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I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

miguelrochefort.com

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Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#91

Post by OldHand2018 »

miguelrochefort wrote: post #14
brighton36 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why bother getting the degree?

- To be able to work abroad. - To be allowed into graduate school. - To stop having to explain why I don't have one.

These are all excellent reasons.

People that want to follow in your footsteps should also think about why they want to do it and to only do something like this if it makes sense for them.

My brother in law did a degree at WGU too, but not in CS. It was to finally get the job he wanted and had always been qualified for but was unavailable without the degree. And yes, he made up the cost in less than 6 months of his new job. It was 100% worth it.

Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#93

Post by anonymoushn »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #67
gspr wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment summarizes much of the the whole thread: a bunch of people who think that getting an academic degree should be like trade school.

I don't fully understand this mentality. We don't look at everything we want to accomplish and say"what's the fastest way to get there?" a 4-year university degree certainly isn't if you want a job, money or credibility. The journey is amazing; I have 2 undergrads and a MSc not because of the material benefits, but because I absolutely loved school, especially the second time around. #3 grad school was a little disap…

I would not pay 400k/year or whatever for additional years of college.

Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#94

Post by rootusrootus »

brighton36 wrote: post #61
rootusrootus wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardly. The only people who care about your GitHub are technical people. Most of the gatekeepers at any decent size company are not going to care one bit about GitHub, but they will recognize the degree. By the time you get to the hiring manager the degree doesn't matter. It's getting to that level that's the obstacle. And frankly, when you have more experience, GitHub is also useless, because your network matters 10…

That I get. Habitus is important. But, here, there was no transmission of habitus, due to the online courses.

> Habitus is important.

Agree, though I think the value will depend significantly on the person. For some folks this will be the majority of the value, others it'll be wasted on.

Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#95

Post by Cro_on »

tmaly wrote: post #90
pokler wrote: post #24

I think the subheading may be a better title -- 'This is the story of how I prepared for a decade to graduate in 3 months.' This seems feasible only for a specific set of people: those with previous experience & looking specifically for the credential and not so much the learning experience that comes with a traditional 4 year degree. Not to take away from the author's achievement, I just think it would be misleading…

Would it not be possible for a very focused, hardworking individual to take all the course on MIT for free then enroll in this school and finish fast?

It's also possible for a amateur jogger to join an ultra marathon and run until they pass out.

Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#97

Post by vmception »

How do you guys feel about this?

He signed up at an accredited university and then used non university resources to transfer credits in, which weren’t universities at all

Is that concept new? Is this something we can all be doing for other degrees or is this barely accredited and will come under fire very soon and stop being respected long before

Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#98

Post by dfee »

I had some rich experiences going through computer engineering at Notre Dame. I very much didn’t come from wealth, and received some amazing scholarship. I left with a relatively small student loan. (Now, USC on the other hand - offered me no financial aid! Which I rightfully understood as they didn’t really want me to attend.)

One of them was doing an internship after sophomore year with the Air Force Research Labs (Hanscom AFB, though I ended moving off base and subletted an apartment in Boston). I built a system with GNU radio (software defined radio), a free attenas, etc. and was able to take it to “production”. My peers in the program came from other great schools like NC State, LSU, a couple historically black colleges, etc.

Now, this program was only available to folks considering going through the office candidate program (which, I don’t think any of us ended up pursuing). But sophomores in college.

I returned to campus and found an opportunity to be a research assistant with doctoral candidates doing SDR work on Zigbee - so I hopped on.

There were many more rich experiences, too: studying abroad in London, meeting the girl I’d marry, realizing I was not the smartest person in the room and inheriting a bunch of culture that I’m better off for having.

I don’t know how you replicate these experiences outside a formal program; that’s the uphill battle for any of these programs. I also don’t think that it would’ve been best for me to pursue any of these modern alternatives. But, the articles approach, and programs like Lambda School do provide interesting value to their own customers and on their own merits. They also provide appropriate competitive pressure to keep Unviersity programs honest.

Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#99

Post by codingdave »

azhenley wrote: post #71

Is the value the same as a traditional 4 year degree?

It depends on what value you care about - the deep experience of 4 years studying not only your subject, but broader academics... no, it does not compare with that at all.

But if you just want a piece of paper to help you check off a requirement for a job? This absolutely meets that need. And there is nothing wrong with seeking that value - when you get into higher level jobs that require a Master's (or in academia, PhDs), these are exactly the programs people look for.

Re: I prepared for a decade to graduate in CS in three months

#100

Post by TuringNYC »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #63
TuringNYC wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any luck finding an online PhD? I've been looking for those. As much as I'd love to do a formal PhD program, I cannot with family, but the qualification (from whichever accredited university) would open up a lot of opportunities.

A PhD is about your research and publishing far more than your actual degree. I can't see how an online doctorate would work with today's remote learning options so would not imagine it would have much value

I totally see this viewpoint for Tech/Bio/etc R&D and teaching...but I'd love to hear whether this viewpoint applies at organizations which uses PhDs just as an entry filter.

So many people I've worked with both in Gov/Intel/Finance had random PhDs.

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