Colleges + Life After

[Peter.Cort]

I'm a junior in High school and want a career in computer tech. I would like to be like a computer technician, an IT director at a company or a school, or something along those lines. right now there are absolutely no tech programs at my school so its all up to college, but i do have a job that i learn a lot at. right now I'm getting an A+ cert book from a friend at work and then I'm gonna get my A+ cert. from what i've heard i will mostly need/rely on a ccna/cisco cert and various networking certs. i also want to go to school somewhere away from where i live, new hampshire. so i have a few questions.

1. What's the best for an education (pertinent to my career choice), 2-Year, 4-year, or something else.

2. Where are there currently "hot-spots" in the tech industry.

3. Whats the best thing to do tech wise to make a decent amount of money.

 

[Jorsoft]

I think that in general you should go 4-years at college and at least get your A+ cert. 2-year degrees don't usually offer much more income than a high-school only level job. Bachelor's and above really start to open up doors for you.

As far as making money, good IT support is hard to find so that's always an option. Concentrate lots on networking, too, that seems to be where the big money is at. The network is the backbone of a business being able to get work done and being able to keep it up and running well is worth a lot.

I don't know much about Hot Spots. Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area are obvious choices. There are a lot of important but smaller companies in the Minneapolis, MN area. I personally see some benefit of working for these smaller companies. They operate efficiently, hire you quickly, and they really appreciate their employees so the pay is definitely good at most of them. Plus it's a lot easier to get noticed. That's just me.

 

[prodigy]

1. You may not need the 4 year degree initially but you will need it eventually if you want to move up within a company to a management type role. This is especially true if you want to move up to an "IT director" type position. If you are strapped for money, it is probably good to get a degree at a 2 year college and get your core classes out of the way. You will also have some form of a degree before you start looking for a job and won't have to wait four years. Then when you are ready you can finish out your four year degree. Major in something technical. Whether it be computer science, business information technology, etc.

2. A major "hotspot" is near the Washington D.C. area. If you have some credentials it is easy to get a position here.

3. In terms of what type of job role you should do...that should be completely up to you and what you enjoy. Do not let money dictate what you do. If you are good enough to get the money you deserve, you will get it eventually. That being said I'd go with software engineer, network engineer, or database administrator.