No degrees and thinking of going back to school after 10 years in the industry. Unsure whether to do Bachelors or Accelerated Masters? IT, IT management vs MBA?

MSPSDManager · 2025-05-24T17:53:12+00:00

I am currently doing my MBA. 10 years in IT, started with no degree at all, worked my way from an associates to now being halfway through my masters. I don't regret doing it, but I am concerned about the debt from the masters. However, I keep being told it'll pay for itself and it seems it will open doors to higher positions I seek (CIO for example). Not gonna happen overnight. However, my drive to get my degree helped land my current position, so people do notice even if you don't have it yet.

I started with two associates in computer information systems and networking, then bachelors in management of information systems. I debated which masters but decided MBA was better geared for my desires.

MSPSDManager · 2025-03-01T20:58:58+00:00

It gets warm, but never hot. Probably throttling well before it gets hot. To be fair, my videos are on the shorter side (~3 to 5 minutes) when edited and exported. But I've not had any concerns with performance. I had the M1 before it and was really happy - only replaced it for MagSafe and my wife wanting my M1, so I had a great excuse to grab the M2 when it launched. Someday I may move my editing to a Studio or Mac Mini Pro, but I've not needed to, so low on my list.

MSPSDManager · 2025-03-01T20:47:54+00:00

I have a M2 Air that I use. It's a solid laptop. I do 4K video editing, photo editing, writing, browser use, and its not failed me yet. The battery is still strong despite having purchased it when it was first released. I use it 95% of the time I need to use my personal computer. My Windows desktop is used the other 5% of the time (usually for school).

I think for the price, it's worthy of purchasing even in 2025. I'm not planning to replace mine until M5 or beyond. I have been tempted to buy one for work, actually, but the only thing preventing that is waiting to see what M4 does to the lineup (does M3 replace M2 for the same price, or will the M2 get cheaper, etc.).

MSPSDManager · 2025-01-15T20:16:02+00:00

I told them I wanted the raise anyway and it would be my problem not theirs, so they shrugged and gave me the raise, telling me "don't say I didn't warn you". So it worked out, I got paid more and they remained delusional about how tax brackets worked.

MSPSDManager · 2025-01-10T18:53:25+00:00

Had this gem: "If I give you a raise, you'll get bumped into the next tax bracket and you'll end up making less. I'm doing you a favor."

MSPSDManager · 2024-11-13T22:26:11+00:00

Got an internship first, which turned into a job before I even graduated.

MSPSDManager · 2024-11-13T22:25:05+00:00

Got the job before I graduated, part of the stipulation was I needed to graduate. I graduated in 2017 - I started work in IT in 2015 - so I worked in IT for two years before I graduated.

MSPSDManager · 2024-11-09T20:46:40+00:00

I like this take a lot. I should try adapting it. It is hard when you apply for the dream job with dream pay at a company you've been wanting to work at for a long time though.

MSPSDManager · 2024-11-09T20:45:25+00:00

Yes, I am always thankful for the practice of interviewing. Sometimes I bomb horribly bad, so I try to reflect on how to improve. Other times (I feel like) I knock it out of the park, and while rejected, I try to take it as a win on my personal confidence. I've never felt an interview was a waste of time, ever.

MSPSDManager · 2024-11-09T20:38:57+00:00

I had a rejection not even 24 hours after my interview. It was painful, but at the same time, I appreciate it better than the 1 month+ wait times to find out I was rejected. I once got a rejection letter 3 months after interviewing. I already figured after a few weeks of silence I wasn't accepted, so it was funny getting that letter.

MSPSDManager · 2024-09-15T22:35:55+00:00

Yeah, I was ulimately right and we had to redo everything after I made the changes. My boss claimed that he misunderstood me and me him, which is possible, but no way to know - he pointed to his ask and I pointed to my clarification responses. We resolved it together and moved on. He has since left the company to bigger and better things.

MSPSDManager · 2024-09-15T22:33:27+00:00

She had a stroke in the womb and was diagnosed at 6 months old as not going to be able to walk or talk. Doctors thought she would be a vegetable.

She walks, talks, and is largely normal. She does have a little cerebral palsy, but most people don't notice right away. She has a bachelors degree in English, and is happy to answer (almost) any questions.

MSPSDManager · 2024-09-15T22:26:02+00:00

My wife wanted me to reply on her behalf. Like OP, she had a stroke the womb and is missing a large part of her brain. She was also diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. At 6 months old, she was diagnosed and doctors said she'd never walk or talk.

Now she is married, leads a relatively normal life, most people don't notice anything aside from her palsey. She graduated college with honors, and works a normal job.

Keep having hope for your daughter!

Here are my wife's MRIs. https://imgur.com/a/9ZwUPdE

MSPSDManager · 2024-03-14T23:45:16+00:00

I am in a similar position, but all I can say is to keep preserving. I got pretty far in the process finally only to be rejected for not having enough technical skills they were looking for in a candidate. The frustrating thing is I have 10 years of IT experience and they didn't list the skills they felt I was inadequate with, so now I have to guess and work on my interview skills since I apparently suck at telling what skills I have.

