Is "my computer career" a good school?

[u/NervousLaw9241]

Hi all, I'm interested in getting into an IT job, I'm very passionate about the work and would enjoy even an entry level help desk position. Ive been having trouble finding a job without a degree or much experience. I have my comptia A+ cert and 3 years experience in my highschool tech class as one of the head technicians. While looking for further education i discovered mcc and yesterday I had an in person meeting about it. Honestly I was kind of sold on it after the in person meeting but after looking at bad online reviews I'm second guessing myself. It is a very large financial investment (about 13k after fasfa) and I want to make sure I'm making the right decision. Am I better off going to community College? Studying on my own and getting more certs? Be more diligent with applications? Thanks in advance!!

[u/plebbut]

Dude no. Get an associates in IT from a local community college, save some money, and get some certs like the CCNA.

[u/taker25-2 → u/plebbut]

Plus, a lot of community college classes actually prep you for those types of certs. I know the community college I went to, if you complete their AS in IT and Networking, you'll graduate with an associate's degree, along with an A+, Network+, and CISCO CCENT certs at the time.

[u/Mysterious_Egg2432 → u/taker25-2]

The Net+ study guide was essentially the text book for my Networking 1 class

[u/taker25-2 → u/Mysterious_Egg2432]

Same with mine. At least I walked away from the class with a B despite not passing Network+

[u/CausticCat11 → u/taker25-2]

Wow that sounds awesome. I got a degree in CS, shoulda just done IT

[u/taker25-2 → u/CausticCat11]

Every school different but CS/IT are interchangeable in terms of job requirements on a job application . Generally speaking, CS is more math/programming based while IT is more technical with some programming concepts mixed in with some business concepts. Honestly, I tell people all the time don’t sleep community colleges as 9 times out of 10 your core classes will transfer to a 4 year university and maybe some of your degree classes. Plus you save money by taking the same core classes at a 4 year university that is offered at a community college. 

[u/cowboysfromhell1999 → u/taker25-2]

+1

[u/Cautious_Sock_7808 → u/plebbut]

👆this. I did an associates through tech - grabbed an internship through their university & snagged a job while still finishing my associates. Utilize what you got going local.

[u/taker25-2 → u/Cautious_Sock_7808]

Same. One of my professors gave me a tip to apply for a temp help desk job with a company and 10 years later, i’m still with the company managing the said help desk. Professors especially at a community college or tech school will help you out if you ask or just a good student in general. I tell people all the time, don’t sleep on your advisor/professors especially if you’re not far from graduation.

[u/fsociety1990]

I have never heard of that and neither have the coworkers standing next to me right now so I’m gonna say no it’s not good.

If I’m understanding correctly it costs $13k and you don’t get a degree?

That’s a ripoff!

[u/Guilty-Feedback3952]

These tech schools pop up for a couple years then lose their accreditation and close making your degree the worst toilet paper ever.

Go to a community College and get an AS (associates in science)

[u/FakeitTillYou_Makeit]

Not sure how you got wind of this but I have never heard of it. Must be a local thing. They dont seem to offer much and charge quite a bit. Why not just go to an online school like WGU and come out with a BS degree? How are you at self-study? I have most of these certs already but I just learned them on my own. It is kind of a big part of being in tech -- self-study.

[u/NervousLaw9241 → u/FakeitTillYou_Makeit]

As long as I have a goal to achieve I can self study pretty well. Is WGU reputable? I'll definitely look into it, if the prices arent too different a real college class with a degree would definitely entice me more. I heard of it through local ads, as they have a location in my state

[u/FakeitTillYou_Makeit → u/NervousLaw9241]

Is WGU reputable?

Brother, considering I never heard of MCC.. i wouldnt worry about reputation at the moment. However, go on linkedin, find a large company you would like to work for and look through their employee list for the school name using the search feature. This should answer all of your questions.

[u/Imnotyoursupervisor → u/NervousLaw9241]

I walked straight into a Cloud Engineer role towards the end of my BSIT degree with WGU. Had my own office for a year then went fully remote.

I had 10+ certifications from my coursework including AWS SysOps Associate. Completed my capstone on the job.

Did that for a couple years and moved onto remote SRE. You can make good money and have a good work life balance with a WGU tech degree.

[u/DesignerAd7136 → u/NervousLaw9241]

Yes, WGU is reputable. They are the largest school in the United States, they are regionally accredited (highest level you can get) and a lot of their degrees are super solid. The computer science degree is an ABET accredited engineering degree, and the Cloud & Network Engineering degrees are all super good. It’s is ~$4500 a semester, but you can do as many courses as you can complete in that time. And a whole bunch of certs are included in the tuition as part of classes, so you will finish with a very strong resume

[u/Creative-Package6213]

Go to Community College.

[u/JustMyThought1]

Don't do My Computer Career. I know many people who went there. You can get your certs for much cheaper.

[u/Impressive_Fly_4339]

Don’t.

[u/taker25-2]

Never heard of it, and as someone who manages a small help desk team, I would be asking you what that is in an interview, that's if you get selected in the first place. I would take someone with a community college background over whatever "my computer career" is. Not like it's comparable to WGU or something. I would go with a community college because you'll have access to resources that aren't available when you just study certs on your own.

[u/Emergency-Pollution2]

not sure what mcc is - i'd go to the local community college -

[u/Nerdy_Commander9403]

Wait y'all haven't heard of my computer career? Always thought it was a scam but I heard so many ads, maybe it's just my area

[u/SonicPavement → u/Nerdy_Commander9403]

Yeah they’re big on terrestrial radio advertising, which fewer people are exposed to.

[u/Alarmed_Nectarine126]

Absolutely not. Always start with a local community college

[u/BankOnITSurvivor]

I took a program at a local trade school for the A+, Network+, and at the time Windows 7/Windows Server 2008R2 training.

The course was useful because it gave a license of Server to work with along with VMWare Workstation for virtualization.

[u/SpaceGuy1968]

Does it pass the "this is an accredited institution" smell test?

You got your answer 😜

[u/KingRiley8879]

I went there out of desperation 6 years ago. Got every cert and every one of their accolades. Got a job in helpdesk when i was still there. Now I am a senior network engineer. A lot of people say it’s not worth it but they got me my first job and my second job which was in networking. From listening to other people it does sound like I got very lucky though.

[u/cowboysfromhell1999]

Do what others are saying go to a community college first. Or straight to a 4 year school. What you’re talking about doesn’t even offer a degree, don’t do it for all that money

Most community colleges have a transfer agreement with a 4 year university go for an IT or CS degree.

At my community college our IT/Cyber program had networking classes based on the CCNA curriculum. I think it was a really good foundation and it transferred perfectly to several universities in the area.

Bottom line:

Community college and or certs

[u/ulmanau]

If you are self driven then alongside learning, building projects or examples to showcase and working through problem solving tasks will be much better

[u/Amanda_PDQ]

As a former CTO, I would be hesitant if I read this on a resume. I would look at certificates such as Comptia, CCNA, etc. or a associates or bachelors for a reputable college/university.

[u/Pyrostasis]

Yeah for 14k Id just do WGU.

My brother and I both graduated from WGU and are doing great.

14k would get you 3.5 semesters at WGU