5 ms·

I went back to school at 37, and got my degree at 40 (2020). I don’t regret it, though it was very tough. My classes were almost all online, and I transferred a

I went back to school at 37, and got my degree at 40 (2020). I don’t regret it, though it was very tough. My classes were almost all online, and I transferred a “Associates in general studies” from a community college (obtained in 2008). Here are my thoughts: 1) You don’t have to study your career path. You will almost certainly make more money in software than as an EE. I do electronics as a hobby, and I’m pretty happy with it. I worked full time while taking two classes a term. You already have a career in software. I’m here to tell you: you probably won’t be learning much you don’t already know. I didn’t. Why do you want to go to school to study ME/EE? If you want it, go for it. But if you’re just wanting to complete college, play to your strengths. 2) School is expensive. I cheated by going to a church college that subsidizes tuition. I have since stopped being a church-goer. I’m still proud of myself for getting my degree. 3) My wife is going back to school in mid-forties. It’s not too late. 4) You’re younger than you think. If you’re not too tied down, tear up your life. You’ve got lots in front of you. I had a wife and a newborn (still have both) and a full time job. 5) US university programs strongly bias toward kids coming out of high school. They are a quagmire of bureaucracy. Ask lots of questions about the program, find out what you can skip, what you don’t need, etc. I managed to get out of an internship requirement due to my 15 years in the industry. Good luck, and I’m proud of you. Education is a worthy goal.

hndecision1234 2y ago
This is a really interesting answer, I'd like to ask some follow up questions. 1) I've heard this from a few people now. It's a bit demotivating (just because of paying off school loans from a job that makes less money is harder) but do you think software will always pay this highly? Or do you believe as one drops the other might also. I mention EE or CS because while I love the idea of EE, at the end of the day I want a degree for more opportunities. 2) I never thought to look into this, I'll definitely add it to my list to research. 3) You're right, I guess I just think of graduating near 40 and starting over in a new field and it's hard to think about. 4) This made me think a bit, because tearing up my life could mean a couple things. I don't have kids and I'm not married so I don't have many things tying me down. To me, this would mean going to college in my home country or somewhere near for cheaper. This is a huge move and would definitely tear up my life but I go back and forth about whether it is the best move for the future or not. 5) That's a really good way to put it. Even after mentioning my age and that I've been working and I'm currently working, they go through the questions you would ask someone outside of high school which is strange. They don't like to get too in depth and just want me to apply right away. I need to be more direct in my communication and ask the questions I want to ask. Thank you again for the advice.
joquarky 2y ago
> Why do you want to go to school to study ME/EE? Because most hiring managers now select "Bachelors Degree" in the minimum education drop-down filter and thereby exclude all of the other beneficial attributes that a prospective employee may have. I have 25 years of enterprise web application development and I'm getting no progress in over a year of job searching. I have an Associates degree. The web arrived at the same time I graduated high school and I hyperfixeated on everything internet. I remember when "Yahoo!" offered their index as a text file that would fit on a 1.44 floppy. I passed the CISSP on the first try at 100 questions. I architected an internal OAuth/OIDC SDK for one of the top tier ISPs. It's becoming obvious to me that the four year degree is the only attribute I'm missing.
- kcplate 2y ago
  I have met and worked with as many talented non-degreed SWEs as degreed. I number of years back I had posted a dev position where I specifically left off any degree requirements only to find HR had “helpfully” added a degree requirement to the posting. At the time unemployment was low and the candidates I was getting were crap (but all well educated). I checked the post and realized a large portion of talented engineers were being excluded. Fixed the post and found a great candidate in short order.
- zaptrem 2y ago
  > "Yahoo!" offered their index as a text file that would fit on a 1.44 floppy Are there still records of this somewhere? Can't find anything on Google. I don't remember this as I didn't exist but it sounds interesting to read about.
- sircastor 2y ago
  To be clear, I was asking why OP wanted to study these specific subjects - not get a Bachelors in general. I've gotten more than one job that required a bachelors before I had one. They almost always offer the "Or requisite/similar experience". I think most employers in the Software Development space understand there is a non-trivially-sized set of qualified developers who didn't choose that path.
- lynch_autists 2y ago
vunderba 2y ago
> You already have a career in software. I’m here to tell you: you probably won’t be learning much you don’t already know. I didn’t. Woah. Pump the brakes. Even without precisely knowing what area of the IT world OP is in professionally - I can guarantee there's a huge amount of knowledge in a proper CS degree that they don't have. Granted a lot of that might be theoretics, but it's all fundamental to computer science. Just off the top of my head - it's highly doubtful that they have familiarity with any of the following topics (all of which are found in rigorously academic CS programs): - Linear algebra (eigenvectors, vector spaces, least squares, etc.) - Discrete maths (recurrence, graph theory, tree spanning, grammars, etc.) And that doesn't even begin to cover graphics and computation, compilers, algorithms, operating systems, data structures, artificial intelligence, and on and on. You can dispute how much practical value this might have for your average software dev - but OP will 100% learn a great deal from a BS/MS in Computer Science.
- tester756 2y ago
  >And that doesn't even begin to cover graphics and computation, compilers, algorithms, operating systems, data structures, artificial intelligence, and on and on. Maybe if you are attending top3 country schools, but for the rest all those topic you can get good or better knowledge on the internet
  - vunderba 2y ago
    What's your point? You can make that argument for almost any subject matter. The discussion was whether or not OP would LEARN anything from a traditional Computer Science degree that they hadn't already encountered as a software dev. The answer is almost assuredly yes. To circle back around, everyone learns differently. Some people prefer a more scholastic approach to learning with classes, labs, assignments, meeting in person, and engaging with professors. Others might be just as happy listening online to lecture after lecture from MIT OpenCourses. OP sounds like they'd prefer a more traditional pathway.
  - tekla 2y ago
    > Maybe if you are attending top3 country schools This is bog standard stuff for any school, not "top 3". Working in software doesn't mean you know jack shit about anything. I also notice calc 2 or 3 isn't included in the list.
checker659 2y ago
BYU?

