IT jobs (forensics?) and CS degree

[Ideas]

I plan to get the BA-CS degree, and I'm sure I want to proceed with it for personal reasons, but I'm curious. Another thread made me wonder if that degree will have some downsides to it for me personally.

Since I'm not able to follow a regular career path due to disabilities, and can only take a job where I work in my own closed-off space, without much contact with others.

I wondered if some of the IT/IS/CIS kinds of positions would consider me overqualified (due to the degree being CS not just IT) and bypass me for that? I'm not sure there are many positions in the first place, but I'm trying to get a better idea of some possibilities. 

The only thing I could really come up with realistically was one of those boring lower-level monitoring type of jobs. But, I'm not sure this is realistic anyway, because I think there are not as many of them anymore and hard to get. I feel like I don't want to study for and take a higher-level cybersecurity job, but I wouldn't mind the lower level ones.

I'm also hesitant to do jobs that focus on data (but may end up doing so). I have an interest in forensics, which I know are often data-heavy jobs, but I think there might be some I like. But many of those jobs seem to involve testifying in court or interacting with law enforcement officers regularly.

There is still a lot I don't know about the possible job types, but when I try to find info, the ones that seem to fit are mostly security or data. Does anyone know of others? Almost all support jobs have too much interaction with others, and networking jobs usually require bending over, etc 

I may also end up working in a different field altogether (and still want the BA-CS degree). Part of why I want it is to serve as a backup, in case I am forced to quickly find a temp/short-term job. I believe if it were necessary, I could find something entry-level or temp.

[davewill]

If you want to work in IT, then that's what you should get your degree in, not CS. It's not a matter of being overqualified, more a matter of not having the training they value the most.

[bjcheung77]

Further to what Davewill mentioned, even if you did get your CS degree, you may want to further your education with IT Certs in the industry you want to be in. Many people are "cross training" from different fields into IT and vice versa. For example, if you're into InfoSec, get those certs that cater to that segment. Another example is, people who have an IT degree getting PMP for Project Management positions in other industries.

[Ideas]

Thanks, but I am not going to get an IT degree, or give up on this one. I would be interested in getting a cert, but most seem expensive. The only one that seemed less expensive was a Cybersecurity cert I found. I would also go for a certification (in addition to the CS degree) if I knew which made sense for me.

[quigongene]

I beg to differ with Davewill. In all honesty, I don't believe the degree matters. I've been working in IT for over 20 years without a degree. What's gotten me by all these years are experience and certifications. Heck, I worked for a CISO a couple years ago who had a bachelor's in psychology. Personally, I'm looking at GA Tech's OMSCS after my bachelor's because it looks like a good program and is from a great school.

In my time, I've also worked in forensics, and the odds of not interacting with people are close to zero. You have to interview people to get an idea of what you're looking for on the computer before you even consider launching EnCase and imaging the drive. And yes, if you're doing it for law enforcement, odds are you're going to end up on the stand in court with a high dollar defense lawyer grilling you in every way imaginable. A good friend lost a case for the prosecutor because he had a DUI 10 years earlier.

Also, those boring low level monitoring jobs still involve interacting with the customer or on call and explaining to them why you woke them up at 3am.

I think my point is that there are very few IT gigs out there that don't involve interacting with humans, no matter how crappy they are ;-)

[Ideas]

Also, those boring low level monitoring jobs still involve interacting with the customer or on call and explaining to them why you woke them up at 3am.

I think my point is that there are very few IT gigs out there that don't involve interacting with humans, no matter how crappy they are ;-)

Well, I figured there weren't many, but that's sad that even the monitoring jobs do  Would it be more than say 3 three minute calls per day? I wouldn't like if it there was grey area, and I had to make the decision to wake them. I read that there were some that were more obvious, like very specific things we wake them for.

Do you have any ideas for jobs with a lower level of contact? Say emailing daily updates to my boss/coworkers, and one day a week having a face-to-face meeting (one that's not a presentation). I prefer not to do programming, but given the lack of options, that could be an option? I am most interested in older languages so it's updating code versus from scratch.