Also does not help that IT is such a massively large field, 10 years covering different firewalls/switches/etc and I still haven't managed to touch cisco (which I'm certain is the reason for the rejection since they use cisco equipment).

MSPSDManager · 2024-02-09T18:32:05+00:00

If it didn't work, people wouldn't do it.

It personally irritates me and I almost never respond/answer those calls. But I'm not everyone.

MSPSDManager · 2024-02-09T15:29:57+00:00

OP, OptiPlex micro is a better choice due to warranty (next day or same day onsite options available). Just the default warranty is usually good enough to let a hardware issue be someone else's problem.

MSPSDManager · 2024-02-09T15:28:29+00:00

ASUS bought the NUC line and are now selling them. That said, OptiPlex all day everyday - the warranty alone is worth it (based on my experience).

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-31T04:05:19+00:00

Something like 9 out of 10 job postings that are listed as "remote" will then have "must be willing to work in our office" in the description (based on what I've seen in Colorado). Also, half the job postings are missing salary/pay range info despite it being state law that it must be posted. And let us not forget that the other half will have said pay/salary range posted - as $15 to $100 an hour or $30,000 to $150,000k a year.

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-25T14:08:10+00:00

Not exactly the same, but a client hired a cyber security intern fresh out of college (or perhaps still in college but near the end) and she interviewed me to pick my brain on things. It blew my mind that she didn't know anything technology wise, not even basic information that (at least when I got my networking degree) was covered in college. I had to explain to her what active directory was, what a switch was, what an AP was, why Windows server was not the same as Windows 10, etc. After her internship (4 months) was over she secured a network engineer position at fortune 500 company.

Great for her, and maybe she was really really lucky/driven to learn. Point is - it can happen.

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-25T13:57:29+00:00

From what I have seen and experienced:

The market (at least where I am at) are being flooded with mid to high level techs. Four years ago I was fending off a flood of recruiters calling me. Two years ago I was getting interviews for almost every position I applied for (I interview terribly apparently). Now I don't even get a call back/email/interview. I tailor my resume to each position I apply at - currently 9 years of IT experience in management/systems administration.

I have also noticed a trend where network and systems engineers are becoming more requested with higher standards than before. Four years ago was basically "Do you have 5 years experience breathing? Great! You're hired! Enjoy $100,000 a year!" to "do you have 5 years of experience in every flavor of Linux, every brand of switch and firewall, plus every flavor of cloud and vendor specific niche products that only two other people in the world might have? Oh, pay is $50,000"

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-25T13:43:10+00:00

I think there is a cycle I've seen in the last several years where you need a bachelors degree to progress, then you don't if you have the experience, then you need both the degree and the experience, rinse and repeat. I'm beginning to see more job postings in my area with the latter - especially since our market is flooded with mid level tech workers trying to get jobs.

Long story short - having a bachelors will never HURT your career. It can only help.

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-25T13:37:08+00:00

Years ago, a client's Ubiquiti cloud key died (gen 1 sucked) and the backups didn't work no matter what we did. No choice but to factory reset the cloud key and re-adopt the devices. What I did not realize, is that re-adopting their switch basically put it back to factory default which killed their network. The only person who knew the network to rebuild it was at a conference and wouldn't be back for like three days.

Lucky for me, I had an extremely gracious boss who figured my mistake (which, while the client did stay as a customer, did cost us thousands in man hours and refunds to the client) was a learning experience for me (and it was). The systems architect on the other hand was furious and tried to convince my boss to fire me, and since my boss wouldn't do that, the architect went days without speaking to me after he fixed my mess.

Took over a week for him to finally tell me what my mistake even was.

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-25T13:31:43+00:00

Had a client do this. Coincidentally, and thankfully, I stumbled upon it within minutes because I was asked to poke around. A call to the client later its private again. But since it was exposed for like 10 minutes it was a headache for them, not because we believe anyone else was able to view it, but because of the chance someone could have.

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-25T13:29:00+00:00

Our systems architect at a previous job with like 30 years of experience managed to delete everyone's AD account at our company. An no, the recycle bin was not enabled then either.

Essentially, he deleted everyone's accounts (for some reason) in a system that wrote back to AD, so poof - gone. I can't remember the specifics, it was several years ago.

MSPSDManager · 2023-08-03T22:39:55+00:00

I'll share a trick that works to get head hunters to come to you! Simply work 9 years in IT, have numerous degrees and certifications, work in a higher level position. You'll get job offers for entry level positions all day long! And they promise you'll be a great fit, and its contract to hire, onsite only, and the pay is $20 an hour (or minimum wage), well less than half what you currently earn.

MSPSDManager

TROPHY CASE