Thread: IT Careers
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Old 10-17-2011, 10:22 AM
Extunarian Extunarian is offline
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Join Date: May 2010
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Depends a lot on whether you're looking at a 2 year or 4 year program. A two year certificate or associates degree is nice to get because you can get a decent paying job to help finance the remaining 2 years, and I highly recommend focusing on getting that bachelors degree.

With a 2 year degree in Networking you could get something like (~40k salary):
http://jobview.monster.com/Network-S...102549734.aspx

A 4 year degree would probably land you something along these lines (~60-70k)
http://jobview.monster.com/Network-T...103201102.aspx

Note that getting that 2nd job requires some experience. If you're in your junior year of a 4-year IT program you need need need to get a job in the field, even if it seems low paying. At my company we turn down folks who went to great schools and had great GPA's because they worked at taco bell (or worse, never had a job!) for there entire tenure in college. Real world experience means an easier time finding a job, a higher base salary, and of course, knowing what the hell you're doing on your first day.

If you are successful and enjoy the networking/infrastructure side and want to work for a company with a big hardware budget (like 50 million dollar data centers) you could look into Infrastructure Planning and Architecture (120k+)
http://jobview.monster.com/Infrastru...101136064.aspx


One other thing, getting Cisco and Microsoft certified will help you get those early jobs before you have your degree. I don't recommend renewing them after you graduate unless your job wants you to, but they are a nice leg up in the beginning.
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