Career Question - Certifications, Postgrad or new Undergrad??

[smb3]

Hi guys,

I wanted to ask career advice on something that was on my mind for quite some time. The situation is that currently I am a java developer but I want to broaden my skills a bit more ... but I don't actually know how ... I have a few ideas of what I want to do though, but each idea has a tradeoff on time/money spent vs return on investment (ROI). ROI here refers to the gains I experience from applying what I learnt in the workplace (and perhaps money gained can also be thrown in here too)

* First idea was to get a Masters in Computer Science ... seems sensible but the uni i want to go to (UCT) doesn't accept part time students (since I have family commitments so I can't just not work unfortunately) ... maybe Unisa does?

* Second idea was to perhaps get certifications for things along my line of work. Since I am mainly did java it would make sense to then consider java certifications? ... I also did some SAP BI work before so maybe I should persue SAP certification? ... not sure of the costs of certification here (java is quite low, SAP i dunno) ... but then again I'm not sure how people view these certifications

* Third idea was a new undergrad degree to go along with my comp sci degree. It's more of a thought than anything but the idea is to merge a new undergrad degree with my computer science degree. I heard about engineers merging with law and bcomm replace biochemists already; so it's largely dependent on the person. I would need a really motivating reason to merge my degree with another since its a 3-4 yr commitment

So I am kind of stuck for choice here ... the main reasons I want to increase my skillset is the following:

* I don't like the idea of not improving oneself (an honors degree in CS can't be all there is to my learning?) ... my perspective is that I value academic institutions alot ... so stuff like certifications will only matter if the company is reputable to me ... not sure if that is the correct perspective to have though?
* I want to improve so that I can be good at what I do (which isn't the case now )
* Fill the holes of "lack of experience" for new jobs
* More money, although not extremely important ... but I won't say that I will do what I do for free

The only crappy thing is that I can't take risks in the sense that people are already dependent on my income ... so I can't just leave for full time study

So ... given all this rambling thoughts ... any advice for somebody like me?

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Many people use UNISA for Honours and Masters as it offers it part-time.

 

[rrh]

It really depends on what you like doing ...

If you enjoy coding then a Master's degree is unlikely to buy you much. OTOH, the audit / consultancy companies would probably consider you for a consultancy role.

A second degree would probably leave you in a similar position.

 

[Fuma]

Option 2 and 3 seem ok to me. You can do your Java certificates within a month or so (about 4 exams?). I'm currently doing 1st year BCom (internal Auditing). Though I will change to do management accounting. I have a BTech in IT (Business Applications stream). I thought of doing MTech or MIT at Tuks, but thought of doing something else in case I decide to leave the IT industry.

 

[srothman]

Personally I would supplement the a computer science degree with a business-oriented degree like a BBA, and then do the certifications in between. Academic and Professional qualifications each have their own role to play in the workplace.

 

[smb3]

Personally I would supplement the a computer science degree with a business-oriented degree like a BBA, and then do the certifications in between. Academic and Professional qualifications each have their own role to play in the workplace.

Technically, my qualification is a business science degree majoring in computer science (from uct) ... but i just say computer science to make things simpler ... not sure if that is similar to what you mentioned?