Its that time where I am looking to get into a college with something that will help me be better at my dream, hosting. I received many letters already since I have a 4.2 GPA. I am trying to find which degree would be most suitable for hosting.

Please help a youngling find the course he needs :)

Business Management and Information Systems.

Thats what I'm currently majoring in. :)

Well I belive that it depends a lot on what part of the web hosting business you want to concentrate on. Is it the technical site og business site?

another option, quit study in college and get yourself wet and involve in hosting business.. you may not turn profit at beginning..
but why not you treat this as the fee that you are going to subscribe to college?:D

anyway, jus my 2 cents

I was wondering about that too, and found some courses offering knowledge about servers, unix, etc..

But if you go to college for full time keep in mind that you will have many many useless courses and it is really irreatating.

If i were you i would just take some courses as part time and improve myself in real world since that is the best way!

Good Luck!

PatrickT,

You didn't give us enough information, when you mean hosting do you mean having your own business, or working for a hosting company for example support, or Linux technician?

If you want to start a hosting company it actually helps to have an understanding in all of the hosting industry level areas, this is because if you wish to hire someone you want to make sure that they are doing there job correctly. You cannot do that if you do not know a little about there job yourself.

Regards

DislexiK

Originally posted by sergio80
I was wondering about that too, and found some courses offering knowledge about servers, unix, etc..

But if you go to college for full time keep in mind that you will have many many useless courses and it is really irreatating.

If i were you i would just take some courses as part time and improve myself in real world since that is the best way!

Good Luck!

it's not useless. those class just not related to what you want to do in life.

Originally posted by sergio80

But if you go to college for full time keep in mind that you will have many many useless courses and it is really irreatating.


While some of the classes may seem irritating, you may learn how to use proper spelling and grammar. This helps improve your professional appearance and is important for getting and maintaining clients.

Patrick,

Out of curiosity - how did you manage to get a 4.2 GPA out of a maximum 4.0?

In regards to your question, I would suggest that you go into Small Business Management & Entrepreneurship. Not a lot of colleges offer this as a major, but if you find one that does, look into it. The best part about this major is that it teaches you a wide range of skills, such as marketing, human relations, communication, and so on, instead of locking you in one specific direction.

Boris

Originally posted by PatrickT
Its that time where I am looking to get into a college with something that will help me be better at my dream, hosting. I received many letters already since I have a 4.2 GPA. I am trying to find which degree would be most suitable for hosting.

Please help a youngling find the course he needs :)

You can also consider Computer Science. Computer Science focuses on programming. Worth considering if you ever want to develop your own in-house billing system or custom scripts/programs.

Thanks, I am personally looking at owning a business while doing like most technical, but still be able to do some business parts. I didn't think Computer Science was the best for hosting. I was thinking more in the lines of what amish_geek is studying.

Also boris, out where I like the max somehow is 4.3. Don't ask me why I am just a student :)

You get higher than a 4.0 when you take weighted classes like honors classes (the class is weighted at 1.5 rather than 1, because it is more difficult, so kids that take all honors classes and get A's, will have higher GPA's than kids that take all shop classes and get A's)

PatrickT, let me warn you though, that going to college will mainly teach you to work for someone else, and not start your own business. However, the MIS courses will teach you good things like project management, System/Network administration, Database Management, etc. The other business courses will teach you some financial and managerial accounting principles, as well as a good overview of marketing and business management. Yet, it is still geared towards training you to work for some big corporation as a corporate peon.

I'm having a fun time trying to wrap all of these concepts and twist them around to fit into a small business environment. For example, in my accounting classes, they taught us how to do accounting for a business already set up with existing books. They did not teach me how to use a program like quickbooks, nor how to set up a set of books for a small business.

Also, for those that say, don't go to college, just get wet by jumping right into hosting... have fun trying to go to a bank, with no credit history, to get a business loan, especially without a house to use as equity. Banks look at whether or not you have a degree in something when giving business loans with little collateral. By having a degree, that tells them that you are educated, and have the drive to finish what you started, making the loan less of a risk for them in your business venture.

