Distance

Yes, distance has no value compared to regular course in the same. 99% of the recruiters recruit candidates from regular courses with good academic profile. So concerning this, I can say that distance education has no value. But the scenario keeps on changing from time to time. So if you opt to do distance education, it may helpful to you to earn some money or add some value to your career but it will not work for you in near future say after 3 or 4 years. So I suggest you not to go for distance education. You may do the same course after 1 year, but make sure you do it through regular mode instead of distance.
As you have already got some work experience, you might have some practical knowledge over your core subjects. So you may give some gap to your work and concentrate on your studies. Remember years later, you will not be able to continue your studies because of your age and automatically your concentration will gets reduced. So I recommend you to go for the studies and soon after completion of the course you will get a fruitful job. In the job you may find after completing your regular course, you may even demand more salary.
Even if you choose distance education, there is another way to overcome this. You can try to get certified from renowned institutes by doing certificate courses related to your studies.