>Thank you Howard for taking the time to respond to my post! You made some
>very good and greatly appreciated points in your response.
You remind me of something to consider, that may be the best of all
worlds right at the associate's level. Continue to look at the
various standard curricula, but look for one that has a co-op
work-study program strongly featured. Typically, these turn 4-year
into 5-year programs, but YMMV.
Being in a co-op program blows away the employer concern that someone
has only academic experience. While I'll freely admit that co-ops
don't often have the pressure on them that regular employees will,
successful co-op'ing does demonstrate that you have the people skills
to function in the work environment. Most of the people I know that
have done such programs worked in the same enterprise for each work
rotation, getting increasingly responsible assignments as they did
so. People that did this almost always had a job offer from the
co-op employer on graduation.
Other competent people wanted broader experience, so consciously
worked at different firms. This might be perfectly viable,
especially if your academic advisors can document you changed
programs to get wider experience, rather than didn't work out in an
assignment. References from each work program can help.
Especially if you consider taking a permanent job offer from a firm
where you were a co-op, do negotiate hard on starting salary. My
first wife was a very sucessful co-op, but fell into a trap here.
She kept accepting what were around 10% increases when she moved to
the next year, but limited her raise to that amount when she accepted
a permanent position. Subsequently, she fell farther and farther
behind her peers, because her salary (and smaller increments for an
employee) really tied back to student rates. While she loved the
place she worked, she eventually left it and got a 50% raise that put
her not in some exotic payscale, but about where she should have been.
These days, it might be appropriate to structure your work phase such
that getting certified is a specific goal, and to which your
on-the-job phase contributes. Time can be a challenge, because you
are often expected to take an academic course or two while you are in
the work phase. Depending on how flexible the school is, however, you
might be able to get "independent study" or "directed study" approved
such that your part-time study supports certification.
Another thing to consider, if you are in a more traditional academic
program, is that it's a good idea to be active, as a student, in
professional associations such as ACM and IEEE. You make some
excellent contacts this way. Indeed, I recommend it to people
further along in their careers!
> I think the reason I asked the group the question stems from the fact
>that a friend of mine just received his Bachelor's in Computer Engineering,
>and is having a very difficult time finding a job. I quite honestly think
>that the problem is that he is very well rounded, but doesn't really know
>alot about any one area (i.e. programming, networking, etc...).
> So, here I am, working as a Systems Administrator for a well known
>company, wanting to get away from the "NT babysitting" I find myself doing
>on a daily basis, and getting into something more WAN intensive. I am just
>fearful that if I elect to finish my Bachelor's in CE, CS, or MIS, I will
>not gain the same level of "relevant" information that I would if I had used
>the time to study for a vendor specific certification such as the CCIE (or
>something much more specialized such as the Bachelor's degree in networking
>I originally inquired about), nor will the degree help me find a job any
>quicker than the CCIE would (based upon one individual I have observed). I
>guess my first question should have been, "OT: Certs or degees, which one(s)
>first?"
>
>Thank you again,
>
>jay
>
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