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>You feel it was worth the cost? Harvard Extension is a bargain compared to most colleges. $1500-$2500 for most 4 credit classes. Don't tell those smart colleg
by 50something 9y ago
>You feel it was worth the cost?
Harvard Extension is a bargain compared to most colleges. $1500-$2500 for most 4 credit classes. Don't tell those smart college students that you are getting the same class for less than half the price. I tried the online thing (Coursera, edX, Udemy, etc.) but was never as motivated as competing against real students in a real class with deadlines that have consequences. Fear of failure is a great motivator :)
> Did you do all classes online or did you go in person for some / all?
It was a mix. The online classes were more time efficient. The person classes built rewarding personal relationships with faculty and older students.
> Did you work in technology previously?
Yes, was primarily self taught. Only had access to a lousy community college in my teens. Turned me off school then.
- ultrasounder 9y agoThanks for sharing your experience. I myself on a new quest to self-teach CS and change my career. I have been in the Technology field for the past 13 years or so but am pivoting to a software engineering career. CS50x is my first stop. I am intrigued by your experience with HarvardX. THe CS50x path now offers 3 more courses beyond the CS50x which i hope to take over the year or so to build my portfolio. Very inspiring to see someone achieve the impossible.
- 50something 9y agoI'm actually not a fan of CS50. I never took the course, but I went through the online material did the first few weeks of assignments. It is very broad and very shallow. It is also very hard and discouraging without some guided assistance. The students who take it for credit get a lot of help. For a first CompSci course, the edX Python course is better, IMO. https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-11 https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mit...
- ultrasounder 9y agoThanks for your feedback. I could see your point about the course being broad. With 6.0.0 the whole focus is on Python and CS. Congrats on "Getting the Google job", at which many a might folk have failed; https://medium.com/@googleyasheck/i-didnt-get-hired-here-s-why-21f26d4784d5 https://medium.com/@googleyasheck/i-didnt-get-hired-here-s-w... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9695102 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9695102 Are you able to share the role that you got hired in to? Was it a SRE? thanks
- 50something 9y agoI'm trying to stay anonymous and am concerned I may have already revealed too much. Let's just say it is a technical role that involves coding and leave it at that.
- ultrasounder 9y agoperfectly understand your concerns. Thanks again and wish you well on your journey!!!
- 50something 9y agoAlso, I got rejected twice (!) at Microsoft and didn't even get an interview at Amazon, so I can sympathize with "GoogleyAsHeck." Clearly hiring is a very noisy process with a lot of randomness. A lot of it is beyond your control no matter how much preparation is done.
- wikibob 9y agoI’ve looked into the extension school a few times but never went forward due to lack of good first hand success stories. Mind if I drop you an email in the future? Anonymous email is fine if you prefer (saw your below comment). Or you can ping me (in profile).
- heedlessly2 9y agoThe Harvard extension says their online bachelor's degree costs about $50k total, so it's not like you're saving that much money. https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/undergraduate-degrees/bachelor-liberal-arts-degree https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/undergraduate-de... You'd save more money doing community college for 1-2 years, then transferring to your flagship state university. Plus Harvard Extension no longer available to those under 21 years old unless for special circumstances such as disability. Many people finish a traditional bachelor's at age 21.