a future in IT

Angelos_n

Angelos_n

Angelos_n

Associate
Joined
11 Jul 2005
Posts
788
Location
London
Hey all, got a question id like some answers to.

pretty much i just finished my first year in Uni doing BSc(Hons) Business Computing Systems. now unfortunatly i have 1 resit which is ok i guess, however its sparked me to look at the course again and realising maybe this course isnt for me, yet i have now wasted £3000 and a year doing it. my question is how many of you believe that the only way to do things nowadays is with a degree. i.e can i still do what i want to do without one, my goal is to become a senior I.T manager(possibly head of IT for a bank or something) or consultant for a corporate company. My course unfortunatly has only 1 module in networks and operating systems and 1 module in IT management which is what im really interested in(ive seen Masters that are all based on networking etc..), do you think i could achieve the same goals with certifications from Cisco and Microsoft or do i really need this degree to do anything.

Many Thanks

Angelosn

p.s if it helps i have around 5 years of expereince in IT already as i started working from 15/16 and luckily got a job as a technician, then went on to being IT manager for a company in central london and now im IT manager for a small company in the suburbs (hope this information helps)
 
I'm not an expert but what i have read on this forum and various other sources, a degree doesn't help you too much when it comes to getting a job in IT. People seem to aim for the CISCO/MS and other specialised courses.

And the fact you have so much experience already, i would say you could be wasting another 2 years when you could be out there in the real world gaining even more experience.

You seem to have quite a good start having a lot of experience already. :)
 
get the degree. but you may have to take it further than that if you want to make lots of money.
Tech positions are available to people who have exp but for management I'd expect degrees to hold more weight.
 
VeNT said:
get the degree. but you may have to take it further than that if you want to make lots of money.
Tech positions are available to people who have exp but for management I'd expect degrees to hold more weight.
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Surely if he has experience as an IT manager already - at 2 seperate companies - his degree won't be as important?

I am not saying it would be useless. If he hadn't got the experience already and he wasn't doubting his degree, i would say stick at it. But where he stands today, perhaps something more advanced could be better for him?
 
The problem is (in regards to comp science) i HATE programming, the resit im doing is Java because i cant stand it :) most of my course is actually based on software development which is really not what i want to get into.
 
Angelos_n said:
The problem is (in regards to comp science) i HATE programming, the resit im doing is Java because i cant stand it :) most of my course is actually based on software development which is really not what i want to get into.
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Sounds like you should have researched what the course would entail before you applied. ;)
 
You can normally change your degree to something similar in the first year so that you can start it in the second year.

Personally as you have started i would finish but maybe look at computer science as previously mentioned.

Having a degree would be good if you decided in later life to leave IT or do something different
 
Angelos_n said:
The problem is (in regards to comp science) i HATE programming, the resit im doing is Java because i cant stand it :) most of my course is actually based on software development which is really not what i want to get into.
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That sounds a little too familiar. Infrastructure would appear to be your friend.

The common route is do do an MCSA/MCSE/MCITP and then specialise with what interests you CCNA etc

Beerbaron said:
You can normally change your degree to something similar in the first year so that you can start it in the second year.
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If you can do this - do it. I should have done this and didn't. As a result had no interest in my degree due to the programming weighting of it. As a result didn't get an amazing degree, but luckily landed a great job with an excellent company.

Don't rely on luck - think objectively about what you want to do, and do it. Something I wish i'd done more.
 
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Angelos_n said:
my goal is to become a senior I.T manager(possibly head of IT for a bank or something)
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To be honest a degree probably would help in this regard as you have such high aspirations and competition will be tough, a lot of banks can be quite traditional in terms of expecting people to have degrees.

Certainly not essential however and if you went down the consultancy route I doubt it would matter a great deal if you have sufficient experience and other relevant qualifications.

As a general aside don't be a afraid to pull the plug if it isn't working for you, during my first year at uni I had doubts about my course but decided to stick it out. I ended up with a poor degree as I struggled for motivation and it hasn't been of any use to me since (other than as an entry onto my Masters course with the OU many years later).
 
I wouldn't want to be head of IT in a bank unless you were going to pay me 7 figures. It is a disgustingly horrible environment to work in. I was at the lower levels for 2 years and it is a practically illegal working environment, from hours worked, to discrimination, to "back scratching" when it comes to promotions and the like, etc.

