Going back to college for undergrad. Which college? (Dallas, Richland: credit, student loans)

[move4ward]

It's time to go back to college, but I don't know where to start. I am in my mid-30s with an established career in data analysis and SQL. With a HS diploma, I will top out at $90-100k in a few years. I would like to progress further in business and finance. My company does not offer tuition reimbursement. I would like to avoid costly student loans.

Which college be a good fit for me? I live in Far North Dallas.

[ChristieP]

Do you have any college credits, or will you need to start at the beginning? The Dallas County Community Colleges are a very good value for those basic courses. If you are past the basics, look at UT Dallas. It is close to you and offers lots of IT courses.

[TX75007]

What do you want to get a degree in? Where do you want to go from here?

I am a senior IT manager with about 150 hires behind me and manage a national operations and development team.

I dropped the degree requirement from my reqs two years ago after profiling my top performers. Most of them do not have a degree.

I need degrees in my team leads - or about 1 out of 8 people. My top senior non-degreed people make just 10K less than the team leads.

If you want to go into management or get to the C-levels, then you will need to get your ticket punched. But you also have to want to work the 60+ hours a week, seven days a week life, too. Then, do a BA in Accounting then an MBA with an IT emphasis.

But to be just a worker bee, certifications are a better roadmap to a higher salary and better jobs.

[move4ward]

You guys have been great!

I do not want to be a worker bee, but I am avoiding the C-Levels. I work directly with the VP and SVP on the business side. SVP is my ultimate goal.

While half of the projects come from the VP and SVP, they have provided freedom and flexibility. As a result of gaps and data integrity issues with the initial assigned projects, I created spin-off projects to create new procedures and processes to recover historical losses(past 3-4 years) and prevent new losses. Lately, they had me work with the acquisitions department on large multi-billion deals.

I may have reached a dead end with my HS diploma and expect to be a team lead within a few years. I want to move away from SQL writing to focus on creating more procedures and processes. Many companies will toss out my resume, without a degree. It seems the degree is more important than the millions saved.

It looks like I can go to a community college and transfer to UT-Dallas for an accounting degree. Would finance or business be better options?

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by move4ward

I may have reached a dead end with my HS diploma and expect to be a team lead within a few years. I want to move away from SQL writing to focus on creating more procedures and processes. Many companies will toss out my resume, without a degree. It seems the degree is more important than the millions saved.

A lot of companies are dumb. They do not have an internal process to evaluate performance and re-visit assumptions. They use the degree as a proxy for competence instead of doing the hard work of evaluating people and holding them accountable and holding managers accountable. Neither companies nor managers want to take the time to train and mentor. This is very hard work. Your top 10 percent should be mentoring at least one new person every six months. Most people can only train 1-2 people at a time and it takes a year of steadily more difficult assignments to work people up to speed.

In general, a kid fresh out of high school who is reasonably intelligent and with a good work ethic who is emotionally mature is just as competent as someone with a hard degree - with the same level of domain experience. I've taught MFAs, English Majors, and Music Majors with zero IT experience to be DBAS, SAs, data analysts, and programmers. Five years later these hires are star performers and they are happy with salaries in the lower range of the spread. It is a win across the board.

It looks like I can go to a community college and transfer to UT-Dallas for an accounting degree. Would finance or business be better options?

Good plan. I'd do finance with an MIS concentration.

[Big G]

I'd skip the community college part and proceed directly to UTD. It is an EXTREMELY friendly school to non-traditional students like the OP. It also has a strong finance program. And, it is right in your neighborhood. It would be a perfect fit for you. I think other area schools -SMU, UTA, UNT- would be bad choices for your situation.

Yes, you could save a few bucks at Richland, but you would create transfer hassles for yourself and be swamped by hordes of recent HS grads.