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Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

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Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#31

Post by notus »

moate wrote: post #22
notus wrote: post #20

Check out the program through University of London, Goldsmiths on Coursera. I'm currently halfway through the first term. It was a little buggy at first but it is getting better. The teaching style is pretty engaging. It is about 3k USD per term and there are 2 terms per year and the program is 3 years total. UK CS programs are a little bit lighter on math than US programs but they still try to cover quite a bit. The…

3K in what currency?

sorry USD, the cost depends on what country you are in I'm pretty sure. I'm in the US. You also have to pay for the exam fees at a local university but not all classes require a final exam. The cost of the exam depends on where you do it.

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#32

Post by PenguinCoder »

zamalek wrote: post #15
codewritinfool wrote: post #9

WGU

Currently at WGU. These people actually give a damn about what they are teaching.

Depends on which mentors you get. My current one, I am not pleased with at all. Very glad I am on the last term.

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#34

Post by jeremy_k »

Check out Oregon State's Postbaccalaureate Computer Science Degree. https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate...

Its basically exactly what you want, an online degree geared only for Computer Science classes because you've already completed a Bachelor's.

I graduated with my Bachelor's in CS in 2012. Of the curriculum at that time I would say this: The degree gave me a very good foundational understanding of CS. The courses were mainly in C, besides the intro Java courses Freshman year. There was a course offered that gave an introduction to other languages, but didn't go too deep. There were also two Software Engineering courses that just happened to be taught by new faculty at the time and I didn't feel like they did a great job of truly capturing what it means to be a professional Software Engineer. But given all that, I still got a job at a startup in SF after graduation and I believe am a competent Software Engineer.

Also I've gone back and recruited more than a handful of graduates who are all doing very well at my current company.

However, that span of 2008-2012 was quite awhile ago. Looking at the full courses offered (https://catalog.oregonstate.edu/courses/cs/) I now see courses on Web Development, Introduction To Security, Machine Learning and Data Mining, Parallel Programming, etc.

There is also an internship program called MECOP (https://www.mecopinc.org/universities/osu) which helps place you into two 6 month internships. Not sure if this is offered through this degree path, but it is something to look into.

Hope that helps!

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#35

Post by jjuhl »

I understand why a college degree may seem attractive and you surely learn something while studying for it. But I personally have never seen a need for it. I dropped out of highschool myself, studied programming on my own, got jobs; learned on the job (and studied at the same time). Never got a degree. Never had a problem getting a job. Have seen lot's of people green out of university who couldn't code their way out of a cardboard box, and lots of self-taught people who could... I wouldn't put too much value on that whole "college degree" thing. In the end it all comes down to "can you do the job" and "do you know your subject matter"? How you learned it doesn't really matter. All that matters is whether you know it or don't know it. If someone is getting hung up on diplomas; find somewhere else to work. Formal education is seriously overrated for someone who is capable on learning on their own. In my humble opinion.

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#36

Post by Shoop »

zxcvbn4038 wrote: post #18

Something you might not have considered is to forego the time and expense of the degree altogether. Particularly in IT most employers don't care if you have a degree or not - the ones that do can always use your existing degree to check the box. If you can pass the interview questions for development or systems engineering then more than likely you'll get hired. You might have to do temp to hire if you don't have a b…

I too spend about 16 hours a week on Hacker News :)

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#37

Post by rayalez »

zxcvbn4038 wrote: post #18

Something you might not have considered is to forego the time and expense of the degree altogether. Particularly in IT most employers don't care if you have a degree or not - the ones that do can always use your existing degree to check the box. If you can pass the interview questions for development or systems engineering then more than likely you'll get hired. You might have to do temp to hire if you don't have a b…

Thank you for your reply, I completely agree that self-education can work great for most purposes.

But some Master's programs may require academic credentials. Degrees are also important for gaining work visas in many countries.

Finally, I feel like structured and more "formal" education would be very helpful to me when it comes to understanding math and more theoretical concepts of CS. I had no problem learning webdev on my own, but for more academic-type things, it would just be easier to attend a program that will make sure I have no gaps in my knowledge.

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#38

Post by peteretep »

This hits none of your criteria, but may be useful. Oxford University offer a part-time MSc in Software Engineering. You will need to spend 10 weeks in Oxford, England, over 4 years. People can and do undertake it while living in the USA (and other European countries). It costs £25,000ish. You do not need an undergraduate degree to apply for it. You can take each module by itself for a one-off fee if you're interested in trying before you buy, and there are no entry requirements at all on doing one-off modules. If you do sufficiently well at it, you can use that to "earn your way in". You end up with a real MSc from the real Oxford. More details:

https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/softeng/

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#39

Post by jjuhl »

rayalez wrote: post #37
zxcvbn4038 wrote: post #18

Something you might not have considered is to forego the time and expense of the degree altogether. Particularly in IT most employers don't care if you have a degree or not - the ones that do can always use your existing degree to check the box. If you can pass the interview questions for development or systems engineering then more than likely you'll get hired. You might have to do temp to hire if you don't have a b…

Thank you for your reply, I completely agree that self-education can work great for most purposes. But some Master's programs may require academic credentials. Degrees are also important for gaining work visas in many countries. Finally, I feel like structured and more "formal" education would be very helpful to me when it comes to understanding math and more theoretical concepts of CS. I had no problem learning webd…

"that will make sure I have no gaps in my knowledge" - You will always have gaps in your knowledge. It's only a matter of what gaps you'll have - but gaps there will always be.

Re: Ask HN: I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online. What are some good programs?

#40

Post by gitgreen »

jki275 wrote: post #16

You don't absolutely have to have a BSCS to get into the OMSCS. However, without it (or something like it, or equivalent experience) you will be at a major disadvantage and will probably not be successful. So your desire is the correct one. -Regis University has a good BSCS online program. 8 week semesters, relatively inexpensive, ABET accredited. -Regional accreditation and ABET accreditation are the standard for a…

ABET accreditation for Computer Science undergraduate degrees is utterly pointless and should not be used as criteria for selecting a CS undergraduate program.

For example. https://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/Considering.shtml

"Like the CS department, the EE department is no longer ABET accredited. While such accreditation is useful in certain disciplines such as civil engineering, it has no practical significance whatsoever in computer science."

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