I'd be interested in hearing why some voted the way they did as well. I plan on putting up a new poll soon, so here are the numbers:


Don

Academic degrees provide you with important aspects of Science and especially with postgraduate studies one gets to get involved in Research.

In my opinion, Certifications are good because they practically "indicate" that one possesses specific knowledge (not expertise though).

Both are strong assets; however, a Degree has no expiration date, is not bound to vendor non-sense and does not care whether you use Juniper, Checkpoint or Cisco, DES or 3DES, object oriented or function oriented programming etc... it gets much much deeper than that. (think about eliptic curves...)

Think about the most famous people we know on Security. Most have studied Cryptography, Physics or Computer Science.

A Degree indicates that someone has the discipline, patience and will to learn and evolve both as a professional as well as a human being.

P.S.1. there are no Pass4Sure, TestKing or ActualTests on Academic Degrees. 

I am just finishing my B.S. in IT security and will be taking my security+ over the summer. I will also be taking my Masters in Information Assurance at WGU(Wester Governors University) because I hear great things from people EH-net and at other forums. They teach you theory as well as practicality since you come out with I believe 6 certifications(CEH included as well as all certs paid for in tuition)

The best of both words I suppose from my standpoint. Hopefully employers will like this because I can hopefully achieve it by the following year and a half!

But I do find it hard to get experience. I really don't like administration, and I love to program, but that doesn't get you a security job like administration would. So I am busting my yahoos looking for internships and getting myself known by blogging tutorials and such.