Also, you can always fall back on a degree and get a 9-5 job if your business takes a turn for the worse.

have fun trying to go to a bank, with no credit history, to get a business loan, especially without a house to use as equity. Banks look at whether or not you have a degree in something when giving business loans with little collateral. By having a degree, that tells them that you are educated, ...
Also, you can always fall back on a degree and get a 9-5 job if your business takes a turn for the worse. [/B]
You make it sound like everyone without a degree is poor and stupid. In my experience, lenders look more at the ability to pay back (which includes risk) than how 'smart' you are. Fact is, most of the 'smart' people I've had to deal with are floating somewhere between annoying and downright stupid.

This isn't a post based on jealousy; I was one of the 'smart' kids. I've had my share of advanced education. I have six computer-related certifications and a business degree. If I could do it over I'd put more emphasis on learning real-world situations and less on higher education.

Originally posted by amish_geek
Also, for those that say, don't go to college, just get wet by jumping right into hosting... have fun trying to go to a bank, with no credit history, to get a business loan, especially without a house to use as equity. Banks look at whether or not you have a degree in something when giving business loans with little collateral. By having a degree, that tells them that you are educated, and have the drive to finish what you started, making the loan less of a risk for them in your business venture.

Also, you can always fall back on a degree and get a 9-5 job if your business takes a turn for the worse. Most people I know that go to college have a good bit of debt afterward from tuition and such. (Notice the most portion of that sentence)

There are other ways to get a business off the ground than just getting a loan from the bank...

Originally posted by amish_geek
You get higher than a 4.0 when you take weighted classes like honors classes (the class is weighted at 1.5 rather than 1, because it is more difficult, so kids that take all honors classes and get A's, will have higher GPA's than kids that take all shop classes and get A's)


MOST honors and ALL Advance Placement (AP) class are weighted (and equally also). The max gpa that can be earned is a 5.0, that means all class the student is taking are either honor or ap, and one would be getting stright A's.

The weight is determined by the following:

Say you have 6 classes
You are getting 3 A's and 3B's , and 3 of those classes are weighted.

You take the # of weighted class / total # of classes, which would give you an extra .5 average, so the 3 A's (4.0+4.0+4.0) + 3B (3.0+3.0+3.0) divided by 6 to get an average = 3.5 PLUS the extra .5 average, would get you a 4.0 average.

What importance is this?, college/universities like to see students that go beyond their requirements. Most colleges/univ's would also accept AP scores of 4+ and give you credit. That means you'd met the college/univ requirements of that course and you can SKIP it (yea, save the money to get a WHT prm membership)

I'd be applying for univ's in 1 1/2 year >.<
anyone got MIT or CalTech hookups? :D

I would go with a Business major of some kind. You will definitely need accounting. Also I would highly suggest some marketing courses in there as well. Dont worry too much about networking courses, I took CCNA, and it didn't help too much with my company. Try some linux courses, or programming courses. They have coding courses now at colleges too. Go for a business major, and just explore some of the other classes as well. :)

Originally posted by amish_geek
Also, for those that say, don't go to college, just get wet by jumping right into hosting... have fun trying to go to a bank, with no credit history, to get a business loan, especially without a house to use as equity. Banks look at whether or not you have a degree in something when giving business loans with little collateral.

Unequivocally, I can say this is complete and utter BS.

1) I currently have $55,000 in business loans and lines of credit from my bank. If you count loans and lines from other sources than my primary bank (including investors and other business lines), that number reaches close to $100,000.
2) My primary line of credit is SBA-backed (so that means the government thought I was safe enough to loan to, as well.)
3) I do not have a college degree.
4) I do not own a house.
5) I have never once had to put collateral OF ANY SORT down to get a business loan.

My business is well into six figures of revenue at this point and we're showing a profit. We churn quite a lot of money through our bank on a yearly basis, and we've been banking with them as a business for 5+ years. Banks look at one primary thing when you ask for a loan or line, and that is your ability to pay it back. If you're churning 5 figures a month through your account through them, it is pretty easy to get approved for a loan or line (or both, in my case.)

I have turned down investors willing to put 6 figures into my business for an equity share (I'm simply not interested in giving up equity at this point.) I can safely say that whether I have a college degree has no bearing on this whatsoever, and so would many of my other friends who also have successful businesses without college degrees. (Why don't you ask Brian Wing from Rackmounts Etc. about this?) ;)

EDIT: I should add something here. The above doesn't mean I think you should skip college completely. College works for some people and it doesn't for others. I dropped out cleanly after 1 1/2 years, so I can go back at any time. I may still do that. It wasn't right for me, and I have not yet regretted the decision to leave. However, I do think everyone should try it before saying "It's not right for me." If you don't belong at college, you'll know, but it's still a valuable learning experience.

