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Master Degree Vs CCIE

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by tonywong

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I already got CCNA , MCSE and CNE rencetly. My time and money is limit, and I consider to spend my effort to get either a CCUE or a Master Degree in this few year. Does anyone prefer to go back to school (may be part time) and try to get a Master degree in Inormation technology or work on my certification CCNP, CCIE..?

Thanks for any inputs.

17 replies

by jacmari

I can't answer that question. But I just thought that I'd say that I'm also deciding whether I should go back to school or study to get certifications.
Currently, I'm trying to get as much hands-on experience as I can. It's hard to find a "permanent" job though because employers are looking for a lot of experience. Experience that I don't have.
I am considering going back to school for my masters so that I can possibly get another internship for more hands-on training.

Good luck!

by j6corley

You should get your master's in Management IT so that you can manage cert chasers and make more money. Certs come and go MCSE, CCNA, etc. won't be as popular and there will be other certs. but with a masters degree it never goes out of style and youwill be hiring and in charge of the cert chasers with more job security. you won't have to always get the latest cert. when you become 40 years old with a family do you really want to be chasing a cert. I think not. with the economy in a recession, this is the time you should be in college striving for your master so when the economy rebounds you have your masters and you can write your ticket to how much money you can make.

by road-dog

A "silver bullet" as there is in this industry. CCIE lab is passed by <10 percent on the first try. It is recognized as requiring a HUGE amount of diverse knowledge to pass. If I were looking for a high-end router guy, I would feel comfortable hiting a CCIE, if I could afford him. Suffice it to say, I don't know ANY CCIEs who are looking for a job, even in the last year.

by jcyt

If you want to be the technical person doing the workl..then go for the CCIE.
However, if there's even the smallest chance you want to move into management in the future, I'd go for the Masters.
Certifications change with technology...
A Masters degree will never need updating and will be yours forever.

by tonywong

I don't agree that Master Degree never need to updating, because I see many Master Degree Holder are not smart, and their skill are not professional. They should follow the technology change too.

by ebob

Come on folks, these are 2 entirely different things. One is not inherrently "better" than the other.

CCIE is a Technical Qualification. If you want to get a good paying job at the front line of networking, then CCIE is absolutely the way to go.
Any Masters degree is strictly an Academic Qualification, even a Masters in I.T. A qualification of this type does NOT lend itself to the same "front line position" as a CCIE.

Which way to go?

It depends on which road you want to follow. If you're looking to get qualified for a JOB, go for the CCIE. Plain as that.

by tomsal

To re-hash what has already been said...CCIEs are the cream of the crop. They are quite rare (in comparison to IT certs as a whole), and a CCIE is one certification that I feel has retained the most integrity and value. MCSE, CCNA, A+ ...all those popular certs have been corrupted with braindumps, quiz software that is so close to the real test you'd have to be pretty slow to not pass the cert after working with it -- with CCIE there's none of that (the way the test is set up is virtually impossible to get CCIE without earning it). BA and MA degrees hold more prestige, in my experience, than pretty much any cert - - except CCIE. A CCIE has the same prestige as a Masters (but in Cisco Internetworking).

I would love to earn either a Masters or a CCIE one day to be honest.

I've been to several IT seminars, training programs, etc. and I've yet to of talked to a CCIE who was earning less than $80,000. Its not unheard of to see a CCIE earning six figures either.

As far as the management path. Well if you are talking about IT management or say, CIO, I say still go with the technical training.

Good luck.

by prefbid ii

I would recommend the Masters and I would even go so far as to say that it does not matter much what the Masters is in just as long as it is technical or management oriented.

Certs have a limited shelf life (5 years tops). I got my Masters 14 years ago and it is still considered good. At the time the only cert I recall being available was a NNE - Novell Network Engineer. You can tell how popular those are now.

by acoada

Matser Degree holders can never go wrong at all at all..Who says Certifications matters...It sure does help to get all that Certification but be warned...It's very easy for any determined technologically minded chap to pass the Certs....Going back to get a Masters puts u in a diff class altogether....Do not be deceived by all the Certs...

by tomsal

"It's very easy for any determined technologically minded chap to pass the Certs....Going back to get a Masters puts u in a diff class altogether....Do not be deceived by all the Certs.." - AcOAdA

You are quite correct sir - more so than you realize actually. ;) I would of chose different words than "very easy" though, unless you are cheating (and yes, my certified friends, braindumps are CERTAINLY cheating) - but then no cert OR degree is worth pursuing if its "very easy".

