degree in Management Information Systems. It was sort of a general program that covered project management as well as light programming, database, and networking topics. I ended up getting away from the actual programming side of things and work mostly in project management with a lot of database work (SQL). If I had it to do all over again, I would have gone into the programming.

I think that whatever you do, you should get an idea of what actual jobs are out there and what you would like to do. You could even go so far as to identify companies you would like to work for and keep an eye on their job listings. There is no such thing as a general "IT guy" anymore. The guy who fixes desktops isn't likely to be the same guy who manages the network or handles security.

An internship goes a long way. Education doesn't get as much respect as having actually done the work.

I plan on staying with the railroad, this way I can keep my 401k intact and not have to wait too long to retire once I've put in my time. They consider IT workers Technology Services, and it includes App Development, Telecom, and Infrastructure. Ideally I'd like to be capable of all those but if I were to have to focus on one I imagine the Infrastructure department would be more ideal.

[AdamBGraham]

I have a bachelors in computer science with a specialty in software engineering. I've basically worked in industry since I graduated, about five and a half years.

Courses: One huge thing majors neglect is a database course. Basically everything software related uses a database of one type or another and it really serves as a differentiator when looking at candidates. If I was choosing between a candidate with db coursework and one without, the choice is easy. Also, if you want to specialize in software, any focus in overall design, object oriented design, and design patterns is useful. Some of that just takes experience but it helps to be solid.

School: I did the traditional four year degree, full time, so it took as long as you'd suspect. Since you're possibly looking to transfer within your company, they may be more willing to take you at an associates level instead of a bachelors. I say that because one, it takes you less school time, and two, because it gets you working in the field earlier. Frankly, I value work experience far higher than school experience and I can say from my experience that I felt like I learned more in six months working in industry than I did my entire time at school.

Finding work: I did an internship with my current company in between my junior and senior year and they hired me a few months after it ended, so I can't say it took me long at all. That said, we have really seen a lack of qualified candidates for software development and I have head hunters call me all of the time wanting to see if I'd be interested in interviewing. It's a real good time to be in IT.

Work variety: In my experience, this depends on how good of a worker you are. If you can barely manage your first task, you likely won't be entrusted with anything else. If you show competence in one area, and you volunteer and look for additional duties, there's always more to do. I think IT in general leads to a decent amount of variety, at least in software development. A likely scenario will be that you'd start out working on one project, then picking up additional projects over time with some various work needed on the first projects from time to time. This compounds the variety a bit. But I think given the scope of all of the tasks necessary for IT in general, there is always something new to be done.

Pay: Obviously relative. My area is pretty low on the CoL index, so my starting salary was definitely lower than big cities, albeit relatively high for the area. Some people in IT like to job hop which would generally grant someone a higher salary quicker since companies like to glean experienced employees from other companies. But that also doesn't look too good on your resume and doesn't fit your model anyway since you like your company. But other than just having more money, which is always attractive, I've always felt like I made more than enough. You'd certainly make enough to fuel a vinyl habit.

Hope that helps.