An honest, cited answer. We make no ROI, salary, placement, or 'worth it' claim, and we don't track live job demand — where we don't know, we say so.
There's no universal winner; they trade money, time, structure, and signal differently — here are the honest inputs, without a ranking we can't support. Self-study costs least when the vendor's own training is free and you pay only the exam — Microsoft publishes free self-paced learning paths — but it supplies no schedule, no cohort and no deadline, so it asks the most of your own discipline. A bootcamp buys structure, cohort support and a schedule for a real cost (see published training prices on our provider pages) — but bootcamp outcome claims vary and are inconsistently audited, so weigh them against independent audits (CIRR) rather than marketing. A degree is measured in years rather than weeks, and its cost depends entirely on the institution and on what funding you qualify for. We deliberately do not rank these three by price: a subsidised public program, a scholarship, employer tuition assistance or a premium bootcamp can reverse the order in either direction, so compare the specific programs you can actually access rather than the categories. On the degree question specifically, ONET places Network and Computer Systems Administrators in Job Zone 4, where "most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not" — that describes the preparation ONET considers typical for that occupation, not what any employer requires. The honest decision depends on your budget, timeline, target role, and how much structure you need — not on a one-size answer.
What we don't know
We don't publish bootcamp placement or salary figures as our own claim; where outcome data exists it's third-party and inconsistently audited — see CIRR for audited rosters.