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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?

#41

Post by inetsee »

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?

According to Coursera, Total cost "10,088 - 15,132" pound sterling, depending upon geographic location of student.

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

#42

Post by cc9one »

ljm wrote: post #25
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…

Without putting a downer on the CS degree idea, I’ve been learning a lot myself just by going through the same texts (and a few others). It won’t at all compare and there’s no qualification but things like The Imposter’s Handbook are great to get a basic understanding of things. I’d love to do the CS course myself but £18k’s a substantial investment considering what I’ve managed to earn without the degree.

I have never heard of The Imposter's Handbook. Thank you, this is exactly what I need. Do you have other resource recommendations for self taught programmers?

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

#43

Post by magicnubs »

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…

> There are a number of times I've been the most senior person ever hired without a degree, one Fortune 100 even changed their rules specifically so that they could hire me without a degree.

Aren't these points against your argument? That they had to change the policy to hire someone without a degree implies that it is very uncommon for someone without a degree to get into these upper-level positions to the point that they had never run afoul of this policy before now, or at least that they preferred to keep the policy rather than hire someone without a degree?

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

#44

Post by gitgreen »

jeremy_k wrote: post #34

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 underst…

One big thing that's changed since you graduated is that the program is going to Python as its language of choice starting this fall. C will only be taught in one or two classes. IMO this is a mistake but one rationale coming down from the director is that a lot of programs are shifting this way and that it'll be a softer intro to CS for the newbies so there will be less washing out.

I graduated from the OSU Post Bacc program last week.

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

#45

Post by notus »

inetsee wrote: post #41
moate wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3K in what currency?

According to Coursera, Total cost "10,088 - 15,132" pound sterling, depending upon geographic location of student.

this is the total cost of the entire program just for clarification, not the cost of a term or a year. It was ambiguous for me since American Universities always do by term or annual cost.

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

#46

Post by jki275 »

wil421 wrote: post #29
jki275 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GA Tech will not entertain applications for their OMSCS if you do not have a BS. They don't require that it be in CS, but they are quite clear that you have to have a BS to get in. You may find other programs that have other requirements, but I'm not aware of any.

Is the OMSCS reputable? I’m actually local to GA Tech but the competition is pretty fierce for the in person programs. The online program is tempting but so is an MBA.

Definitely.

#5 in the world I think? And quite rigorous. It's a subset of the in person program -- they don't offer all the on campus classes or programs, and they don't offer the thesis option online.

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

#47

Post by einpoklum »

> I want to get a Bachelor's in CS online.

You probably don't. There is much added value in an actual university experience - in a reasonable CS department at a reasonable university at least.

> My goal is to switch careers and get into AI and Machine Learning.

In that case, getting a B.Sc. may not be the best expenditure of your time. Typically, a B.Sc. in Computer Science is more general and less focused on one subject, and also not caught up to the latest technological fashion (for better and for worse). Also, a B.Sc. is designed to help you reach a basic maturity in the field of science or engineering your studying, which you likely no longer need help with.

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

#48

Post by jeremy_k »

gitgreen wrote: post #44
jeremy_k wrote: post #34

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 underst…

One big thing that's changed since you graduated is that the program is going to Python as its language of choice starting this fall. C will only be taught in one or two classes. IMO this is a mistake but one rationale coming down from the director is that a lot of programs are shifting this way and that it'll be a softer intro to CS for the newbies so there will be less washing out. I graduated from the OSU Post Bac…

Yeah I didn't mind learning C and the two operating systems courses were both heavy into Unix and C, which really gave me an idea of what was going on under the hood.

But I would have liked that to have been complimented with more Python or Ruby or something. I ended up learning iOS for my capstone project and went to the startup to build them an app, but also was thrown into needing to understand Ruby and APIs and everything that modern web development depends on. If I had even been slightly exposed to Rails or Django in school that would have been super helpful.

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

#50

Post by stornetn »

wil421 wrote: post #29
jki275 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GA Tech will not entertain applications for their OMSCS if you do not have a BS. They don't require that it be in CS, but they are quite clear that you have to have a BS to get in. You may find other programs that have other requirements, but I'm not aware of any.

Is the OMSCS reputable? I’m actually local to GA Tech but the competition is pretty fierce for the in person programs. The online program is tempting but so is an MBA.

You can always do both. That’s what I’m doing, and it has served me well so far (just graduated from MBA with solid job placement and I have a few courses to go for OMSCS).
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