So you've hit a point where a Masters degree will get you a promotion?

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What about the lower level data jobs like assisting the analyst with data cleaning?

[bluebooger]

If you want to work in IT, then that's what you should get your degree in, not CS. It's not a matter of being overqualified, more a matter of not having the training they value the most.

not true at all 

IT is simply a field taht covers a wide array of jobs

forensics is a specialty in the field -- CS is fine for forensics 

https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=24fce2...serp&vjs=3
Qualifications: Bachelors in Computer Science or similar degree or equivalent work experience 

https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=0688ea...=web&vjs=3
Bachelors Degree in Information Security, Computer Science, Digital Forensics, Cyber Security or related field

https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=a6582c...serp&vjs=3
Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or other technology related fields preferred

these people only require a GED and experience LOL
https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=9c0677...serp&vjs=3

[quigongene]

Well, I figured there weren't many, but that's sad that even the monitoring jobs do  Would it be more than say 3 three minute calls per day? I wouldn't like if it there was grey area, and I had to make the decision to wake them. I read that there were some that were more obvious, like very specific things we wake them for.

We have a local security MSP (managed service provider) in my city that a former boss owns.  They do the style of low level monitoring you're talking about, but they do it for tens if not hundreds of companies.  I'm pretty sure the volumes of calls they're making are a lot higher than that.  Yes, the reasons would be very specific, but you would have to cover the reasons in detail (so calls much greater than 3 minutes per call).  Not saying it's impossible, but also not likely.

Do you have any ideas for jobs with a lower level of contact? Say emailing daily updates to my boss/coworkers, and one day a week having a face-to-face meeting (one that's not a presentation). I prefer not to do programming, but given the lack of options, that could be an option? I am most interested in older languages so it's updating code versus from scratch.

The only scenario here I can think of off the top of my head would be if you either joined a major project on Github (not easy for a beginner) or spun up your own coding project (and did primarily email for support).  I'm not a programmer, so maybe others on this board have some better insight.

So you've hit a point where a Masters degree will get you a promotion?

I've hit a point where someone else is willing to pay for my education ;-) .  The bachelors will be more beneficial for my next promotion (as well as the CISA).  I'm gunning for the OMSCS to better my knowledge and the option to teach at my local state college (they're spinning up a cyber security bachelors in the next couple of years).  If the OMSCS doesn't burn me out, I'll likely start looking at WGU's MBA-IT so I can look at management positions.

What about the lower level data jobs like assisting the analyst with data cleaning?

Definitely would still need to talk with the analyst, and possibly end users and programmers to figure out the impact of said cleaning.  Again, still possible that what you're looking for is out there.  If I was the analyst, I'd write scripts to do the data jobs.

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forensics is a specialty in the field -- CS is fine for forensics 

Or no degree at all (as seen by the GED post and my personal experience ;-) ).

[Ideas]

I'm gunning for the OMSCS to better my knowledge and the option to teach at my local state college
If I was the analyst, I'd write scripts to do the data jobs.

Well some companies would want the analyst (at $120K salary) to save their time, and have their assistant(s) do those scripts (at $45K salary). Even though the analyst can probably do it in half the time (because they won't have to explain it).

Oh teaching is always a nice option to have. A Masters in CS sounds scary to me!

I think having no degree works for people who gained experience some years back, but not so much anymore... unless you have projects or employer references. I am looking for something where I won't need those, but won't be too low of a position.

Thanks for your input. I would probably need to get the right kind of job through a friend.

[bjcheung77]

I like the idea of automation or scripting things. Similar roles exist for people who want to automate everything - from System Administrator, to Development Ops, to Site Readiness Engineer - now comes NO Ops! I want to get into that type of field actually, I think it'll be a cool leap or change from Analyst to Site Readiness Engineer or DEV/NO Ops.