Eventually I did get a degree, B.S. in Management Information Systems. I’ve also earned several certifications, CCENT, CCNA, CCNA-Security, CISSP, & CEH along the way. All three of my CISCO certs have expired. In the Networking world, everyone talks about how they used to have a CISCO cert. CISCO requires that every 3 years you either retake the same cert or one that is equal or higher, in order to maintain your certification. With my two other certs, I just have to earn continuing education credits. Earning credits is way easier than having to study for and pass another cert.
I’m always asked if its more important to have certs or degree. I think that both help to create a well rounded candidate. But the certs and experience will definitely get your foot in the door.
That being said, one of my regrets though, is that I should have completed an MBA. At my school if you immediately started after finishing a bachelors degree, you wouldn’t have to take the GMAT as long as you were a business school major, which I was.
Another regret is not also getting an engineering degree. I must have changed my major 6 times. Two of the times I had engineering majors, to this day I wished that I would have completed under those programs. I also wished that I would have taken more English classes. If you’ve made it this far in this new blog, you probably agree that I need work in that topic.
In college I had friends that were English majors, and it was easy to have them proof my work before handing it in. In hindsight that didn’t help the future me that much. But it does teach you to be resourceful, which is a good trait in the business world.