My IT Career - advice needed

[TurkishGold]

Hi all...

I'm feeling slightly lost on my IT career path. I am about to finish an IT diploma course at a technical college (which is the only "higher-education" I've had since high-school). My course lasted 18 months an was called "PC & Network Technician". What I learned from the course can be summed up by saying that I have my A+, Network+ and CCNA (I am considering adding e-Biz, i-Net, MCSA, MCDST to the list). With or without the certifications in brackets, I am feeling "stuck" on the matter of what I should do next. If I considered getting a job, I feel like I don't know what exactly I should be applying for... To complicate the situation further, I am also wondering if I should "go back to school" to perhaps a better known college/university and presue a degree course. I feel like I'm not quite at my peak of my "IT knowledge", although I am not sure if I can deal with much more school.

Right now, the latter is winning in my head. I am thinking of Canada as where I would like to be for school next. I am not exactly a short distance away from Canada (I'm in Europe), but I think I would enjoy getting away from "home". I am also wondering:
What are some computer schools (or schools offering computer courses) in Canada that I should be looking into?.
What kind of course should I go for (2-year, 4-year, Associate, Bachelor, Undergrad., Computer Science, Information Technology, etc.?)?

I would really appreciate any thoughts on my situation.
Thank you

 

[maggical1]

Turkishgold,
I think you first need to decide what you want to do. If it's hardware, A+ and similar certs are good. If it's desktop and server support, I'd look into getting your MCSE. Or if networking interests you, try for the CCNP. I don't have a formal computer degree, but did get my certs thru a technical school like you did, and self study. Looking back, I think self study was almost as good as going to New Horizons, and much, much cheaper. In the IT field what I think matters most, is experience. You'll get a job if you want to expend the energy and get a 4 yr BS in computer science degree, but there's alot of time and money involved. My recommendation would be to do self study and get as high a cert as possible, i.e. MCSE + I, CCNP, etc. and get a job. After a few years you'll move up the IT chain, and then at that time you'll have more options.