Why not go? I assume the school you would go to has a good reputation. Most companies that are hiring pentesters are asking for at least a BS which of course is BS but what the heck.  Places like Finland have a mystique  in the hacker community because of people like Linus Torvald.  On the other hand, if you have a good friend that can give you into a well known company and you have some good certs, that can be enough. From there you can work hard to get a good rep and then hopefully down the road if you are lucky you might be able to write your own ticket.  If you dont have that connection, then get that BS. Who knows, you might fall in love with Finland and never come back, lol!

Wow! Those are some very good points.  Thanks for writing!

I don't really know anyone who can get me into the InfoSec industry with a good company, so that option may be out.  I am currently working with a well known company but in a limited tech support role with no future really. 

I'm not sure how to tell if the University has a good rep or not.  I'll email them though and find out if any of my College Diploma can count towards the degree.

I'm liking the idea of the free tuition but heard that it's extremely hard to get any job at all in Finland if you're not fluent in Finnish and have at least a Masters Degree. Those are the 2 min requirements for even scrubbing toilets!  If I can't work there, I'll probably run out of money just on rent and food while at the University.

I don't know, I got my BS in MIS from an online college in California. I found round-trip airfare to California, and they reimbursed me for my airfare if I would come out there and visit with them. Good thing I did, too, I found out I was signed up for the wrong major, I was signed up for Computer Science, which translates into programming. I am the world's worst programmer.

It wasn't free tuition, but they counted what I already had towards the deg. Cost me about 2 grand, I went and did it in a Sallie Mae loan I'm still paying off. BUT I only had to do 5 online classes (and only 5 tests), AND a 75 pg minimum Final Report. I did my report on the possibility of terrorists using steganographic techniques in a post and pre-9/11 environment.

They made me the offer to come back for a Master's degree for $1500 (approx) and a 125 pg. min. Thesis. They also offer Doctorates for a 250 pg. min  report. (forget what they called it).

Anyway, it only took me 8 months to do all of it. I had to pay $250.00 for the actual degree, it's case, etc., which I didn't like,  But overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Not that's it's done anything for me, of course. I have a friend that has a PhD in Astrophysics, and all he can do is get a job teaching part-time at Kent State Univ. My friend says, "The ONLY degree that matters is 98.6".   

Go for it, if you want, but if you're lazy like me, Grin and opt for the conveinence  factor, look again at online colleges. Maybe your employer would help you with it, as long as you would be staying in the area, and not hopping off to Finland.

Also: the laws in Finland are quite different from here in the States, I imagine. Would a degree from a Finnish University have the same ooommmph as a degree from a University here in the states? Something to think about.   

Nice post!  I also see they are able to take VA & GI Bill.

Here is the info from there site:



I will seriously look into this! Thanks venom77 for posting it.

Brian

Thanks venom77 for the great post!  I'll have a look at WGU and see what they have. Hopefully I can even put some of my certs towards a degree with them. My work does help with tuition at i think $3000 per year but I'd need to stay with them for another year and not sure if I want to do that.

All I could get after graduating a few years ago was PC Repairs jobs and telephone/email tech support jobs with HP and Dell. Because of this, I need some good hands-on experience with routers, servers and administration, probably before jumping into a security job unfortunately.

Just curious, Oyle, but what was the name of your online school in Cali?

Sorry to bring back an old thread. But, I just heard from someone that's attending there on Techexams.net, that they're about to be accredited by the NSA sometime. Not sure when, though.

I'm seriously thinking about attending there. Anybody have any comments regarding this school?

Hey there, BillV. I'll be done with my associates in June. I plan on starting there in September. I'm going to do the emphasis in IT-Security. I'm attracted to this school for several reasons; It's regionally & nationally accredited, government recognized, and I receive credits for my certifications. They added Cisco to their curriculum, also.

The main reason is, because, I screwed up and went to a private institution that's costing me 23K just for an associates degree. Although, I did learn a lot, and the teachers were very good, but, it makes it very hard to transfer to a public university for a B.S, especially, if you don't want to go for another four years. My school has an articulation plan with another private school with a degree in CS which would be another 30K, and it isn't even Nationally accredited, Screw that. Living in Kentucky sucks. lol.


Yes, you assumed correctly. I believe from what I read that this accreditation is a big deal. But, I'm awaiting response from a student attending, so I will give you more details as soon as I can!
http://www.nsa.gov/ia/academic_outreach/nat_cae/index.shtml

Sorry for the ramble. Just had Mountain Dew. haha