Why are you earning credit this way?

[bjcheung77]

Basically the same situation as davewill, I got curious, envious, and mad - I wondered why others at work got promoted and were asking me, how come I didn't apply to the same positions as they did? Well, I did apply but apparently, the degree was the "lacking factor". So, I went ahead and jumped ship after 7.5 years at that previous company, at this current company for 9 years, it'll be 10 by June 2018. Below is a snippet of a post I had on Techexams, giving a glimpse of my unfortunate educational history. Basically persistence pays off, work hard, reward yourself, take care of your health and love ones in the process.

*sigh* It all started two years ago, I made up my mind to finish a goal of getting a degree after taking an 8 day vacation in Hawaii with my wife and kids (daughter/son). And this year, after 20+ years since HS graduation, I finally finished that elusive BSBA General Management/CIS degree. When I was in HS/College, I took EVERYTHING - from Arts/Science, to Business/Computers, to Several Trades without getting a diploma or degree, I dropped out of college, applied to an institute of technology, and dropped out again. Went to private schools, the school closed down while I was going for my internet/networking diploma.

I went onto Cleveland Institute of Electronics for a Nationally Accredited Associates in CIS and EET at the same time, 18 out of 40 courses were completed, they lost accreditation. I went to JIU (Jones International University), they closed down while I was enrolled in a Business Certificate program! I spent so much money on all my courses at the local college, institutes and at these online/distance education courses and was so frustrated as nothing got me closer to a job offer. At that time, I was devastated and was in debt (credit card/school loans, etc). I finally took a leap of faith and pinpointed what I wanted to do from all the courses/studying I've done (computers, as I use one at home).

I took training at the local institute again for A+/Net+, after I passed their program, I was about to actually go for the certification but was hired! I was estatic, I worked there for a year - it was mainly for a system sales/repair service role of computers, the wholesaler from where we get the components saw that I was a hard working individual and asked if I wanted to join their company. For a slight raise, I worked there for 1 year as well.

During that time, I was sending out resumes for better jobs - got hired for 3 of them, on the same day, I had to call two to cancel and picked the "best offer" and have been with them for 7.5 years, I didn't want to leave as I was getting $36k/year as help desk tech, at the last year/pinacle of my stay, I made $45k doing some sales of products as well. My ex-coworkers kept asking me to leave the joint as there were "better" fishes in the sea - they recommended me as they call me a "machine", I get things done quickly and properly, I said no a few times, until I had enough of nagging and did a calculation.

The new jobs (2 of them) were paying about 15K extra with better everything, such as benefits/vacation - if I stayed, it would take 20 years to catch up to the current pay grade, I applied to both and got hired... finally decided to go with the Technical Analyst one that has a Union instead of the Medical Imaging/System Admin role. I have been with them for 9 years and now working as a Senior Technical Analyst and with all the OT, I made 76K two years ago, 84K last year, 92K right now (may hit 95K by year end).

During my 7.5 years, I never took any benefits/tuition assistance or certification exams even though they were paid for. I was a "role model employee" and everyone thought I was a lifer at that company, I even had perfect attendance for the first two years until they decided to remove the "two days extra pay for perfect attendance". At the new company, 9 years now, I just started to use my benefits as my family requires them, I have gone for many free certs that they provide internally for training, but they don't provide any tuition assistance.

I paid off my degree with the money I saved working all these years. I know the direction I want and will work in getting more Business Certifications such as Six Sigma/ITIL and IT Certifications in my specialty (CASP/CISSP), not something out of those fields. In order to play it forward, I have helped other get their degrees and provide free advice by volunteering my time. MY RECOMMENDATION FOR EVERYONE: Find out what you want, since it's IT - go for vendor neutral certifications from COMPTIA, such as going for Security+,CASP and then decide if you want to go for Cisco/Microsoft or other certifications.

I hope you find your calling, it's great you want to go get "knowledge" in so many different fields, but it's not needed. I was a major in EVERYTHING back then in college/institute, but couldn't even get anywhere as I had no degree or experience. Work your way up, start small, and show everyone you excel at your job, ask for temp assignments in higher positions. You stay in IT if you want, just find that specialization. Peace out...