3 ms·

I have been unemployed for the last few months, and there's only so much TV and YouTube I can watch without going utterly insane between interviews, Since WGU

I have been unemployed for the last few months, and there's only so much TV and YouTube I can watch without going utterly insane between interviews, Since WGU just started doing masters degrees in CS, I decided it would be a way to kill large amounts of time while getting at least a little out of it, so I registered for it. I've been a professional software person for like fourteen years, so I was able to knock it out extremely quickly due to WGU's competency based stuff, so now I finally am able to put "MS" after my name.

hmottestad 1y ago
Good for you. Cross my fingers that you'll land a good job soon. Or create your own job.
- tombert 1y ago
  I have a few prospects lined up. I'm actually planning on doing a second masters from a slightly more prestigious university with a more theory-heavy degree [1], but it's nice to at least have an official graduate degree now. Hopefully it helps me find work a bit quicker, and if nothing else it's just kind of fun to pile up degrees. [1] https://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/qualifications/f04 https://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/qualifications/f04
  - yu3zhou4 1y ago
    I was recently looking for a master's degree in math that is: - 100% remote - 100% self-paced - fairly cheap and it looks like Open University is the best option right now? Did you find any better option?
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - tombert 1y ago
      I couldn’t find anything that ticks all those outside of OU. University of Texas has one that looked pretty ok, but it was kind of expensive for a non-Texas resident. University of Western Florida has one for “Mathematical Sciences”, which more or less fits, and it’s not even that expensive, but I think that one is synchronous.
      - yu3zhou4 1y ago
        Yeah, I wish there were more options than that. Also, remote phd or master+phd would be even better, but these are even more uncommon and pricey (unless you know about a one that is good and cheap and remote then I’d love to learn more)
        tombert 1y ago
        I was doing the University of York online PhD in computer science (formal methods), and it was actually pretty great, but it was costing me like $17,000 per year, and it was a huge time sink when I was already working full time. That said, if you feel like you're organized enough to pull it off, I do recommend looking into University of York. It's a very good school.
        yu3zhou4 1y ago
        Thanks, that's actually useful and I will be happy to consider it once I have more spare time in life! Why did you complete WGU masters in computer science after already having a PhD in computer science?
        tombert 1y ago
        I don't have a PhD, I dropped it about a year ago; sorry, rereading my comment that was not made clear. I wanted a graduate degree in CS, and I figured I could get the WGU one quickly.
        yu3zhou4 1y ago
lotsoweiners 1y ago
What did the total cost for your MS?
- tombert 1y ago
  Not very much, around $4,400. https://www.wgu.edu/online-it-degrees/computer-science-masters-program.html https://www.wgu.edu/online-it-degrees/computer-science-maste... WGU charges "per term", and you can take as many courses as you'd like per term, as long as you can complete them.
  - saf12 1y ago
    So you completed 10 courses within the span of 6 months? Did you find the workload to be heavy?
hx8 1y ago
Do you feel like you picked up additional knowledge and skills? The pluses you mentioned are fighting boredom, being affordable, and being credentialed.
- tombert 1y ago
  Not really, no. I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole thing; it didn't feel like "computer science", it felt like light software engineering, and since I've been doing software engineering for awhile I was able to fly through the work. I did have a bit of fun learning about some of the more "platform as a service" parts of AWS, that has been something I've been putting off at learning more about for awhile, but overall I don't feel like I learned a ton. I registered for another masters degree from a different online school to start in October that I think I'll enjoy and learn more from.
Simon_O_Rourke 1y ago
Best of luck on your job search, hope you land something soon!

hmottestad 1y ago

Good for you. Cross my fingers that you'll land a good job soon. Or create your own job.

tombert 1y ago
I have a few prospects lined up. I'm actually planning on doing a second masters from a slightly more prestigious university with a more theory-heavy degree [1], but it's nice to at least have an official graduate degree now. Hopefully it helps me find work a bit quicker, and if nothing else it's just kind of fun to pile up degrees. [1] https://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/qualifications/f04 https://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/qualifications/f04
- yu3zhou4 1y ago
  I was recently looking for a master's degree in math that is: - 100% remote - 100% self-paced - fairly cheap and it looks like Open University is the best option right now? Did you find any better option?
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - tombert 1y ago
    I couldn’t find anything that ticks all those outside of OU. University of Texas has one that looked pretty ok, but it was kind of expensive for a non-Texas resident. University of Western Florida has one for “Mathematical Sciences”, which more or less fits, and it’s not even that expensive, but I think that one is synchronous.
    - yu3zhou4 1y ago
      Yeah, I wish there were more options than that. Also, remote phd or master+phd would be even better, but these are even more uncommon and pricey (unless you know about a one that is good and cheap and remote then I’d love to learn more)
      - tombert 1y ago
        I was doing the University of York online PhD in computer science (formal methods), and it was actually pretty great, but it was costing me like $17,000 per year, and it was a huge time sink when I was already working full time. That said, if you feel like you're organized enough to pull it off, I do recommend looking into University of York. It's a very good school.
        yu3zhou4 1y ago
        Thanks, that's actually useful and I will be happy to consider it once I have more spare time in life! Why did you complete WGU masters in computer science after already having a PhD in computer science?
        tombert 1y ago
        I don't have a PhD, I dropped it about a year ago; sorry, rereading my comment that was not made clear. I wanted a graduate degree in CS, and I figured I could get the WGU one quickly.
        yu3zhou4 1y ago

lotsoweiners 1y ago

What did the total cost for your MS?

tombert 1y ago
Not very much, around $4,400. https://www.wgu.edu/online-it-degrees/computer-science-masters-program.html https://www.wgu.edu/online-it-degrees/computer-science-maste... WGU charges "per term", and you can take as many courses as you'd like per term, as long as you can complete them.
- saf12 1y ago
  So you completed 10 courses within the span of 6 months? Did you find the workload to be heavy?

hx8 1y ago

Do you feel like you picked up additional knowledge and skills? The pluses you mentioned are fighting boredom, being affordable, and being credentialed.

tombert 1y ago
Not really, no. I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole thing; it didn't feel like "computer science", it felt like light software engineering, and since I've been doing software engineering for awhile I was able to fly through the work. I did have a bit of fun learning about some of the more "platform as a service" parts of AWS, that has been something I've been putting off at learning more about for awhile, but overall I don't feel like I learned a ton. I registered for another masters degree from a different online school to start in October that I think I'll enjoy and learn more from.

Simon_O_Rourke 1y ago

Best of luck on your job search, hope you land something soon!