Opinions on what Classes to take to have solid IT start!?

[negativeno25]

Hi ho!
I'm a university student in SF and my school does not offer a stand-alone IT major and instead has info system under the business major and a computer science major. I want to make a list of classes from the ISYS and computer science courses that can help me with the basic IT certs (ie. A+, server +, security+).

I'm a junior right now and pretty much graduate a year early with my current major and so I plan to use my extra 2 semesters (with financial aid) to take IT-related classes.

I'll be honest and say that I know little to none about IT and I've been doing my research on the basics so I could ask better questions. I also understand that review books on these certs could give be a solid idea of what to take but for now, I'd like to have a working list of classes to consider so I can plan my schedule. Getting classes could get all Hunger Games status at my university and a course list def helps. I'll be getting those review books soon but would appreciate ANY help with a working IT course list!
Here's the Selection:
CSC 220 Data Structures

CSC 230 Discrete Mathematical Structures for Computer Science

CSC 256 Machine Structures

CSC 340 Programming Methodology

CSC 415 Principles of Operating Systems

CSC 600 Programming Language Design

CSC 675 Introduction to Database Systems

CSC 641 Computer Performance Evaluation

CSC 656 Computer Organization


CSC 664 Multimedia Systems

CSC 615 UNIX Programming

CSC 641 Computer Performance Evaluation

CSC 645 Computer Networks

CSC 650 Secure Networked Systems

CSC 651 System Administration

CSC 651 System Administration


ISYS 363 Information Systems for Management

ISYS 350 Building Business Applications

ISYS 463 Information Systems Analysis and Design

ISYS 565 Managing Enterprise Networks

ISYS 568 Multimedia Business Applications Development

ISYS 569 Information Systems for Business Process Management

ISYS 575 Information Security Management

ISYS 565 Managing Enterprise Networks

ISYS 663 Information Technology Project Management

ISYS 367 Building Advanced Business Applications with Java
ISYS 368 Building Advanced Business Applications with C#
ISYS 475 Building Web Applications with Open Source Software

ISYS 512 Business Application Design and Development with .NET

ISYS 569 Information Systems for Business Process Management

ISYS 639 Software Testing and Quality Assurance

Many of these classes are linked to the course description! Doc attached if links dont work.
Thanks!

 

[DistraughtSysop]

The individual courses won't matter all that much. Just make sure that you're taking something in Windows Server, Unix/Linux, networking, and hardware. Security is interesting and it's good to know something about it. Programming is always good to get into but you'll be fine without it (unless you want to be a programmer, obviously). If you don't know much about computers, even on an enthusiast level, then you'd also benefit from some sort of "intro to computers" course.

Any hardware, networking and security courses will help for their respective exams, but you'll still need the exam study guides. My understanding of Server+ is that it's mostly on server hardware, so I don't know if any classes would really help with that. I don't think that it's a particularly valuable cert, anyway, unless you're going to be a server tech swapping out drives and power supplies and the such. I could be wrong on that, but I can tell you that server admins go for Microsoft and Linux certs.

If you haven't started already, what you should be doing now is building your professional network of contacts (starting with your instructors) and trying to get internships. If you have Dreamspark access, you should also have a homelab that you're tinkering with.

 

[Reckless]

This is certainly a rough list and there are some gaps in this training but here is what I would recommend.

415, 675, 641, 656, 641, 645, 650, 651, 363, 463, 565, 569, 575, 565, 663, 569, 639