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I have a similar story; I finished about 1.5 years at FSU, and due to a lack of motivation and depression (and the two feeding into each other), I decided to dr

I have a similar story; I finished about 1.5 years at FSU, and due to a lack of motivation and depression (and the two feeding into each other), I decided to drop out when I was 21. I was extremely lucky to find work as a software engineer really quickly, and I managed to piece together a pretty awesome career making a pretty reasonable salary, but there's been several occasions where not having a degree made my life measurably worse. Since then, nine years after dropping out, I managed to complete my degree at WGU (which has its own share of valid criticisms). I don't know if the degree will "help" me more than my experience has, but at elast it's one less inferiority complex I have to deal with.

dimmke 5y ago
Yeah. I could go back and finish (though I’d guess I would be starting from scratch now), but I’m now at a level where it doesn’t matter. It would be so weird to be taking English classes with a bunch of 18 year olds just to add a line item to my resume nobody would read anyways. I’ve had times where it felt like I had to work harder, but I think a lot of that was self imposed and working hard is important in being a good software engineer anyways. You can go on the CSCareerQuestions subreddit and see many posts from people who did the bare minimum and have CS degrees with no idea how to get into the industry.
- tombert 5y ago
  If you just want a nominal degree, you might check out either WGU [1] or Northern Arizona University [2]. The competency-based system allows you to get through the courses a lot quicker (and cheaper) than you would with a traditional school (both are fully accredited). I don't know that it's "worth it", since that expression can mean different things to different people. For me, I want to unlock the path to do research, and a bachelors is basically required for that for most jobs. I also just wanted to get that chip off my shoulder (as stated before). [1] https://www.wgu.edu/ https://www.wgu.edu/ [2] https://nau.edu/online-innovative-educational-initiatives/self-paced-personalized-learning/ https://nau.edu/online-innovative-educational-initiatives/se...
Buttons840 5y ago
I'm doing a CS degree at WGU after 12 years in the industry. It's relatively cheap and being competency based means I could pass classes like "programming 101" - the class that teach you how a while loop works - I passed that class in one day. The ability to go as fast as I'm able removed the main reason I never went back to school, and once I learned I could go as fast, I decided to go back to school. I have learned some things in the program and don't consider it a complete waste of time, although it has its share of classes I'm not enthusiastic about, just like any school would. I'll be able to move onto a masters program if I ever decide, that is an important part to me. I wish an online competency based school would offer math degrees. Math has many good resources for self study, and is easy to test for competency, it seems like a perfect fit. Anyone know of a good online math degree?
- tombert 5y ago
  I don't regret doing WGU, it's an accredited school, it opened some doors for me, it's relatively cheap, it's a good investment. I do have some issues with the curriculum; for example, there's two classes on "business of IT" stuff, but no classes on distributed/concurrent programming or (more worryingly) linear algebra. I think the latter is much more of an issue; a ton of jobs in the compsci world really necessitate a working knowledge of linear algebra (at least enough to call a CUDA library), so the fact that they don't teach any math after Discrete Math II is a bad thing (enough to where I wrote a letter to their staff complaining about it). I do think that an issue with the competency-based systems is that they do kind of incentivize you to half-ass your way through the degree. An 80% is the same thing as a 100% in regards to your GPA, so I felt like I would very often learn just enough to pass a class and move on. For me, as someone with almost a decade of experience and a somewhat autodidactical nature, I don't think that's bad since I already have a fairly good understanding of compsci, but I do worry that a newbie might not leave with an great understanding of some fairly vital information. I'm doing a masters degree in Data Analytics now from WGU, and since I know almost nothing about that subject, I've been fighting every urge to do "turbo mode" for it, since I actually want to learn the subject matter.
  - Buttons840 5y ago

dimmke 5y ago

Yeah. I could go back and finish (though I’d guess I would be starting from scratch now), but I’m now at a level where it doesn’t matter. It would be so weird to be taking English classes with a bunch of 18 year olds just to add a line item to my resume nobody would read anyways. I’ve had times where it felt like I had to work harder, but I think a lot of that was self imposed and working hard is important in being a good software engineer anyways. You can go on the CSCareerQuestions subreddit and see many posts from people who did the bare minimum and have CS degrees with no idea how to get into the industry.

tombert 5y ago
If you just want a nominal degree, you might check out either WGU [1] or Northern Arizona University [2]. The competency-based system allows you to get through the courses a lot quicker (and cheaper) than you would with a traditional school (both are fully accredited). I don't know that it's "worth it", since that expression can mean different things to different people. For me, I want to unlock the path to do research, and a bachelors is basically required for that for most jobs. I also just wanted to get that chip off my shoulder (as stated before). [1] https://www.wgu.edu/ https://www.wgu.edu/ [2] https://nau.edu/online-innovative-educational-initiatives/self-paced-personalized-learning/ https://nau.edu/online-innovative-educational-initiatives/se...

Buttons840 5y ago

I'm doing a CS degree at WGU after 12 years in the industry. It's relatively cheap and being competency based means I could pass classes like "programming 101" - the class that teach you how a while loop works - I passed that class in one day. The ability to go as fast as I'm able removed the main reason I never went back to school, and once I learned I could go as fast, I decided to go back to school. I have learned some things in the program and don't consider it a complete waste of time, although it has its share of classes I'm not enthusiastic about, just like any school would. I'll be able to move onto a masters program if I ever decide, that is an important part to me. I wish an online competency based school would offer math degrees. Math has many good resources for self study, and is easy to test for competency, it seems like a perfect fit. Anyone know of a good online math degree?

tombert 5y ago
I don't regret doing WGU, it's an accredited school, it opened some doors for me, it's relatively cheap, it's a good investment. I do have some issues with the curriculum; for example, there's two classes on "business of IT" stuff, but no classes on distributed/concurrent programming or (more worryingly) linear algebra. I think the latter is much more of an issue; a ton of jobs in the compsci world really necessitate a working knowledge of linear algebra (at least enough to call a CUDA library), so the fact that they don't teach any math after Discrete Math II is a bad thing (enough to where I wrote a letter to their staff complaining about it). I do think that an issue with the competency-based systems is that they do kind of incentivize you to half-ass your way through the degree. An 80% is the same thing as a 100% in regards to your GPA, so I felt like I would very often learn just enough to pass a class and move on. For me, as someone with almost a decade of experience and a somewhat autodidactical nature, I don't think that's bad since I already have a fairly good understanding of compsci, but I do worry that a newbie might not leave with an great understanding of some fairly vital information. I'm doing a masters degree in Data Analytics now from WGU, and since I know almost nothing about that subject, I've been fighting every urge to do "turbo mode" for it, since I actually want to learn the subject matter.
- Buttons840 5y ago