I'm not in the hosting business, however I did start my own business. I took Business Management in college. There were some classes that I don't use a lot of the knowledge from. But most were very helpful in assisting me with my dream.

I got a BS in Information Systems (with a Business Minor), then went back and finished up my MBA.

IS (which covers programming, networking and databases pretty extensively) is more the direction you would want to go than CS (primarily coding).

You don't need college to run a web hosting business. It should be something that is easy enough to learn yourself. The web hosting sector is not something to plan on entering four years from now when you are done with college. There are too many companies and it is a service and not product that is being sold. Also, you don't need college to get business loans. That is complete and utter b.s. I have never heard of a bank asking about a college degree when getting a business loan. They usually like to see numbers (how much your company is getting). That said, I am going for a BS in Info Systems and a Business minor too. I am also thinking about going for a MBA once done with that. I am not doing this to run a hosting company later (I am running a very successful one now).

Simply put - Get a business degree as a marketing major. Also take tech classes that relate to internet, networking, and system administration.

Originally posted by Josh Stein
You don't need college to run a web hosting business. It should be something that is easy enough to learn yourself.

i don't think so. simply lease a dedicted server != web hosting biz.

marketing, accounting, customer relationship managment, project managment...etc.

I agree with jt2377 - The accounting and customer service are key to a successful hosting business. On a previous business of mine I didn't have my accounting in check and I had a total nightmare on my hands. Also if you don't treat your customers right they will leave - I have received several calls from hosting customers that are leaving another provider due to poor service!

Originally posted by jt2377
i don't think so. simply lease a dedicted server != web hosting biz.

marketing, accounting, customer relationship managment, project managment...etc.

I must be a special case then. My business partner and I are able to handle everything (marketing, accounting, customer service, project management, support, etc). We do have additional hands to help when we are really busy (support staff, corporate accountant, and corporate lawyer). Going to college to end up running a web hosting company is a waste to me (a $160,000 waste that is). Having a business plan is key. I am in college to take it to the next level. Now some people may not know enough to jump in to start a web hosting company and college may serve as the tool to help with that. I honestly think it is something that most people should be able to learn on their own though and not focus a college education on.

Originally posted by amish_geek
You get higher than a 4.0 when you take weighted classes like honors classes (the class is weighted at 1.5 rather than 1, because it is more difficult, so kids that take all honors classes and get A's, will have higher GPA's than kids that take all shop classes and get A's)

PatrickT, let me warn you though, that going to college will mainly teach you to work for someone else, and not start your own business. However, the MIS courses will teach you good things like project management, System/Network administration, Database Management, etc. The other business courses will teach you some financial and managerial accounting principles, as well as a good overview of marketing and business management. Yet, it is still geared towards training you to work for some big corporation as a corporate peon.

I'm having a fun time trying to wrap all of these concepts and twist them around to fit into a small business environment. For example, in my accounting classes, they taught us how to do accounting for a business already set up with existing books. They did not teach me how to use a program like quickbooks, nor how to set up a set of books for a small business.

Also, for those that say, don't go to college, just get wet by jumping right into hosting... have fun trying to go to a bank, with no credit history, to get a business loan, especially without a house to use as equity. Banks look at whether or not you have a degree in something when giving business loans with little collateral. By having a degree, that tells them that you are educated, and have the drive to finish what you started, making the loan less of a risk for them in your business venture.

Also, you can always fall back on a degree and get a 9-5 job if your business takes a turn for the worse. Glad to see one smart post in this thread. Great information, amish; Sorry most weren't open minded enough to take your advise. It seems as if stupidity does go along with ignorance.

By having a degree, that tells them that you are educated, and have the drive to finish what you started, making the loan less of a risk for them in your business venture.This is 300% true.

You will always be better off in the business world with a degree, and whoever says otherwise is ignorant. Yes you can start a business, and a successful one at that w/out a degree! Look at Bill Gates, he dropped out of college!

