Degree/Career question

[StarsMars]

Currently I'm about to transfer universities to start my Bachelors in Cyber Security. 

I've got a few years of IT experience. I'll come out with a handful of industry certifications.

 

I'm pretty set on this path, but wondering if the specialization of the degree will be limiting.

 

IE. If I start working in cyber and decide I'd rather do IT management, will employers pass over this degree?

Basically I don't want to be totally pigeon holed.

 

[Shimejii]

Employers pretty much will take a glance at your resume and not really give a shit what part of the IT, as they generally wont understand much of the differences. When you get to a specific job it will matter more, and if you are recruited by someone also in the know of IT. But most recruiters and employer hiring departments dont generally care as long as you have a IT degree, and have whatever certs they require.

 

Just know if you are actually interested in cyber security jobs, you better keep your online profile clean, because they will dig into it if they have someone on staff to see what youve been up to.

[saintlouisbagels]

You won't be pigeon-holed.

Careers are very fluid as long as you are an ambitious person. The only limiting factor is whether or not you have a Degree. Period. The degree doesn't even have to be directly related to what you try to pivot to.

 

I made 4 close friends at my first job. They all got a degree in Nanoscale Engineering and were all hired as Manufacturing Engineerings. Now they work in Database and Data Analysis, Software Developer, Sustaining Engineer, and R&D Manufacturing Engineer.

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, StarsMars said:

I'm pretty set on this path, but wondering if the specialization of the degree will be limiting.

In some ways it could be yes but also you're choosing a high demand high paying path so I wouldn't be too concerned about job potential. As far as IT management positions that won't be a problem.

[wasab]

Nah, most people don't care as long as you aren't learning purely underwater basket weaving. 

 

Note though, cyber security is nothing what you see in the movies. It is an incredibly dry, difficult, and boring topics, for me anyways.

 

If you want to do IT management, there are a lot easier degrees to get and study for that lead to the same thing. 

[wasab]

2 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

You won't be pigeon-holed.

Careers are very fluid as long as you are an ambitious person. The only limiting factor is whether or not you have a Degree. Period.

60 years ago maybe. In today's world when nearly half of the people all have a bachelor degree, it is nothing special. In fact, employers would sometimes discriminate against you for majoring in gender studies and other useless garbage. Not that they look down on these materials and subject but rather they question your critical thinking skills and decision making for investing 4 years, the opportunity costs, and likely student debt, to study something so utterly useless. For goverment like the military, stem degrees usually have higher priority in candidacy over none stems. It is what it is. 

[saintlouisbagels]

17 minutes ago, wasab said:

60 years ago maybe. In today's world when nearly half of the people all have a bachelor degree, it is nothing special. In fact, employers would sometimes discriminate against you for majoring in gender studies and other useless garbage. Not that they look down on these materials and subject but rather they question your critical thinking skills and decision making for investing 4 years, the opportunity costs, and likely student debt, to study something so utterly useless. For goverment like the military, stem degrees usually have higher priority in candidacy over none stems. It is what it is. 

I’ve worked at a few Fortune 500 companies in my 10 years of work experience (I’m 30) and I live in progressive Massachusetts, USA. At all of them, not having a Bachelor’s degree was the brick wall that prevented promotions, and I met countless people working in great roles that were barely related to what they majored in.

 

And I was under a great manager at all of them and they all hated the Bachelor’s Degree requirement because they couldn’t adequately compensate hard workers.

[wasab]

34 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

I’ve worked at a few Fortune 500 companies in my 10 years of work experience (I’m 30) and I live in progressive Massachusetts, USA. At all of them, not having a Bachelor’s degree was the brick wall that prevented promotions, and I met countless people working in great roles that were barely related to what they majored in.

i have also seen people without college degree at all and worked in great roles. heck, my cousin is a high school drop out and now he runs his own company as the CEO and he employs people with a college degree. it is not a valid point.

 

i am not saying not having a degree isn't a handicap but rather you need more than just a degree nowadays and what degree does matter up to a certain extent. all tech degrees are equal but such equality is no longer the case when compared to anthropology and gender studies. 

[StarsMars]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

 

3 hours ago, Shimejii said:

Employers pretty much will take a glance at your resume and not really give a shit what part of the IT, as they generally wont understand much of the differences. When you get to a specific job it will matter more, and if you are recruited by someone also in the know of IT. But most recruiters and employer hiring departments dont generally care as long as you have a IT degree, and have whatever certs they require.

 

Just know if you are actually interested in cyber security jobs, you better keep your online profile clean, because they will dig into it if they have someone on staff to see what youve been up to.

That's what I was hoping.

Also, uhoh my xbl chat logs..

 

2 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

You won't be pigeon-holed.

Careers are very fluid as long as you are an ambitious person. The only limiting factor is whether or not you have a Degree. Period. The degree doesn't even have to be directly related to what you try to pivot to.

 

I made 4 close friends at my first job. They all got a degree in Nanoscale Engineering and were all hired as Manufacturing Engineerings. Now they work in Database and Data Analysis, Software Developer, Sustaining Engineer, and R&D Manufacturing Engineer.

That's very ambitious.

 

2 hours ago, leadeater said:

In some ways it could be yes but also you're choosing a high demand high paying path so I wouldn't be too concerned about job potential. As far as IT management positions that won't be a problem.

It's not so much about job potential, as much as cybersec being stressful and wanting to take a step back potentially.

 

47 minutes ago, wasab said:

Nah, most people don't care as long as you aren't learning purely underwater basket weaving. 

 

Note though, cyber security is nothing what you see in the movies. It is an incredibly dry, difficult, and boring topics, for me anyways.

 

If you want to do IT management, there are a lot easier degrees to get and study for that lead to the same thing. 

I've worked with and a bit on SOC. I have a general idea of what I'm getting into.

Have a few close friends in the field as well.

 

My goal isn't IT management, just making sure I have a fallback if it's too much.

 

26 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

I’ve worked at a few Fortune 500 companies in my 10 years of work experience (I’m 30) and I live in progressive Massachusetts, USA. At all of them, not having a Bachelor’s degree was the brick wall that prevented promotions, and I met countless people working in great roles that were barely related to what they majored in.

 

And I was under a great manager at all of them and they all hated the Bachelor’s Degree requirement because they couldn’t adequately compensate hard workers.

This. The bachelors is a barrier to a goal of mine.

[LAwLz]

This site always have the weirdest takes on education. I am not sure if it's just people making stuff up (possibly teenagers just saying what they think is true, or just people saying what they want to believe) or if it's a country specific thing.

 

Anyway, I wouldn't be worried in your case. Not because "the degree doesn't matter" (from my experience, it absolutely does) but because it's an educational that can be applicable to several different positions. Maybe not quite as relevant as working in a SOC but still relevant. As for management positions, none of the managers at my current work place has a degree that is applicable for that.

They all started off as something else and then grew into the role and got complementary training when they were employed.