hndecision1234 2y ago

This is a really interesting answer, I'd like to ask some follow up questions. 1) I've heard this from a few people now. It's a bit demotivating (just because of paying off school loans from a job that makes less money is harder) but do you think software will always pay this highly? Or do you believe as one drops the other might also. I mention EE or CS because while I love the idea of EE, at the end of the day I want a degree for more opportunities. 2) I never thought to look into this, I'll definitely add it to my list to research. 3) You're right, I guess I just think of graduating near 40 and starting over in a new field and it's hard to think about. 4) This made me think a bit, because tearing up my life could mean a couple things. I don't have kids and I'm not married so I don't have many things tying me down. To me, this would mean going to college in my home country or somewhere near for cheaper. This is a huge move and would definitely tear up my life but I go back and forth about whether it is the best move for the future or not. 5) That's a really good way to put it. Even after mentioning my age and that I've been working and I'm currently working, they go through the questions you would ask someone outside of high school which is strange. They don't like to get too in depth and just want me to apply right away. I need to be more direct in my communication and ask the questions I want to ask. Thank you again for the advice.

joquarky 2y ago

> Why do you want to go to school to study ME/EE? Because most hiring managers now select "Bachelors Degree" in the minimum education drop-down filter and thereby exclude all of the other beneficial attributes that a prospective employee may have. I have 25 years of enterprise web application development and I'm getting no progress in over a year of job searching. I have an Associates degree. The web arrived at the same time I graduated high school and I hyperfixeated on everything internet. I remember when "Yahoo!" offered their index as a text file that would fit on a 1.44 floppy. I passed the CISSP on the first try at 100 questions. I architected an internal OAuth/OIDC SDK for one of the top tier ISPs. It's becoming obvious to me that the four year degree is the only attribute I'm missing.

kcplate 2y ago
I have met and worked with as many talented non-degreed SWEs as degreed. I number of years back I had posted a dev position where I specifically left off any degree requirements only to find HR had “helpfully” added a degree requirement to the posting. At the time unemployment was low and the candidates I was getting were crap (but all well educated). I checked the post and realized a large portion of talented engineers were being excluded. Fixed the post and found a great candidate in short order.
zaptrem 2y ago
> "Yahoo!" offered their index as a text file that would fit on a 1.44 floppy Are there still records of this somewhere? Can't find anything on Google. I don't remember this as I didn't exist but it sounds interesting to read about.
sircastor 2y ago
To be clear, I was asking why OP wanted to study these specific subjects - not get a Bachelors in general. I've gotten more than one job that required a bachelors before I had one. They almost always offer the "Or requisite/similar experience". I think most employers in the Software Development space understand there is a non-trivially-sized set of qualified developers who didn't choose that path.
lynch_autists 2y ago

vunderba 2y ago

> You already have a career in software. I’m here to tell you: you probably won’t be learning much you don’t already know. I didn’t. Woah. Pump the brakes. Even without precisely knowing what area of the IT world OP is in professionally - I can guarantee there's a huge amount of knowledge in a proper CS degree that they don't have. Granted a lot of that might be theoretics, but it's all fundamental to computer science. Just off the top of my head - it's highly doubtful that they have familiarity with any of the following topics (all of which are found in rigorously academic CS programs): - Linear algebra (eigenvectors, vector spaces, least squares, etc.) - Discrete maths (recurrence, graph theory, tree spanning, grammars, etc.) And that doesn't even begin to cover graphics and computation, compilers, algorithms, operating systems, data structures, artificial intelligence, and on and on. You can dispute how much practical value this might have for your average software dev - but OP will 100% learn a great deal from a BS/MS in Computer Science.

tester756 2y ago
>And that doesn't even begin to cover graphics and computation, compilers, algorithms, operating systems, data structures, artificial intelligence, and on and on. Maybe if you are attending top3 country schools, but for the rest all those topic you can get good or better knowledge on the internet
- vunderba 2y ago
  What's your point? You can make that argument for almost any subject matter. The discussion was whether or not OP would LEARN anything from a traditional Computer Science degree that they hadn't already encountered as a software dev. The answer is almost assuredly yes. To circle back around, everyone learns differently. Some people prefer a more scholastic approach to learning with classes, labs, assignments, meeting in person, and engaging with professors. Others might be just as happy listening online to lecture after lecture from MIT OpenCourses. OP sounds like they'd prefer a more traditional pathway.
- tekla 2y ago
  > Maybe if you are attending top3 country schools This is bog standard stuff for any school, not "top 3". Working in software doesn't mean you know jack shit about anything. I also notice calc 2 or 3 isn't included in the list.

checker659 2y ago

BYU?