Bill Gates is an exception, not a standard. You may always have instances where people are making boat loads of money without having gone to college, but there are many more who are currently unemployed or living paycheck-to-paycheck. Education gives you a foundation to build on and the reality is that it gives you an advantage. Why is there so much emphasis from policymakers to improve education standards? Have you noticed that country's with poor education systems lack competitiveness and drive compared to those that offer strong and accessible schools. They may be smart individuals but they lack the resources.

What's more, there's no doubt that you need real-world education, which is why individuals often do internships etc while in college., However, if you can apply ideas and collectively consider the innovative-thinking of countless individuals that you study in a range of courses, you will have the framework to continue to build, improve, and lead society. Its plausible that you are an intelligent person without having gone to college, but there's so much knowledge, guidance, and resources that colleges can offer. Those who don't go to college will overlook this but I think its worth the 150k price tag.

Finally, college doesn't have to only be about being a better employee or owner. It can make you more informed, cultured, and aware of things going on around you.

Many universities offer majors in entrepreneurship (did i spell that right?) Its a sub-section of the business department, but i would look to major in that with a minor in marketing or computer science, depending on what aspect of the business you're more interested in.

Originally posted by dmike
I got a BS in Information Systems (with a Business Minor), then went back and finished up my MBA.

IS (which covers programming, networking and databases pretty extensively) is more the direction you would want to go than CS (primarily coding).

I don't believe for one second you have an M.B.A. Otherwise, you would never ever have given this guy such poor advice as getting an IS degree rather than a business degree. I do have an M.B.A. along with an MIS degree and a Masters in Economics.

With an undergrad business degree you are taught the very basics of business. This is something you take with you throughout life's journey regardless of what area of business you end up. With something like an M.B.A., you are actually taught critical thinking and problem solving skills while forming a deeper understanding of business and what it actually takes to be successful. These skills are life changing and absolutely make a huge difference in anything you may do in life. If you want to own your own business (it doesn't matter what type) then go for a business degree. If you want to work for someone else (there is no shame in that) go get a degree that employers need. IS sounds like as good a degree as any other.

As a business owner you need to know how to run all facets of a business from accounting, marketing, economics, management, etc. Skillsets such as network maintenance, php coding, database management, etc are areas of expertise you hire out to those who have IS degrees.

Do you need a college degree to be successful (more specifically a business degree)? Of course not. Will you be better prepared for what lies ahead of you if you have a degree? Of course you will be. A college degree is something no one can ever take away from you, and it is something that will always be useful.

Computer Engineering.

I thin it depends on how well you know the industry already. Business management critical, but for something as competitive as hosting anything with marketing would be a huge bonus.

People should not forget that first and Foremost hosting is an IT Related business,so having a good IT knowledge is essential.
You can follow this up with marketing and business certs but unless you know in IT terms what your doing your business will not suceed.

Its well and good having a great marketing plan and nice set of accounts and good business knowledge but when your server is down 50% of the month none of that matters.

Business Administration with a major in Info Systems if it's available.

I graduated in 2002 from this program and find it very useful. For me the business side is more useful and I think it will become more and more that way as you see shakeout and consolidation in this industry over the next few years.

You can always outsource the highly technical aspects of the business if you need to so that you can focus on the importnat things like making money ;)

Originally posted by Sposs
People should not forget that first and Foremost hosting is an IT Related business,so having a good IT knowledge is essential.
You can follow this up with marketing and business certs but unless you know in IT terms what your doing your business will not suceed. It actually really depends on your placement in the company. If you're a server administrator or support rep, then yes having an it related degree would give you the knowledge you need to succeed. However, if you're the owner, you don't need a degree in any it field. You can just hire someone with the degree to do your dirty work for you.

Originally posted by PiMPaRSeBiSh
It actually really depends on your placement in the company. If you're a server administrator or support rep, then yes having an it related degree would give you the knowledge you need to succeed. However, if you're the owner, you don't need a degree in any it field. You can just hire someone with the degree to do your dirty work for you.

Not really, because then techs can give you the run around and be doing feck all,with the IT knowledge you can tell them exactly what you want done aswell as keep an eye on them that there doing it correctly.

Originally posted by Sposs
Not really, because then techs can give you the run around and be doing feck all,with the IT knowledge you can tell them exactly what you want done aswell as keep an eye on them that there doing it correctly.

If your not a good judge of character and you can't trust the people you hire, you should not attempt to run a small business.

