Should I get a certification or a degree?

The seemingly never-ending debate over whether you should choose to pursue a degree or certification is nearly always one of the very first questions someone new to the industry asks. Let us briefly explore it.

Starting your journey in IT can be both exciting and scary at the same time. You have done some cursory searches on Google and even joined some Facebook groups. Now, thanks to those fancy cookies, you are being inundated with various certifications, boot camps and college programs promising you a lucrative career in this industry. You just need to provide them with your credit card. Suddenly, you are unsure of what the best route is. Should I do a certification first? Or, should I pursue a degree?

We can summarize the remaining article here, but I encourage you to read the rest, of course: I have sat in on countless hiring boards as the technical rep interviewing candidates for several companies, including prominent publicly traded companies, and I can unequivocally tell you, the vast majority of employers would rather have a prospective candidate with a blend of both higher education & certifications. It shows the employer that you are both invested in this industry (After all, college is expensive, right?) as well as specialized in the area you are trying to land a job. Each employer will place varying levels of emphasis on education & certifications, so it will be up to you, the candidate, to read the requirements of the job and/or sell yourself during the interview if you lack one or the other.

Degrees

Degrees have their place in our industry. Long gone are the days where a degree was solely for upper management. Now, more than ever, employers are placing heavy importance on degrees. A study by Georgetown University found that candidates holding a four-year accredited degree had 57% more job opportunities than those who did not hold a degree and earned 56% more than non-degree holding employees.

Furthermore, a report from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that the median annual wages for IT careers requiring a four-year degree averages $39,000 more than those IT careers only requiring certifications or a two-year degree.

That said, the need for a degree should be heavily considered among many factors and only you can make the decision whether the pursuit of a degree is warranted. Things like:

• Time Commitment: This is obvious, right? A degree will take significantly longer than certifications.

• Financial impact: College is wildly expensive, in most cases.

• Your career goals: What is your end goal? Do you want to be a CISO or work for a top-tier company whose requirements for a degree may or may not be lenient?

Certifications

I honestly do not think you will find someone who would say certifications are not needed in our industry. Certifications, like degrees, show you have invested in this industry. They also show specialization, which is a major point in what separates them from degrees.

Specialization is what helps certifications greatly. The current unemployment rate in our industry hit 2.2 percent and based on the job postings, there are large openings in things like A.I, machine learning, healthcare, etc. Common themes of Java, Javascript & Python remain. Sure, some college programs will teach you the basics or give you exposure to it, but it is certifications that will deeply increase your knowledge on the subject.

Like degrees, they can help boost your salary! Annual studies that are conducted by Foote Partners LLC, have shown that specialized certifications can increase your market value, sometimes drastically, within a much smaller timeframe than a degree (namely from the time requirements of a degree.)

Certifications, in most cases, can be done at much faster speeds than a four-year degree can be done and cost fractions of the dollar in contrast to a traditional university. Often times, they are also requirements for meeting various standards, such as the DoD 8140. In this instance, unlike degree requirements, the requirement for a specific certification is likely not to be waived by the hiring manager as there are standards to be met.

Certifications and degrees compliment each other

Honestly, I think the whole idea of a degree versus a certification is looking at the big picture wrong. You will always have those talking in absolutes that yes a degree is needed or a cert is needed and vice versa. This is not and should not be a us versus them mentality.

Think of degrees like soft skills - they teach you how to be comfortable in command line environments, how to code or at least code in basic terms, how to troubleshoot and think through problems. Certifications are like hard skills - they build on what you know and push you deeper into a specific role. They compliment each other in building out your resume and showing employers what a well-rounded security professional looks like. Thereby, increasing your marketability and elevating you to better opportunities with higher pay.

So, do you need a degree? Maybe. And I say that as a PhD student...