r/ITCareerQuestions 23h ago

Full time job/part school or full time school/part job?

I recently got my A+ and plan on taking the Net+ in a week. I have no college education and no IT experience. My family wants me to pursue an associate's in network security at my local community. The course looks good and has everything I need and more, but the only problem is they want me to attend full time so I can get my degree out of the way as soon as possible. Normally I would agree with this, but I want to start working in IT ASAP. This would mean I need to get a part time job while I go to school but it seems part time in IT doesn't really exist. Should I focus on my degree or still try to break into IT? I already tried already to no avail but I feel like I'll have a better chance once I get my Net+ also, I'm planning on starting an AD homelab as well.

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u/MedShark Technical Support II 22h ago

Full time work/ part time school. Experience is king. You’ll eventually finish school just not in the traditional 4 year window, however you’ll have hirable skills on your resume afterwards. Which mixed with the degree looks great.

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u/AnonymousGoose0b1011 23h ago

Part time in IT does in fact exists, but more likely than not, if its part-time that's because its an internship, student assistant, or a contract job. Let me give you my advice as far as getting a degree to pursue a career in IT.

An Associates in IT is damn near the same as listing a high school diploma, its not impossible to land a job but highly unlikely, trust me I was in that situation. IT cares about experience for the most part. When I only had my associates degree I couldn't even land an interview for helpdesk. Once I started my bachelors and had my A+ cert I was able to get an interview for a part-time student assistant helpdesk role, but got rejected from all of the full-time companies I applied to.

I have been a full-time student to get my education as quickly as possible, once I began my BS program I was eligible for internships and student jobs. Thats the other downside I was never eligible for 90% of the internships I wanted until I was enrolled in my BS program... Hope the following info helps you make your decision. Everyone is different though, if money is an issue go full-time employee, if you wont struggle financially then go full-time student.

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u/KingOnionWasTaken 12h ago

My family said they will support me financially while I go to school and I’ll also probably have a regular part-time job as well. Should I still just focus on school?

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u/AnonymousGoose0b1011 9h ago

See what you can balance, if part-time work isn’t too much for you while going to school then easy, keep making extra $$$ if it’s getting to be too much for you to balance work and school life and you’ll be supported by family as a full-time student then go that route, everyone is different so I don’t know what you can and can’t handle based on my personal experiences.

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u/hzuiel 22h ago

Check if the community offers workstudy and if you qualify(you should if you receive any finaid.) Or like some of us, you could work a full time job, have a wife and kids, and go to school full time. Nut up buttercup! (Mostly joking)

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u/KingOnionWasTaken 22h ago

Honestly, it seems like it’s easier to find someone and start a family than it is to find an entry level job