Education or experience?

[Bryants95240sx]

Im obbtainning an Associates degree in aug of this year in Computer science basically, but i planned on furthering that and going back to school for my bachelors.

Heres my delima ive been offered two jobs. One would require me to finish with my assoc. and Start working out of state for 5 days a week and I would be able to come home on the weekends. I havent disscussed salary yet, so i have yet to see. This is with a company that my uncle owns.

The other job im interviewing for on Wed of next week, its their Pc tech/admin/whatever computer related. This job is at a lawfirm with about 20 lawyers i was told. This job would still allow me to go to school and obtain my bach. degree. The salary will be around 20 dollars an hour starting off. Although like i said they havent hired me yet and we will just have to see how it pans out.

Also im having to take students loans for my school, so its costing me rought 35k for my assoc, and will be around 80k for my bachelors.

So heres the question for people that are out in the world already. Is education worth more than the experience.

[ALEXTHESUS*PECT]

50/50. the one that lets you get experience and go to school may be the most fruitful!

[aznpoopy]

to score a good job coming out of school, you really need both. especially with computer science.

computer science programs often have very little to do with practical computer work in school. that's where practical experience comes into play.

on the other hand, not having a computer science degree is going to close certain doors that otherwise would have been open. its important to get that degree.

[azndoc]

^^^ agree with nismornr

It just depends on what kind of person you are. Are you a swimmer when it comes to sink or swim situations. Personally if I had my own company I would much rather take someone who had the experience than someone who is booksmart. I think that schools teach you stuff that just prepares you for some of the stuff you will encounter on the job. But the majority of it is all on job training anyways. It all just depends on what kind of job your getting into.

[Bryants95240sx]

well in this case my computer of science degree holds more than it would from a university considering i go to school at ITT-Tech, and all my classes have labs with hands on experience.

[mRclARK1]

Agreed with azndoc. From personal experience; with some jobs only experience can really teach you and make you entirely efficient. With many others you need to learn some school/book stuff to be able to learn from that experience. Most often they go hand in hand. One with the other....

[Baka Sama]

19 and offered a job making 20/hr? Not bad son, not bad.
Im not out of school yet myself so I cant answer your question, but if I were you I would go with the job from the Lawfirm. You dont have to travel and after you get your bach degree you can always ask for a raise.

[SiI40sx]

It all depends on the career path you take. Since you've already gotten this ahead by getting your degree my following statement probably isnt that useful to you but probably to others:

The way I see it, get into a career path (that you like of course) and start at the bottom. Set goals for yourself as far as where you'd want to be in this industry in 4-5 years from now. Some industries will have a breaking point where youll need a degree to get to the next level. If you can figure that out youll be set.

In your situation I suggest you find out WHAT it is you want to do (Most people get stuck doing things they never planned on doing because of unexpected life situations. Ive seen this in sooo many co-workers Ive worked with) After you do, start at where you feel you deserve, if its a $20 hr starting, do it, then grow with the company and become an asset. I highly doubt theres a limit to how successful you can be due to the fact you ALREADY have a degree.


/rant


good luck

[atom]

I would do whatever lets you go back to school. I say that because I'm guessing you don't really know what specific field you want to go into. Because, if you did, you would already know if you needed a bachelors degree or higher and therefore wouldn't be asking this question.

well in this case my computer of science degree holds more than it would from a university considering i go to school at ITT-Tech, and all my classes have labs with hands on experience.

Hate to break it to you but every CS program at any decent university has labs. Your degree coming from ITT would actually be considered a minus to most companies.

I work in the software industry so yes, I do know from firsthand experience. I've met people who have nothing more than a high school diploma that are making way more than me simply because they have so much hands on experience and their portfolio would blow mines out of the water.

At the same time these same people would never be considered for certain types of jobs because they don't have the formal education. Certain "advanced" fields such as artificial intelligence you simply can't do without a lot of education.

Figure out what you want to do first and start from there.

[4thHorse]

Work were you can go to school and finish your education. It will get you further ahead of the game. Some companies look at Education = x many years of experience. I believe an AS = 2 years experience here(my companies main rival is AMD so guess were I'm at). Also see if the company will help you get industry certs, the goes even further than years of experience. In the end just make sure you stay in school.

[RiversideS13]

college life is fun, go to school!

also, with a higher degree will allow you to have more options later

[eastcoastS14]

yeah get your bachelors...not sure if this is your situation but a friend of mine is getting his associates but when he goes back to school his credits will carry over so he'll only have to do 2 more years at a different school to get his bachelors, my economics teacher was saying that the demand for college grads is going up every year to the point that the job market is flooded with college grads so its hard to seperate them...so anything that will give you a leg up will help, and the more education the better...

[theicecreamdan]

The problem with taking the job right now is being kinda stuck with it. They say you'll have time to finish your bachelors, but your degree isn't going to be their priority. If you end up going for experience now before you have your education then what happens when you get laid off in a couple years?

[TOMKAIRA93]

dude, you need to finish your school. Trust me!! I did and the opportunities are limitless and if you can pursue your masters even better. Experience is great too, but some companies (depending on the career) like their people to be educated. That shows commitment/ dicipline in your part. Right now if I had my Masters, I can make over $120K starting anywhere for what I do, regardless of experience. Imagine, I have over 10 years of experience at what I do and currently working on the masters. Can't wait to be done. It's a hassle with work, familiy and cars, but its manageable. So, school + experience = $$$$$$^2 Take the job and continue to go to school, don't get complacent.

Good luck!