Posted: 7/12/2013 10:38:35 AM EDT
| P'ost USMC, I decided to pursue a career in networking/cyber security and used alot of my Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill benefits attending ITT Tech in which I earned a Associates Degree. I'm one who personally enjoys school/classroom learning so now im considering going for a Bachelors Degree from ITT with post 9/11 benefits......But then I thought about it, and after finding out what the cost was for the 2 year program and the credits don't transfer, Im stating to consider other options. Anyone here go to ITT Tech?...Do industry HR/Hiring Mangers respect ITT Tech degrees as they would from a 4 Year University Computer Science Program? I earned a CCENT and CCNA and I want to continue my education but perhaps certifications are they way to go at this point in my career??? I have a stable decent paying IT career now, but I don't want to just sit still. |
|
I went to University of Phoenix for a very short time studying networking. It too is a for profit "college" with very little academic respect. I quickly found out after 4 years of school I could take a $15/hr+ pay cut to get a job on the geek squad.
Certifications look good on paper for the chick in HR that hires you. only way to get paid more than minimum wage is to have a decade of experience. And if you do hit it big you are first on the chopping block when the company says it need to cut back. IT is too expensive and usually the first to go. so while I can't recommend any of the for profit schools, where you get your education really doesn't matter as long as you use it getting experience. |
| I have to say that when I attended ITT for my Associates, I had very little knowledge of networking. That was in 2007, and now I have been working in the network field ever since I graduated. I also now have CCNA on my resume, so it did open some doors for me. I am proud of my accomplishment and effort I personally made. However, what you all are saying solidifies my thoughts about going back. Its seems that experience and industry certs would mean more in the long term at this point. |
|
Go to Dice or whatever and do a search for the job you WANT. Then compare that to what you have, and start working to close the gap. Some job ads will ask for "4 yr degree or comparable experience".
If you have an IT job now, will they pay for training and certs? Some certs + experience = good to go in my book, its done me well. Strongly consider getting the basic-level certs for anything non-networking that you enjoy or is in your environment; like a MCSA or VCP, or certs for storage/voice/wireless/firewalls/Nexus switches/load balancers ? |
| I have heard from some of the longer term employees here that certs and training used to be paid for....in recent years, those were the first things to get cut. Certs get you a pat on the back here and no reimbursement, although that's not stopping me from wanting to grow my knowledge and career experience. I was considering ITT mostly because I already have a AA and didn't want to start form day 1 at another institute due the fact that the ITT credits don't transfer. But due to cost, class availability and drive/commute time, I have been considering the cert route which is looking like it makes a whole lot more sense financially. I understand that certs really don't mean jack if you cant prove it when it counts and experience is critical. |
|
I started with my current company back in 2007 after getting laid off at my previous employer. With my current employer I began travelling globally and jumped right in as a junior systems engineer (in title only) with no degree and plenty of radio and satcom experience. I decided to take online classes at Arizona State while I was travelling to finish up my degree. As odd as it sounds, I ended up getting a BS in Multimedia Writing and Technical Communications. With that degree, not only did my communications skills improve dramatically, but I was able to get into grad school for Information Assurance.
After I finished my Bachelor's, I got promoted and, after starting my Master's I took a promotion into management running an IT department. This was largely due to my work ethic, job experience, military experience, and the like, but was completely impossible without a Bachelor's from an accredited school. Getting accepted into the MSIA program at Norwich would have been nearly impossible having a degree from ITT Tech. The Master's in IA has helped me significantly in my current role and has opened up doors that were closed otherwise, and it is a subject I enjoy and find fascinating. In short, it would be a long, slow, slog to get your BS from a state school, but it will be worth it in the end and be infinitely more versatile in the long run. But, I work for a large defense contractor, YMMV. |
| I agree with the state school approach. I earned my BS in one tech area, then went back to the local community college years later, got an AAS in IT. I looked around at all schools, including private, and the local community college was by far the best program. One thing I did was have a friend in IT already look at all the programs and he helped me draw that conclusion (R.I.P. IRE) |
|
I graduated from ITT in 2007 with BS Info Security. You get what you put into it. Reason I went was it was the closest to my house to make it as easy as possible to change careers, less than 4 miles away(on the way home from my job). Next closest campus was 10+ on NoVA traffic, no thanks. That would be an hour I would waste getting to class, not to mention the stress.
I had good and bad teachers. It really depends on how it meets your needs and what the school does for you. My campus has had a free CISSP bootcamp and other cert classes for free, also the other thing to consider is once you graduate, they help place you for life. Out of my class 2 have PhD's and a whole slew of Masters, my class was a hard working group(NON FSA), you wont always find that. I went back a few times to mentor the Capstones at both the Associate and Bachelor level and the FSA count went up and it was scary. Yes I recommended people fail their Capstone. I am a hiring manager and I have hired ITT grads for jobs in my company, if they know their stuff they will get an offer, they dont know their stuff, no offer. That is what it boils to. When I did mock interviews I said the same thing. Some people just need the piece of paper to go along with there real world skills. |