The Great IT Degree Rip Off

Every year I get a large number of e-mails from students

studying either a degree in IT or a Masters degree. Here is

the latest message I received:

"I was one of those people who was basically tricked into a

2 year 40k degree and very little hands on experience. I am

now working as an Enterprise support specialist. This is my

first career related job just out of school. I know I must

put in my time on the front line trenches and it is helping

me to get a thick skin to the I.T. stress.

What I need to know is this...With a CCNA, and my current

pursuits of a B.A. in network security, which I will finish

my degree in 2011. Will I be able to find a decent job

paying over 40k with out 5 years of experience?"

A couple of things first. The colleges do not 'trick'

people into studying with them but I do feel that there is

a lot of misleading information about higher education and

its relevance to the IT industry.

I have no axe to grind here. I do have a lot of experience

in the IT industry and spend a lot of time with IT managers

and technical directors. Here is what I have found.

Can You Use an IT Degree?

A degree in IT is next to useless if you want to use it to

gain employment as an IT engineer. It qualifies you for

nothing whatsoever and proves only that you can study for

exams.

Why do you think most Universities are now offering Cisco

CCNA training as part of their 3 year course? Because you

will come out with at least something useful, this is why.

Degrees are useful if you want to be a company executive

but even now they are dated because the traditional

career development plan for graduates has been left in

tatters by massive changes in the way companies operate.

They simply cannot take on unskilled workers and train

them up for several years because in several years, there

is a reasonable chance that the company itself will no

longer exist!

Do you know what I see most students do when they pass

a BSc in computing or networking but cant' find a job?

You guessed it, they pay £10k to study for a masters

degree presuming that if something doesn't work, keep

doing more of it! Einstein said that this is the definition

of insanity.

My Two Cents

Here is my personal option of degrees in IT. Forget about

them and do something useful instead. You will save 3 years

of you precious life, tens of thousands of dollars or

pounds in fees and in those three years you will have

earned a ton of money (plus have three years experience

behind you).

3 years of an IT degree = £30k debt and no job

3 years of average CCNA salary = £90k

It is your life and all I want to do is help you take a

step back and ask yourself what you want, why you want it

and where do you want to be in 3 years time? If you still

feel that a degree is going to get your somewhere in life

then crack on and do it, I wish you all the best with it.

I have one myself in fact, the certificate is in my attic

somewhere in a folder.

Hope it helps.

Paul

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