<p>I recently graduated with a bachelors of science in social studies education grades 7-12 but have come to realize that although I love the kids, my heart just isn't in teaching.</p>
<p>I am currently weighing my options and have decided that the two most likely fields I will enter will be either accounting or IT.</p>
<p>Regarding IT, I have been told by someone in the field that because I have a bachelors degree already. It would be pointless for me to go back to school and get another bachelors degree in IT. They say that I can probably just get A+ and/or CCNA certified and find a pretty lucrative job in the IT field with my current education degree.</p>
<p>They also say that if I were to go back to school, I could probably find a Masters IT program geared for those like me who have no background in the field but already have a bachelors.</p>
<p>Does the information above sound right to you and do you agree with the advice that was given to me? It would be great to skip more student loans if I can get certified and find a good job without getting another bachelors. My worry is that without having that IT background and classes, teaching myself to get the certs would be extremely difficult. The again, I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent person and with enough studying should be able to manage. I know more about computers than the average person but not enough that I have any kind of aptitude needed to fill an IT job at the present time.</p>
<p>Yes, you can get a good IT job without getting a full bachelor’s degree. The first certification that you should get should be your A+ certification. That is composed of hardware and software configuration: Just those two classes. Also, then people generally get their net+, and security+ certification. The cisco certification is a really good one to get too, and people in networking will hire you fast with that certification. Though with just a basic A+ certification, you can get a basic help desk job and get paid about 12 bucks an hour. </p>
<p>You may want to get a bachelor’s degree from a community college though if you are going to do that. Especially try to get what is known as a Bachelor’s of Applied Science (BAS) degree in information technology. Those degrees are geared to prepare you to get the actual certifications that get you the jobs.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a 4 year CS degree you wont be considered for most software development jobs. Its a credentialing thing. The CCNA jobs wont pay as much as the IT job descriptions you may be looking at. </p>
<p>A BS in CS shouldn’t take you more than a year or so if you already have a 4 year degree. A masters degree would be more work.</p>
<p>For the better paying IT jobs, you’ll want more education than just certification (though that is helpful too). Look into Masters programs that don’t require a background in IT. Do you have geographic limitations for schooling? DePaul has a great Masters program that is very practical and up to date.</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies everyone, they were very helpful.</p>
<p>If I were to get a masters I am not opposed to moving for schooling, however for a bachelors I would like to stay where i am now as my local state university is very cheap.</p>
<p>It looks like going back to school might be my best option at this point. After reading through the material the A+ and CCNA certs cover id have a hard time learning it on my own.</p>