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I struggled with college and don't know if I'll be returning... I made it over a third of the way to a CS degree but had to take a break from school. I got a j

I struggled with college and don't know if I'll be returning... I made it over a third of the way to a CS degree but had to take a break from school. I got a job while in college as a programmer - and work full time making around the 50k range. I feel that I self taught myself the necessary technical skills for my job, and that the biggest places for self improvement aren't acedimic but business/relationship related. I have less then 5k in school debt left, and I already have the job I wanted, my only fear is when I eventually look for a new job, how well they'll consider me without a degree. I strongly feel my technical skills are at least up to par, meanwhile in school I watched classmates copy answers off YouTube...

shantly 7y ago
1) look into transferring your credit while it's still good (it can expire) to some place with a fairly cheap online CS program. Most degree programs, including most CS degree programs, are the "do the work, get the degree sort", not the (good) kind that'll run you ragged trying to do 20 hours of math and algo homework a week or whatever, so you can knock them out about the same speed as normal as long as you use the Summer sessions (you'll still have tons of weeks a year without any classes). No one who isn't already (more or less) filtering out non-top-tier school graduates cares where you got your degree or how rigorous the program was, unless the interviewer happened to go there—they aren't getting many candidates from top-tier schools, even at pay much higher than $50k, so they can't be that picky. Just sit down and force yourself to do whatever school work you have for the day before doing anything else, after work. Most days it likely won't really be that much. Every now and then you'll have a 3-hour night of school stuff. 2) make sure the program you're transferring to accepts a bunch of CLEP tests for credit and then pass those for anything you haven't already taken that qualifies—a book, a couple weekends of hard study, and a (relatively) cheap test beats paying for a class and taking all that time. These will mostly be 100-level courses, including and especially "gen ed" classes. Maybe you don't have any of those left, but if you do, CLEP right the hell out of them. If you can get it cheap enough IMO it's definitely worth some money and some effort not to have questions about why you didn't go to or finish college, in interviews. If nothing else the confidence not having that stuff come up gives you frees you to ask for higher salaries. One 20k bump (not a crazy number for a jump with one job move, if you're at 50k, even if you're in like a 3rd- or 4th-rate city for tech) that otherwise would have taken a couple years longer to achieve, and that degree's a hell of a long way toward paying for itself. You could probably have one in under 3 years, maybe around 2, without taking on too much stress. [EDIT] oh and ask your employer to chip in for tuition. Can't hurt to ask.
JakeTheAndroid 7y ago
I wouldn't worry too much about the degree in CS if you're already in the industry. Unless you want to do something very specific, your work experience will trump your academic experience in nearly every case. I don't have a degree and have been able to move companies a number of times, as have my other engineer friends without any sort of degree. Unless you want to do some serious crypto research or something like that, more schooling probably isn't required. You'd be better served getting a CISSP or something. I was going to school for physics and do plan to go back because I want to be in that field doing research eventually. If you want to do something similar, then school might be worthwhile.
barry-cotter 7y ago
If you have enough work experience you can get onto a distance education Master’s from a UK university without a Bachelor’s. For example https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-software-engineering?wssl=1 https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-softwar... Oxford M.Sc. Software Engineering A typical applicant will have at least two years' experience in a professional environment, and an undergraduate degree in a related subject. However, more extensive experience may compensate for a lack of formal qualifications, and a strong, immediately-relevant qualification may compensate for a lack of professional experience. There are others but that’s the best I know of for Software Engineering without a Bachelor’s.

shantly 7y ago

1) look into transferring your credit while it's still good (it can expire) to some place with a fairly cheap online CS program. Most degree programs, including most CS degree programs, are the "do the work, get the degree sort", not the (good) kind that'll run you ragged trying to do 20 hours of math and algo homework a week or whatever, so you can knock them out about the same speed as normal as long as you use the Summer sessions (you'll still have tons of weeks a year without any classes). No one who isn't already (more or less) filtering out non-top-tier school graduates cares where you got your degree or how rigorous the program was, unless the interviewer happened to go there—they aren't getting many candidates from top-tier schools, even at pay much higher than $50k, so they can't be that picky. Just sit down and force yourself to do whatever school work you have for the day before doing anything else, after work. Most days it likely won't really be that much. Every now and then you'll have a 3-hour night of school stuff. 2) make sure the program you're transferring to accepts a bunch of CLEP tests for credit and then pass those for anything you haven't already taken that qualifies—a book, a couple weekends of hard study, and a (relatively) cheap test beats paying for a class and taking all that time. These will mostly be 100-level courses, including and especially "gen ed" classes. Maybe you don't have any of those left, but if you do, CLEP right the hell out of them. If you can get it cheap enough IMO it's definitely worth some money and some effort not to have questions about why you didn't go to or finish college, in interviews. If nothing else the confidence not having that stuff come up gives you frees you to ask for higher salaries. One 20k bump (not a crazy number for a jump with one job move, if you're at 50k, even if you're in like a 3rd- or 4th-rate city for tech) that otherwise would have taken a couple years longer to achieve, and that degree's a hell of a long way toward paying for itself. You could probably have one in under 3 years, maybe around 2, without taking on too much stress. [EDIT] oh and ask your employer to chip in for tuition. Can't hurt to ask.

JakeTheAndroid 7y ago

I wouldn't worry too much about the degree in CS if you're already in the industry. Unless you want to do something very specific, your work experience will trump your academic experience in nearly every case. I don't have a degree and have been able to move companies a number of times, as have my other engineer friends without any sort of degree. Unless you want to do some serious crypto research or something like that, more schooling probably isn't required. You'd be better served getting a CISSP or something. I was going to school for physics and do plan to go back because I want to be in that field doing research eventually. If you want to do something similar, then school might be worthwhile.

barry-cotter 7y ago

If you have enough work experience you can get onto a distance education Master’s from a UK university without a Bachelor’s. For example https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-software-engineering?wssl=1 https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-softwar... Oxford M.Sc. Software Engineering A typical applicant will have at least two years' experience in a professional environment, and an undergraduate degree in a related subject. However, more extensive experience may compensate for a lack of formal qualifications, and a strong, immediately-relevant qualification may compensate for a lack of professional experience. There are others but that’s the best I know of for Software Engineering without a Bachelor’s.