Currently I am working in a completely unrelated field in a non target tech hub but have been debating about what I want to do. In my spare time I have been writing BS little utilities such as a sports card DB (that was then broken by a change in website code) and also have been working on a desktop application to solve an issue I have noticed. Having said that I am Ok with Python, working with Tkinter, Beautifulsoup, and other libraries. I may eventually dive into ML with Python but have not had enough time to work on it. Further I have been learning Java to get outside only programming in Python.having said all this I am not sure whether I will be staying with this job so I have been debating about going back to school for CS (currently I have a BA in Business Administration with a minor in Marketing). This school would be a state school and would be about 5k a year for tuition. Further they offer certificates and was thinking of maybe doing that and adding a few classes here and there before committing to a full CS degree. I am wondering for the cost would it be worth it to pursue it or just get a certificate and call it a day (as Algorithms and Data Structures are probably the biggest thing I need to work on)? Also the unemployment rate is low where I am so find A job would not be a problem but if possible I would like to work on more application development stuff instead of web based stuff.
Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree?
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Re: Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree?
#2I would first see if you can find a job at a tech company and see if they will pay for it. Second, I would talk to the university and see if you can go for a Masters. You would have to take a ton of prerequisites but I think it is worth asking.
As far as if you should go for the career change, I would say yes. This is mainly due to the fact that you clearly enjoy the work because you do it in your free time.
Re: Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree?
#3I would first see if you can find a job at a tech company and see if they will pay for it. Second, I would talk to the university and see if you can go for a Masters. You would have to take a ton of prerequisites but I think it is worth asking. As far as if you should go for the career change, I would say yes. This is mainly due to the fact that you clearly enjoy the work because you do it in your free time.
My current company offers tuition assistance so may try it but it seems like to do anything with this company you need to ask your boss 5 times about it and there is a cap on earning. My only concern is that I suck at math but honestly I think it is my fault and thus why I mentioned about the certificates as I can take everything else while I brush up on math. Also it seems like with changes in the company there may be less demand for the position I am angling for at my company.
Re: Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree?
#4I would first see if you can find a job at a tech company and see if they will pay for it. Second, I would talk to the university and see if you can go for a Masters. You would have to take a ton of prerequisites but I think it is worth asking. As far as if you should go for the career change, I would say yes. This is mainly due to the fact that you clearly enjoy the work because you do it in your free time.
My current company offers tuition assistance so may try it but it seems like to do anything with this company you need to ask your boss 5 times about it and there is a cap on earning. My only concern is that I suck at math but honestly I think it is my fault and thus why I mentioned about the certificates as I can take everything else while I brush up on math. Also it seems like with changes in the company there may…
Also would Indeed, Dice, or networking through a hackerspace be a better option for finding work? Someone mentioned someone at the group was working on something related to BeautifulSoup but then my schedule did not allow me to go to said hackerspace.
Re: Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree?
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
My current company offers tuition assistance so may try it but it seems like to do anything with this company you need to ask your boss 5 times about it and there is a cap on earning. My only concern is that I suck at math but honestly I think it is my fault and thus why I mentioned about the certificates as I can take everything else while I brush up on math. Also it seems like with changes in the company there may…
Also would Indeed, Dice, or networking through a hackerspace be a better option for finding work? Someone mentioned someone at the group was working on something related to BeautifulSoup but then my schedule did not allow me to go to said hackerspace.
It doesn't hurt to look there. I would also add your programming skills to your LinkedIn. You will get recruiters hitting you up. That's how I got my current job. I recommend doing this while actively searching. Just be aware some recruiters on there are pretty shady.
With your background (business and marketing) and your ability to use python, you could look into a business intelligence or data science job as way into CS. If you decide to go this route, I would get familiar with Pandas, Numpy, and other popular data science packages in python.
Re: Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree?
#6Personally I would say that certificates are not worth anything at all. If I'm hiring someone with no experience, I don't expect them to know much and I don't care about the certificate. If I'm hiring someone with experience, then I assume they can pick up the knowledge that they need quickly. In some fields certificates can be useful, but IMHO application programming is not one of them. When I was doing Windows development (nearly 20 years ago now, mind you) an MSCE was really not very impressive. In fact, almost the reverse: it's almost an indication that the candidate doesn't have confidence in their abilities.
A degree is useful. Whether it is worth the price really depends on the situation. I've known quite a few people who have made the transition from an external field to programming, but you have to be a bit lucky. Your first job is kind of critical. If you can work for a good company for 2-3 years, then you pretty much have it made. Most companies won't care about official qualifications after that. However, it can be a real crap shoot to get that first job.
Whatever you do, I would say that programming education is very, very important in the career of a programming. I'm 30 years or so into my career and I still spend a large amount of my time studying on my own. No matter what, you need to learn this stuff and you will need to keep learning for decades after. IMHO, this is really what distinguishes a programming job from many others -- the treadmill of new techniques, technology and ideas never, ever stops and you have to be running constantly. If that appeals to you, then this might be a good career for you. If you have the idea of, "Well, I can just push to get this done and I'll be set", then I think you'll end up being in a huge amount of stress a few years into your career.
With all that said, I would recommend doing some academic MOOCs to see how you feel about it and how you would feel about going back to school. Or as you say, take a few courses. However, I would encourage you to stick to academic courses and stay away from certificates (which are likely to be unrepresentative of what you need to do for a CS degree).
Finally, if you think you can find a good job, then you might just want to go for it directly. However, be picky and make sure that you find somewhere that has some good senior people and who don't mind mentoring juniors.
Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree?
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also would Indeed, Dice, or networking through a hackerspace be a better option for finding work? Someone mentioned someone at the group was working on something related to BeautifulSoup but then my schedule did not allow me to go to said hackerspace.
It doesn't hurt to look there. I would also add your programming skills to your LinkedIn. You will get recruiters hitting you up. That's how I got my current job. I recommend doing this while actively searching. Just be aware some recruiters on there are pretty shady. With your background (business and marketing) and your ability to use python, you could look into a business intelligence or data science job as way in…
That is a good point. I have been thinking of moving in that direction (or data analyst ) but trying to balance the demands of things is the biggest thing. Right now I am studying for my series 7 and the fail rates of other colleagues and my own struggles with this and it has made me reconsider the field I am in. I appreciate the insight and I think I will try to look into an Analyst type job to get on board. Thank you.