Now to my point of this post - you said "any determined...." - well isn't that one of the foundation concepts to accomplishing any goal in life, determination? Any chap who is determined enough (and has the money, dedication and patience) can earn a Masters as well.

I'm all for Masters (or any college degree) - I think they speak well of the person who earned them because it demonstrates committment to goals, a will to succeed and a "never settle" attitude. The thing I don't like is when people make assumptions that college degrees (particularly Masters and Doctorate) imply great genius. This is false they do not.

Degrees are evidence of hard work, long hours of study, practice, committment, etc. They do not certify one as "genius".

ANYONE with the right attitude, desire, etc. can earn any degree they want - the only exceptions being those that don't possess any learning ability at all (not a joke - for real some people just "don't get it" - no matter how hard they study).

The hardest part for me on the path to higher degrees is the time committment and the most important factor - the money. Master degrees aren't cheap - especially when no one is helping you to pay for them.

by aldanatech

If possible I think you should go for both, but start with your Master first. You Master degree will be well respected and it will last forever. Sure, some people with a Master are now that good in the field, but I think it's basically because of the field is always changing.

That's were certifications come in. They let the employer know that you're on track, but this requires you to update every 3 to 5 years. You don't have this problem this a Master Degree, and your employer apreciate it just as much. After you're done with your Master, you will have some of important background that will help you work for you CCIE.

by road-dog

I have several friends/associates who are CCIEs, and the two main points that they seem to agree on is that it is the most demanding certification to get and harder to keep. CCIEs have to recertify every two years and the recert tests get harder andharder. One of these friends is one of the first 100 non Cisco people to get CCIE and he dreads recert. This is not one of those self destruct certifications that can drop dead on the next release(remember the uproar about MCSE/NT?). If Cisco continues this trend, CCIE will not become a watered down "boot camp" "paper" cert.

Suffice it to say, If you intend to follow a management career track, by all means do the Masters Degree. If you want to stay hard tech, CCIE will bring you respect andbuckolas.

by bmille14

I've seen several people in the message thread refer "Paper CCIEs". I would submit that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be a paper CCIE. You may be able to pass the written qualification exam using study materials.

But there is no way someone can pass the 2 day hands-on lab exam without having worked with Cisco products EXTENSIVELY

Not to mention the fact that I really don't think somebody would pursue this unless they were dedicated, had experience and funding

Written Exam $300
Lab Exam $1250 plus travel expenses
Recertification Exam $300 every 2 years
Home Lab Equipment $10000-20000

Of course that may be why the average salary for a CCIE is $115,000

by leightonn

It all boils down to what you want to achieve out of all of this. I too am caught in the same dilema. Considering an OCP or masters degree. I've decided to do both. The OCP is for short term goals like getting enough money to pay for the longer term goal which is a management position (through persuing a Masters).

You mentioned time and money as factors in your decision. If that's so go with the CCIE. If these are not major concerns do your masters...seeing as you already have several certifications already.

by tonywong

Thanks for all of your input! I think I would spend money recently on the Master degree, and then go to other cert for the keep tracking my technolgy updated.
I would like to be a freind to all of you and thanks for your opinions again.

- tony

by Former member

What industry? NT Domain admin? CCIE's are over-rated. Many are now getting their CCIE's w/o having any experience. This cert is useful in many ways as you would point out, but any vendor-centric cert is not as good as you may believe in the larger Intranetworking jobs. What good will a CCIE be at managing our 600+ Nortel routers? Or a Riverstone core? If I were to interview two ppl, one with a CCIE, one w/o but with more applicapble experience, I might take the one with experience. I've met a few CCIEs who don't know squat. I think it all falls on experience and references.

by ferocious

Based on what you already have, the Master degree would give you a much-needed boost to be a great technical manager. However, you're going to need a Bachelor's degree first to get to Master.

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