But to answer your question, not a degree is not essential. It depends on what part of the industry you wish to work in, on how much a degree will benefit you. In your example, I would argue that a business related degree would benefit.

However, I've been working in IT for 10 years, earn a comfortable salary, and really enjoy my work (development). I've got nothing more than a handful of GCSEs and NVQs. I'm 28 in a months time.
 
I did a degree in business computing. It included a sandwich year so I also got a year of experience and some practical skills with my foot in the door. My CV is now looking good after a couple of years experience in IT support and although I was made redundant a few weeks ago I am getting lots of calls from agencies and quite a few interviews

Do the degree, it can never be taken away from you and next year it will be a lot harder to get into uni. Having said that the first year is well easy compaired to the second. The final year is mainly about self study, research etc but is still hard. Project management was one of the 2 modules I bought a book for and I ended up getting 17% in the course work. Luckily I did well in project management exam and I came out with 40%, so passed. My degree was at Leeds Met and I ended up getting a 2:1 (67%)

My boss where I did work does not have a degree, he does have 10 years experience in IT where he started at the bottom.

Personally I would say stay at uni, get the degree and get your foot in the door with a placement year. Uni is also amazing in terms of the fun you will have
 
Angelos_n said:
The problem is (in regards to comp science) i HATE programming, the resit im doing is Java because i cant stand it :) most of my course is actually based on software development which is really not what i want to get into.
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Ah, fair enough. Just complete ya degree if possible then you can decide whether you want to pursue a different route afterwards, least you will have a degree under your belt.
 
I have no degree and i've been in IT for just over a year now.

Started on support, then development, and now recently became SCRUM Master of an agile development project.

I haven't missed having a degree so far but I wouldn't mind having some certifications to my name. I actually started a degree in Business Information Systems but quit very early on as it bored me to tears! Now I seem to find developing software pretty interesting. I've spent most of my day solving these, sad I know... :/
 
Pants said:
I have no degree and i've been in IT for just over a year now.

Started on support, then development, and now recently became SCRUM Master of an agile development project.

I haven't missed having a degree so far but I wouldn't mind having some certifications to my name. I actually started a degree in Business Information Systems but quit very early on as it bored me to tears! Now I seem to find developing software pretty interesting. I've spent most of my day solving these, sad I know... :/
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How did you get into development if you don't mind me asking?
 
From my on experience I didnt go to uni and so far im gaining loads of experience.

15 I did work experience with a big computer manufacture who at 16 employed me in the weekends and any other days I could spare. I finished college at 18 with a ND in Softwar Development. Sadly the computer company went bust.

I then followed a colleague into another company doing IT which agreed to let me have 1 day off to study in a HNC in Networking/Hardware and Cisco CCNA.

18 months into this course I changed jobs as a Network Security Engineer. They allowed me to finish my courses which I have just done. Im now a free man 20 years old and loving my job. Ive learnt far more than I ever would have at uni.

My advice to you is that if you want to do IT theres lots of ways to do it but the main thing is that you should enjoy what your studying. To stop in your 1st year with 3k debt rather than 9k+ debt so your in a catch 22 situation.
 
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steve-h said:
How did you get into development if you don't mind me asking?
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Well the support job was pretty tedious stuff so I started automating jobs on Access and VBA from stuff I learnt on the job. Then went on to converting them to SSIS packages with some help from the Devs I worked with.

Pretty much from there I started reading books on ASP.NET / C# and built a user friendly application to take care of the other tedious tasks that are impossible to automate, so people could do things for themselves insead of needing to raise service calls to our support team.

That went down pretty well, and eventually there was less need for support, so I got more and more development work to do. I'm obviously still not as good as the more experianced developers (I haven't been at this for long after all!) but i'm improving...

Not doing so much development at work now i'm on SCRUM master duties, so i'm learning at home.
 
HangTime said:
As a general aside don't be a afraid to pull the plug if it isn't working for you, during my first year at uni I had doubts about my course but decided to stick it out. I ended up with a poor degree as I struggled for motivation and it hasn't been of any use to me since
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Ditto.

If you want to get into upper management, maybe putting your money into a project management or ITIL course (or self teaching) would be a better idea.
 
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