MCDBA vs. Bachelor Degee

**dustycotton** · October 29th, 2007, 06:10 PM

Hi,

I need some advice on obtaining my MCDBA vs. my Bachelor's degree. Here's my situation:

1. I will be 30 next year and I have worked for the past 7 years for a hospital and I'm in the IT department. I'm an Application Analyst. I have no plans to leave this company.
2. My boss needs a DBA for her team and would like me to fulfill that role.
3. I will be obtaining my 2-year (Associate) degree in Business Management this December.

My first thought is to continue on with obtaining my MCDBA first, and then go on to obtain my Bachelor's degree. My only issue here is whether or not the time and money that I would need to put into getting my Bachelor's will be worth the return for my situation. I have been thinking of just stopping after my MCDBA and not continuing on to obtain my Bachelor's degree.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

**nemowolf** · October 30th, 2007, 03:49 PM

Bachelor's degree in what?

If your getting your DBA and you have a position to move into for it. Why bother with a degree at all. Unless your planning on leaving the IT field, once your in you dont need any education provided by a school really. Just keep up the certs and self paced study of your field and any interests and you should be set.

If your employer is aware of your educational goals and is willing to compensate you accordingly, aka a raise for the degree, then by all means consider it. Otherwise, save your time and money and get more certs/experience.

**dustycotton** · November 3rd, 2007, 02:38 PM

A Computer Science Bachelor's degree. Thanks for the advice, that was what I was leaning towards doing. Having Bachelor's degree at my employer is needed if I want to go into management, but I'm not sure that I do so I'll just work on my certs and shelf the Bachelor degree and save my time and money.

Thanks again.

**famosbrown** · November 5th, 2007, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by dustycotton

A Computer Science Bachelor's degree. Thanks for the advice, that was what I was leaning towards doing. Having Bachelor's degree at my employer is needed if I want to go into management, but I'm not sure that I do so I'll just work on my certs and shelf the Bachelor degree and save my time and money.

Thanks again.

Do both!! Work on your MCDBA and go to school. If you only want to do one at a time, since you are happy with where you work, and they are looking for a DBA, attain your MCDBA. What kind of DBA is he looking for? If he is looking for an Oracle DBA, then the MCDBA route may be the wrong way to go...get Oracle certified. After attaining your DBA cert, continue with college to get your Bachelor's...although you don't plan on going anywhere outside of the company, you never know what may happen....you might need more money and decide you want to move up to management.

**nemowolf** · November 5th, 2007, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by famosbrown

Do both!! Work on your MCDBA and go to school. If you only want to do one at a time, since you are happy with where you work, and they are looking for a DBA, attain your MCDBA. What kind of DBA is he looking for? If he is looking for an Oracle DBA, then the MCDBA route may be the wrong way to go...get Oracle certified. After attaining your DBA cert, continue with college to get your Bachelor's...although you don't plan on going anywhere outside of the company, you never know what may happen....you might need more money and decide you want to move up to management.

Now with the potential for a management position, your definitely going to want to disregard my statement and listen to famosbrown. My advise is typically for the non-management path as thats what i am doing.

**dustycotton** · November 12th, 2007, 03:26 AM

Thanks for the feedback. We're getting ready to move to a 2007 SQL platform so I think MCDBA and not Oracle is the path I need to take. As for management, I've sort of had my taste of that and I'm not too excited about becoming a manager. I'm also not sure I can do both at the same time considering I'm pregnant and due June 3rd so I don't know what I'll have time for at that point.

I think I will pursue my MCDBA first, and then when family time allows, I will get my Bachelor's degree too, but that may be a few years down the road. I know having a Bachelor's can only be a good thing.

Again, thanks for your advice.

**famosbrown** · November 16th, 2007, 06:05 PM

No problem at all!! Take care of yourself and good luck with the MCDBA stuff!! BTW, MCDBA is one of the hottest certs for 2008...so much demand for them.