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Lol that’s a lie. You’re good no bachelors needed and congrats on making it!
Subject Expert
If anything get an MBA in case you want to pivot to leadership and your company likes those degrees.
You can’t indeed. Which frankly I think doesn’t make sense haha
Your "degree" is your big 4 tenure! You've already reached the finish line. I do not hold a degree and I avoided applying to firms. By the time I was recruited my experience in industry spoke for itself and none of the four interviewers asked me about college. College is for novices.
Coach
OP I was in your position. A degree is not essential, and certifications are WAY more valuable. That said, there were some doors that were “closed” to me because I didn’t have a degree, and there are still some old-fashioned companies out there that look for it (not a lot, but some).
I didn’t like the feeling of having my opportunities limited, so I finished my degree (had only completed a year of university over a decade prior). I definitely didn’t need the degree as I have a lot of high level certifications (CCIE, CISSP, OSCP, OSCE, GREM, GXPN, etc), but it was just something gnawing away at me.
I enrolled in WGU and completed it in 4 months. Not an ivy-league school by any means, but it ticked a box and I finally accomplished a lifelong goal.
Coach
All good - at least people have heard of it. Honestly I think it’s a good tier school. I’m thinking of enrolling in Georgia Tech
I'm in a very similar boat as you. Don't have issues with job offers. But I started SANS BS Applied Cyber Security just to check the box, get some certs and get some training at a technical organization.
I was like you for a while. I don’t have a degree but I have a lot of cyber certs. I went through the ranks at EY and had amazing industry offers. I am now head hunted and have never had any issues finding work. Not having a degree was just an insecurity for me but once I got more confidence in my capabilities as evidenced by the roles I was easily landing, that need went away. Keep working on mastering your skills. No one will ever ask you for a degree. The experience will speak for itself.
At a certain point -- like at, or after, 20 YOE -- an undergraduate degree is irrelevant. Current training matters much more, IMO. (And I have a Masters degree.)
How did you break into Security? I have a buddy who wants to re-tool himself as he got a pretty useless degree. How would you recommend he proceed?
Any of these boot camps place you?
Depends on your career goals. I assume you do technical work now. If ever you want to shift to leadership non-tech this MAY become a challenge.
It may impact your growth if you want to do the partner track. However not everyone wants to do that! I think your awesome and maybe you will break the mold… who knows
I would only suggest getting a degree after the fact if it's limiting you in any way (can't get offers or promotions that you want). However, that doesn't seem to be the case for you so probably not the most pressing issue for you.
That being said, do think hard and long about where you want your career to go long term and whether a degree would benefit you in any way. I know institutions like Georgia Tech offer degrees specific in cybersecurity. Some employers may not look kindly on not having a college degree (though in my opinion, work experience beats a college degree any day of the week)
Coach
I wouldn't get one unless you need to. No one in consulting or many other companies will care. However, there are companies that require it past a certain level (usually for anything management or above). Unless you're dead set on one of those I wouldn't bother.
I see a lot of companies require it blindly, but I personally would prefer someone with your background. Most of the bachelor graduates are pretty useless until they get some years in business. I know there is a Harvard cybersecurity certificate program that could be a trump card.
He basically said that without a degree I would always be a “pawn”, and that I may raise eyebrows in interviews (which is REALLY not the case and most interviewers are impressed when they know I took a different route and that I’ve never been to college).
But again - he’s in business consulting, not security or IT and I feel like he takes degrees too seriously vs actual skills and experience.
We have people all over the spectrum degree and experience wise in our team. No college, military, all the way up to Masters Degrees and PhD. If it's not holding you back, seems more worth it to invest in the real knowledge and certs you want.
Similar boat, CISSP, associates degree, lots of certs, 16 credits left on bachelors degree. Classroom education for me is painfully slow. I’ve held a role as high as senior manager. I’ve worked at Google and several top 10 consulting companies, 1 big 4 job. They had to get special approval to hire me. They went back reviewed everything and said you didn’t lie. Director approved it. I was sweating it. I feel like it’s a foundational qualification with little to zero value. I write college courses and cert tests. That’s how I get my CPE’s for my CISSP. Yet it’s still a requirement for higher level positions. I feel like cyber security should be an apprenticeship program. If I’m ever interviewing you it will hold zero weight. What’s even funnier is my buddy just graduated with his cyber security bachelors degree and said he learned nothing. I think the days of traditional degrees for I.T. Careers is coming to an end. They are the least qualified to train others. A lot of us don’t learn well in a classroom style traditional education. I personally feel like these kids are throwing money away.