Phil,

It all depends on your career goals. Do you want to be a technician and manage technology or do you want to manage technology and people? Do you want to manage an IPS or do you want to choose which IPS your company will use? Do you want to write policy and procedure, develop Business Continuity Plans, and be in charge of developing a budget? The more you want to deal with people or money, the higher level degree you will need in today's IT world. Some people love technology and want to focus on that. Others want to focus on being managers, but still be involved with technology. After the tech oriented certs, there are the management certs from basic management (CISSP), mid-level (CISM), to high-level (SABSA - CSA). The hot cert today is Certified (Chartered in the UK) Security Architect from SABSA. Most new CISSP, CISM, CSA - SABSA candidates today already have a 4-year degree.

Best of Luck!

Jim

James A. Nelson, Ph.D.
New Mexico State University

________________________________________
From: listbounce (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email concealed] [listbounce (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email concealed]] On Behalf Of fhlipZero (at) gmail (dot) com [email concealed] [fhlipZero (at) gmail (dot) com [email concealed]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 1:58 AM
To: security-basics (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email concealed]
Subject: College Courses for Info Sec or Certificates or Both?

Hello list
I am just about to start my first two years of classes at a community college with Criminal Justice/Info Security being my major for an associates degree then I'll be transferring out to a four year. I am confused about a few things. I plan on getting a few certs under my belt during this first year, hopefully CISSP or Security+, Network+, A+(is this even looked at anymore) and whatever else I can find a test for. Now if I would get some of these, would it be a waste of time and money to get my four year or would these and experience in the field be sufficient. As far as I can tell from the posts I followed on the job opportunities list, a BS degree or equivalent experience is required and certs are a resume builder but not required. So lists opinion, should I stick with the four year or get my associates, certs, and jump into the field?
Thanks, Phil

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