So I know we've had the recession in the past year and some say things are looking up. Now I've never had any college experience and it does take at least 1 1/2 - 2 years to get the minimum degree (a associates). Now I know no one can predict what the job markets going to be like in 2-4 years but I'm just wondering if I was interested in a job/career in the IT field would it be more logical to wait and get a bachelors or start off with a associates and go from there? Does it depend more on how much I can or want to invest in education?

 Also on another topic in my head, I REALLY am more interested in the network field but also curious about web design. Does anyone know programs that combines both in any sort, like one has a major core into one criteria and has a intros into the other? 

Actually you could realistically complete an associates in about a year or even less if you are willing to CLEP test out.  Another thing is you could do networking or web design for an associates and networking for a BS or vice versa.  You could also major at the BS level in one and minor in the other.  Since you are going to have to do the AS level work on the way to a BS anyhow, I recommend you get your AS along the way if for no other reason than to have a milestone marker in your process.  Have you considered any schools in particular?  Do you have a budget?  Are you a career changer?  Do you have any previous college?

I think things are looking up for the fatcats, but not so much for the rest of us.  An economic recovery where the number of jobs per capita is still decreasing is a recovery only an economist could love.

Anyway, I used to do IT for a living, so I understand your dilemma.  There are a number of different interesting sectors of the industry, web design, programing, system administration, network engineering, etc., but it can be better to specialize than to try to become a jack of all trades.

I totally agree that you may as well get an Associate's on the way to getting your Bachelor's.  And it would probably be possible to get an Associate's in one and your Bachelor's in the other without taking any extra courses, since most programs require elective credit.  Or you could major in one subject and minor in another, although the concept of minoring seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent years.

As for networking vs. web development, they're pretty different from each other, and the positions where you'd be likely to use both skill sets are those at small employers where you would be one of only a few people on the IT team.  If you do decide to do web development, you will end up learning programming and database development as well, because they're all interrelated -- you need to know all those things to build and maintain database-backed web applications and create dynamic web sites.  This is a very marketable set of skills these days, at least in my area.

You might also want to consider studying for technical certifications.  That would be a fast way to get some credentials on your resume, and many schools will give you some transfer credit for them.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

Cajun and Steve I respect and appreciate both of your all's opinions because for one there aren't many forums that are active like this and also you all have or do have online schooling(lol), IT experience and just very constructive post.

 I really was interested in Westwood, then Kaplan has a AS in Information Technology that has three emphasis to choose from(networking administrating, web or application development) that even though you can only choose one emphasis there still has intros into graphic design if you choose NA as the emphasis or vice versa if you choose WD. Then UMASS sounded appealing because they've gotten very good reviews on sites and since Kaplan reviews are 50/50 it's really hard to choose because even though some of the negative reviews seem redundant with they are money whores or one was a review of someone claiming to be a former teacher saying how Kaplan lets people pass or bumps a grade up 2-3 or letters.

 I know I need to go with what I think but I mean choosing something with money you have to repay and if you see your in a choice you dont like though you can unenroll you still are stuck paying at least thats what my impression of how things work with that. 

The programs and actually getting into all this seems exciting and great but it's the which is actually best for me the hardest part at the moment especially having no college experience at all and being out of HS for 5 years now, working full time ever since.

There is a third option here, you could simply get a degree in IT and specialize through certifications later.  I will say this though, it's easier to certify in networking than application development from what I've seen. 

Just off the top of my head some great online IT schools are Baker, Bellevue University and possibly Tarleton State University in the bang for buck department.  On the upper end of the scale you have UMass (great school) and Devry (good job placement).  So you have a wide spectrum and a lot of options.  Here's a sample http://www.elearners.com/search/online-degrees/associate/information-technology.htm

 

and if you were more interested in the management and PM side of the house there's also management information systems.  Liberty has a great looking AS program in that area that is relatively inexpensive.  http://www.elearners.com/search/online-degrees/information-systems.htm.

So look around, ask questions, request a ton of information, keep an eye on the price tag, set a budget and figure out your priorities. 

I'm not sure I would recommend associate degrees for anything beyond an entry level job.  For most jobs that I see advertised in my area, the bachelor degree seems to be the minimum qualification for the bettery-paying jobs.

 With that being said, the job market is touch for everyone right now, no matter what type of degree they have.  There are a lot of MBA holders currently out of work, especially in the Finance field.

 

Maybe times are hard for financiers, but a friend of mine who does IT said recently that the employment agency he worked for asked him to keep an eye out for PHP developers because they couldn't find them fast enough.  These are jobs that start at $60,000 and only require applicants to know what they're doing.  If I were starting a career in IT, I'd seriously consider getting up to speed in web development, focusing on the LAMP stack.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

I will second that, two areas in IT that I see that are always needing talent are project management and application development, no question.  The tough thing about project management is finding one that understands technology.  For some reason for years those savvy in technology are not in business and vice versa...if you could bridge that gap, you'll likely be employed in short order.

I would go straight into a 4 year colleges instead of spending a year or 2 in associate degree program. If you need to make up a certain grade, you can always take classes at community college to boost up that GPA.

hilmerjosita:

I would go straight into a 4 year colleges instead of spending a year or 2 in associate degree program. If you need to make up a certain grade, you can always take classes at community college to boost up that GPA.

I would find an Associate's degree program where the credits earned also then apply to a Bachelor's degree.  There's no reason not to get an intermediate credential on the way.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress