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(Disclaimer: USA-centric advise) I advocate the formal education route here. Figure out the least expensive path to getting yourself a technical undergrad degr

(Disclaimer: USA-centric advise) I advocate the formal education route here. Figure out the least expensive path to getting yourself a technical undergrad degree. Meaning a BS in Engineering or Computer Science, from an ABET-accredited university. For my BigTechCo, you are not going to get hired without a technical degree. Any Engineering degree with some Computer Science emphasis will work, or straight Computer Science. This assumes a software engineering role. There are other technical disciplines, of course, but you are likely to need a graduate degree. An internship will be the best route to getting hired full time. Your age will not matter. One of the best engineers I worked joined my company as a mid-30's intern after finishing his second undergrad. His first undergrad was non-technical, second one was technical. He also had a healthy GitHub and spent a lot of time doing hobbyist programming before taking the plunge into formal education. If nothing else, it sounds like you have a lot of experience in what not to do. And for school, you should have a serious advantage on your fellow students in terms of time management and social skills.

dboreham 4y ago
> technical undergrad degree OP stated they were in grad school, implying they have some degree. I'm not sure it would help to take another one now?
- anthomtb 4y ago
  I think it would, assuming they want to work for an established tech company. They do not say what field their degree was in. If it is non-technical, even a hard science, getting an additional undergrad in an Engineering field would make them much more employable. If they do have a technical degree then I agree that an additional undergrad would not help. But I certainly think returning to graduate school would help them get hired. An aside, they OP is not really stating what they want to do. I am interpolating from: > Will tech co’s ever consider hiring someone like me? That they want a role like my own (senior software engineer, 15 YOE). But I am not certain.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
whoknew1122 4y ago
I didn't find it necessary to go back to school to get a technical undergrad degree. I taught myself IT and got certs instead. I was able to use those certs to break into the industry, and eventually get hired by AWS.
- anthomtb 4y ago
  A technical undergrad is definitely not the only path to employability. But it is a well-traveled and straightforward path.
jimbo99912 4y ago
ABET accreditation isn't really very important in Computer Science, tons of good schools forego it or offer a separate Software Engineering degree that has ABET accreditation. CS isn't like Electrical Engineering where a university is either ABET accredited or a diploma mill. ABET imposes a lot of controversial requirements on CS programs that many top programs don't agree with. It's a young field and the curriculum hasn't been set in stone to the same extent it has in the rest of the engineering school. That being said, the school itself being properly accredited is still important, and obviously going to a highly regarded CS program is an advantage (although it doesn't need to be ABET, for instance last I checked Stanford CS is not ABET accredited), although it's not the end of the world if you can't. Edit: I just noticed you said ABET accredited university and realized I may have misinterpreted what you meant. I would agree that the university having an ABET accreditation in it's Engineering programs in general is important, i.e. it's a bad sign if the school you are going to for CS has a non ABET accredited E.E. program (although those are few and far between due to it being essentially mandatory and much less controversial in more traditional engineering programs).

dboreham 4y ago

> technical undergrad degree OP stated they were in grad school, implying they have some degree. I'm not sure it would help to take another one now?

anthomtb 4y ago
I think it would, assuming they want to work for an established tech company. They do not say what field their degree was in. If it is non-technical, even a hard science, getting an additional undergrad in an Engineering field would make them much more employable. If they do have a technical degree then I agree that an additional undergrad would not help. But I certainly think returning to graduate school would help them get hired. An aside, they OP is not really stating what they want to do. I am interpolating from: > Will tech co’s ever consider hiring someone like me? That they want a role like my own (senior software engineer, 15 YOE). But I am not certain.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

whoknew1122 4y ago

I didn't find it necessary to go back to school to get a technical undergrad degree. I taught myself IT and got certs instead. I was able to use those certs to break into the industry, and eventually get hired by AWS.

anthomtb 4y ago
A technical undergrad is definitely not the only path to employability. But it is a well-traveled and straightforward path.

jimbo99912 4y ago

ABET accreditation isn't really very important in Computer Science, tons of good schools forego it or offer a separate Software Engineering degree that has ABET accreditation. CS isn't like Electrical Engineering where a university is either ABET accredited or a diploma mill. ABET imposes a lot of controversial requirements on CS programs that many top programs don't agree with. It's a young field and the curriculum hasn't been set in stone to the same extent it has in the rest of the engineering school. That being said, the school itself being properly accredited is still important, and obviously going to a highly regarded CS program is an advantage (although it doesn't need to be ABET, for instance last I checked Stanford CS is not ABET accredited), although it's not the end of the world if you can't. Edit: I just noticed you said ABET accredited university and realized I may have misinterpreted what you meant. I would agree that the university having an ABET accreditation in it's Engineering programs in general is important, i.e. it's a bad sign if the school you are going to for CS has a non ABET accredited E.E. program (although those are few and far between due to it being essentially mandatory and much less controversial in more traditional engineering programs).