Is it worth it to study IT? Is an associates degree worth anything

>>61160334
Need to be under 25 with at least 10 years of experience and a PhD in programming for any entry level IT jobs

Aim for a bachelors degree and study either software engineering, computer science, or computer security. Computer science is probably the most generic one and you can specialise later if you want. An associates degree is a bit too meager, IMHO, and you'd have to compete with bachelor undergrads. (disclaimer: coming from an MSc in computer security, now a senior security consultant)

>>61160453
Do you think I could maybe get an entry level position with my AAS then work for a bachelor's later on?

An associate's degree is fine if you don't care about making a lot of money.

I would suggest nursing if you want to make a good living with a two year degree though.

>>61160667
Sure you can, I know of plenty of students here finishing their bachelors (and masters) while working as well. It just takes a lot of self discipline.

>>61160334
No...but it's worth going to college and getting a degree in something with a mathematical slant (ie physics, math, stats, economics, finance, engineering, etc).

One reason being is that technology changes rapidly and a majority of the material you learn in an undergrad CS program will be obsolete by the time you're out. A degree in some other field and some IT experience allows you more job prospects.

Another reason is that you have better odds getting hired in the verticals that you specialize in. If you have a finance degree and have IT experience, and you apply for a bank IT job, you're more likely to get that job than someone with a CS degree that knows nothing about banking.

t. IT Director (BA in Economics, MBA in MIS)

>>61160995
That's why OP, provided he or she has the right self discipline, should consider working while finishing his or her degree to stay on top of latest developments.

>Finance degree + IT experience necessary for landing a job at a bank
That highly depends on the position one would apply for, I would say. Entry level DevOps isn't really concerned with anything financial and I see plenty of CS undergrads and grads working there after uni.

>>61160334
if you're in the US, no degree is worth it. If you want to study, emigrate to europe for a decade. Still gonna be cheaper.

IT is shit, you won't be appreciated even if you do it right and nobody knows the difference between what you can be responsible for, by which I mean proprietary shitware that nobody else on fucking earth uses but them and hasn't been updated for 15 years.

Even if they get it that you can't be held responsible for the shitware, then 30 minutes after they call the company and they make up some bullshit about how they won't do anything, or better off they just blame you, the client is going to realize that they don't need computers at all and will go full luddite and drop you. You can get out of this any which way you want as the shitware developer by just saying "it's your router" or "oh you need to be on server 2K3"

It doesn't matter if you're the senior tech and it doesn't fucking matter if you own the company. They're going to drop you once the shitty software causes their computers to be essentially worthless anyway. This is why IT is so shitty.

"oh but all the clients at my company get it and we get along fine"

Yeah you've been lucky enough for their shitware to not explode yet. You haven't seen them when this happens. They will turn into the rest in less than 30 minutes.

>>61160995
i've thought about a statistics degree since big data is the spiciest meme atm, plain math degrees kinda put me off though since they have a reputation for being unemployable

>>61160995
>a majority of the material you learn in an undergrad CS program will be obsolete by the time you're out

what the fuck do they teach you? Maybe you should try learning a language other than java...