The idea of having to constantly monitor your staff is a classic old school example of how the top down management style from 100 years ago leads to unhappy inefficient working relationships. In the end it's inefficient and that is why more and more organizations are choosing to empower their staff instead of confining them.

Hum I would strongly suggest you complete college and while there you study either or both Business mgmt and Information science with a concentraiton towards security and networking. (thats what I did ) This is for two reasons.

1) for you to have a profitable livable income from hosting ie no other jobs you are looking at a minium of 400 + clients a month all at 9.95 or more. That is to cover your operating costs and living expenses and to ahve a small profit.

2) If the hosting does not work out or you get bored you can always work in anohter area of technology and run a samaller part tiem hosting company on the side.


Thats just my two cents. That piece of paper that says bachelor on it will get you further in this world then if you dont. No offense to those that did not complete school it is just a fact and numbers are shown on most major job sites to point that I am right in saying this.

I can tell because I work for one, if you do plan to find a job with a big company like a fortune 500, they won't even look at you without it.

Originally posted by genxweb


Thats just my two cents. That piece of paper that says bachelor on it will get you further in this world then if you dont. No offense to those that did not complete school it is just a fact and numbers are shown on most major job sites to point that I am right in saying this.
You are right in the point that a degree is essential %99.9999 of the time. Though getting that degree does not guarantee you anything. You get what you put into it just like anything else. Especialy being self employeed, there is noone to impress with that degree so you will have to actualy have a grasp on what your doing. I know a guy who graduated with honors from IU (business management) and he bar tends at the casino. Right after high school I worked with a guy in a factory making crap money(7 bucks an hour) he was 29 and had a degree in economics. You get what you put into that peice of paper, it isnt that hard to make it to college, and it isnt near impossible to graduate. There are tons of people who graduate college a year, so you have to set yourself apart and above them in order to achieve your goals. If you went to school for 4 years and was one test away from graduation, and decided to quit for some wierd reason you would be just as capable of running your business as someone with a degree. Go to school, soak in all you can and have a good time as well.

balls, ambition and dedication are great majors. paper or no paper from a college you'll go far with the above 3 attributes

ambition with out dedication and you are a started that cannot finish anything. dedication without ambition people will own you forever.

Ambition and dedication with no balls = middle management :-)

you can go a long way but the glass ceiling is no myth and my guess is that most middle managers make more cake than hosting providers with less than 500 domains under their belt :)

I am planning on going into Advertising.

If you plan on being employee for the rest of your life you will need a good degree to become successful. Experience will equal out a missing degree up to a certain point though. But then again - how do you get experience if nobody hires you because you do not have a degree. Several studies have shown that a degree and the same dedication as someone without a degree will get you further.

One more time, if you are going into business for yourself a degree is worthless, it is what you get out of the time you put in to get the degree. Many people just get by enough to get a degree.

Originally posted by TheFish
If you plan on being employee for the rest of your life you will need a good degree to become successful. Experience will equal out a missing degree up to a certain point though. But then again - how do you get experience if nobody hires you because you do not have a degree. Several studies have shown that a degree and the same dedication as someone without a degree will get you further.

sometime being a employee is not bad. CEO is employee. the board and shareholder are his boss and any major companies CEO make well over 6 figures.

what other said is true. degree does carry a lot of weight in Corporate America. heck, i think America is the only country where you don't need a degree to get a job. in China, India and the rest of the world, if you plan to join a farily large company they require you to have master or even phd. did anyone read the forutne's article on India tech support. all their employee are college educated and that's why most business perfer to outsource it to India because they already have a large fairly educated college level student ready to work and India college is pretty high up against any U.S. college.

A CEO is not considered an employee in any industry. He might receive a salary and benefits like an employee but technically he is not an employee, but the employer.

Originally posted by TheFish
A CEO is not considered an employee in any industry. He might receive a salary and benefits like an employee but technically he is not an employee, but the employer.

sorry, that is the wrong answer. CEO are interview by the board. he himself may or may not be the founder but he is the employee. the board and shareholder are his boss

case in point, Disney, they hire Eisher to manage that company. the recent deal breakup with Pixar have him underfire from the board member, they can replace him (fired him). there are article talking about Disney CEO may get kicked by Disney board.

CEO is employee. people get interviewed to get that job.