Generally speaking, an IT certification is like a driver's license, it puts you on the road, but you have no understanding of what's under the hood. You will drive long and far, but one day you will get stranded when something breaks.

The most important skill in the field (IT) is your ability to bullshit your way around. Talk about visions, projections, planning, the brighten future ahead, be charming, inspiring, and most important master the politics of the company. It does not matter what you say, the only thing that matter how you say it, and on who's side you are.

When it comes to technical skills, don't worry at all, for that we can always either hire consultants, or outsource the job.

i dropped out of the work force at 47 to take advantage of my soon-to-be-expiring gi bill. i don't think i could recommend school enough. it was the best three years of my adult life. i did pay off all my bills beforhand so all i had was the house note and utilities (i highly recommend high speed internet if youre going to have online classes), the gi bill handling the utilities and the wife taking care of the mortgage. if i do ever become independently wealthy, ill be a full time student till the day i die.

IT certifications would be faster and cheaper, wouldn’t they?

Consider the dating opportunities! (I know... that's not much help but, I'm sort of the class clown around here rather than the valedictorian so, consider the source.)

I won't be much help, I'm afraid. I will say that I am a well-educated person--Master's and beyond--but I sometimes regret not going further and getting the doctorate. I still think about it, and I'm long retired.

Without more / clearer info. I can't say anything...

Whatever you decide I wish you the best.

I'm personally not much in favor of certification programs -- at least I haven't seen any that impress me as any sort of indicator of actual expertise in software development. But then again, many degree programs are lacking there, too. I've met more than one CS graduate who couldn't program their way out of a paper bag.

I've been more impressed of late with code boot camps and similar programs, although they vary a great deal in quality.

However you acquire your knowledge, there is no substitute for all the hands-on experience you can get. If I were learning from scratch today, I'd involve myself in a couple of open source projects and work my way up in reputation with those. Start doing something low level like documentation if you have to.

Particular certifications or degrees are more a function of artificial requirements of employers than anything else. Some interviewers give them far more weight than others. There was a discussion about this on Quora recently, with experienced interviewers / hirers all over the place on this issue of how important or predictive a degree is in a candidate you're evaluating.

I don't have any degrees or certifications myself, I'm entirely an autodidact, been doing dev work for 35 years and pulling in a steady six figure income for the past couple of decades. I haven't had a client ask me in all those years for my educational CV, except a couple of times where the topic came up in conversation after I'd been doing extensive work for them for months -- and then my lack of formal education was more, not less, impressive.

I would not recommend that as a path to getting a foothold in the industry today; it's very different than it was in the 1980s, all the low-hanging fruit is gone and it's not the Wild West anymore. However, my experience is indicative that formal programs are only part of the story, and in the IT world, a track record of solving actual problems has outsize importance, too.

Also ... I credit a lot of my success to mastering generic consulting and people and business skills. Too many programmers are techno-nerds with no business sense and don't give clients or employers any sense that they understand business requirements / needs or have their back. Business is not a place for technical masturbation, it is a place for solving business problems using technology in smart ways ... it's as important to know how not to amass technical debt, how to present ideas in compelling ways, how to get along with difficult co-workers, how to have healthy boundaries, etc., not just to show technical prowess. Do not neglect these areas. You should read Gerald Weinberg's timeless books, for example. No one will either point that out or make you do that in college. You're welcome

It depends on your motivation, resources and ultimate goal. Without knowing all details I would say your best bet would be some balance between quick results and how much money you want to invest

Good question. I don't have an answer. You would have to look at the job market and determine what advancement would give you the best outcome.

On a similar note: Yesterday I was in my front yard pulling weeds. It was 103 degrees and a car from down south (southern state) stopped. An older woman 64 and her husband 74 had driven into town the day before and were looking for work. They had no money and had slept in the car the night before. Neither one of them had a college degree and they noted it was really hard to find a job down south without a degree so they traveled to ND to try to find a job and try to make ends meet. The woman asked if I had any work for them as she thought I was a employed by a paid yard worker service (my house looks like the owner would hire yard service) so I paid them enough to help them out and they spent almost an hour helping me pull weeds. School will likely be a good choice.

I'm not sure but in today's world isn't it just the certificates?

I don't know which is the best choice, but I wish you the best of luck either way.

IT certification , would most likely allow you to get a certification you can use to get a good job in a relatively short period of time . If you're careful about which courses you take , you could then add on the other courses needed to turn it into a BS degree . Check out what is transferable before you start .

Good luck to you. I went back to school at 45+ for an Associate's degree. Not a clue about IT stuff. My kids would have an opinion, but not my specialty.

I'd say that just depends on how much time you have and how much you enjoy learning.

Could join a hippie commune ?

School for sure!