Tauris Shingler ⋅ Pensacola , FL U.S. Navy, Petty Officer Third Class ⋅ 3 years served

I've asked the same question and I have been overwhelmingly told to get the degree vs the certifications. But I'm still working on my first degree. Your situation is different. I would say to you to get the certifications simply because it would cost you more time, effort, energy, and money to pursue a AAS then it's worth when you already have a BA.

Ted Mittelstaedt ⋅ Portland , OR Portlandia IT LLC ⋅ 20 years experience

I have been in IT for a long time. You are wasting your money on the certs. They are only of value to certain employers such as resellers. The only exception would be the full bore Cisco CCIE certification that costs thousands and takes a long time. But based on the background you supplied you aren't ready for it. Remember the goal of most cert programs is to make money for the manufacturer, and to lock in resellers to their product. Resellers with certified people get price discounts, which makes it difficult for the reseller to jump ship to a competitor.

The holes that attackers are exploiting today are grouped into 2 main classes, social engineering attacks, and code errors. The only answer for social engineering attacks is user education and workflow restructuring and it is complex, and requires someone with many years of experience in both computer security as well as the industry being worked on, such people are very rare which is why social engineering attacks are used so successfully. You are absolutely not qualified for that kind of work now - however as a PolySci major, strangely enough you probably would be a lot better at that type of work than most, with a few years of experience working in the industry that you want to learn to protect along with a good grounding in computer security basics. If you did get a Cisco CCIE in computer security your PolySci background would probably be a fantastic asset because all social engineering attacks are based on lying, and all politics is also based on lying, as a Poly Sci major you have extensively studied lying. So that is one direction you can go.

The other direction is coding - learn to code and you will be on your road to becoming proficient in network security from an application standpoint. Like I said, the other avenue of attack is coding errors, and these can be extremely subtle. Most programmers today are working under impossible deadlines and as a result they sometimes create security holes due to rushing too fast, and the computer networking security professionals are only brought in after the attackers are in through the hole. In those cases a firewall is useless since the application must be reachable from the public, the application must be patched at the code level. A computer science degree is what you need for that.

oliver anthony ⋅ Holtsville , NY U.S. Army, Lieutenant General ⋅ 4 years served

If you really wanted to go back to school, then the best bet would be computer science. With your experience and a new degree, I think your opportunities would be limitless.

Joe Paschall ⋅ Madison , AL nLogic, LLC ⋅ 26 years experience

I concur with the above on the certs outweighing the degree. I see no utility in acquiring a lesser degree than you currently have just to have a technical degree. One option not discussed was "Coding School". These short 90-day courses are expensive ($10-20k) but worth their weight in gold if you aspire to become a developer.

Kirsten Orszag ⋅ San Luis Obispo , CA American West ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Daniel,
OJT can be viewed as more directly applicable if the position you are looking for are similar in nature. Overall - I view certifications as more valuable than additional degrees because they are more specific to my own business needs. Good luck.
Kirsten

John Green ⋅ Cary , NC Information Technology ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Daniel,

OJT trumps both college and certifications. Since you already have a BA, that should suffice augmented by your direct experience with the technology.

IT specialties you might like to consider are IBM DataPower or Cisco CCIE Security. Either will start you out in the $150k range with upper compensation packages over $200k once you obtain the hands-on experience.

I would study and achieve certification on either of those technologies without delay and enter the workforce on those as soon as possible skipping any further optional schooling.

Good luck.
JG

Chuck Burger ⋅ King Of Prussia , PA Lockheed Martin ⋅ 47 years experience

Hello Daniel. I do not believe there is a right or wrong answer to your question. Either path will yield positive results. You should take into consideration your short, medium, and long range goals in the IT field. Do you want to be a specialized tactician or advance into management? While the certificate approach better supports the short term, hands on/operational/tactical IT assignments, advancement in the field would likely lead to a more strategic slanted IT project management position and be better served by the degree route which would offer opportunity of a broader educational background to include project management skills. Since you indicate a desire for pursuing an advanced degree, I believe a combination of certification based training followed by pursuit that degree is an excellent path to satisfying your goals. I’ve never been a big advocate of multiple bachelor’s degrees beyond more education is never a bad thing. I just don’t believe the ROI is as high as having an advanced degree. Good luck with this very exciting time in your career!