Education Qualifications for a Network Admin?

Volkov137 asks: "As I ponder where to go after high school for a future job in Network Administration, I have a couple of choices. Either go to a University and get a 4-year bachelors degree in Computer Networking and Administration, or go to a 2-year trade school that will be much more focused on what I need to know. Is the University really worth paying for, and will it mean anything more in today's IT world? Also, how important are certifications (Network+, Cisco, Linux+, etc) when entering this job market?"

Comments

Univ gives options

[mlmitton]

If you think there's a chance that at some point in the future, you might want to do something other than IT, then you're way better off with a 4-year degree. A lot of jobs out there may not be that concerned what your university degree was in, but you have to have one. And with a 4 year degree, if you need to retrain yourself in something else, you can go in to a Master's program--a far better prospect for changing careers.

Also, don't forget that the older you get, the harder it is to go to school.

Re:Univ gives options

[porcupine8]

That is really the best point of all. Going into college, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do. After working in two labs doing that, I realized that I was wrong. I'm now on my way to a field that I had never considered at 18 (though it's related), and I'll be getting my PhD in something I hadn't even heard of then.

No question, get the paper

[Ridgelift]

I'm 35 years old and have been working with computers for over 23 of those years. I made the choice to not get a degree in Computer Science. Even though I've had a good career as a Sys Admin and independant consultant, I think my decision to not get a 4 year degree was one of the worst I've made.

I got a 2 year diploma as an electronics technician, which at the time was a good paying job. Tell me, how many jobs are out there for board-level electronics repair today? Network administration will go the same way. Oh sure there'll be some jobs out there, but not necessarily 10 years from now.

Get your degree. It's a small amount of time, and even if you decide to not stick with computers, having that degree opens the doors to everything else.

Re:Trade school is best

[Ankh]

One day you might not want to be a systems administrator. Or you night find that because of advances in Microsoft Windows fewer staff are needed. Or the company you work for might switch to Linux, and you suddenly find your skills don't transfer over as well as you had hoped, and some newer college kid gets your job. You might find that some aspects of system administration get outsourced to a virtual call centre in India.

In a lot of large companies, to get into management, you need a degree. Experience alone isn't enough.

> The University will waste your time and money with classes that have no bearing on your job.
No. Life is about more than a job, and university will give yuo a much broader perspective. Unless you want to be a corporate drone or slave for the rest ofyour life, you need to about things that you might not choose to study by yourself. And one day you'll need the contacts, too, the people you met, and the ability to take a longer-term view of life.

A trade school is OK perhaps if you want to be a tradesman, but think of all the CP/M administration skills people learned at trade schools. Not heard of CP/M? Try MS-DOS. What will you learn? Windows 98? Windows XP? It'll be as obsolete within five years. So you need to learn how to learn, and to do that you need to go to the right place for you, and no-one else can tell you where that is.

Try to talk to people who graduated, and see if you can find people similar to yourself.

Your interests will also change (mine did) as you encounter new ideas. The more new ideas you encounter early on, the better idea you'll have of what you want to do, what interests you, what you're good at. The money isn't wasted., unless you throw it away by ignoring the oportunities.

Liam