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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

#101

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

SilasX wrote: post #74
NullPrefix wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should be at the top. What's the point of that paper if the issuer is not accredited?

I assume if you're just interested in learning. (Not trying to be sarcastic or trollish -- I'm looking for stuff that optimizes more for personal enlightenment than a credential, and I accept that both targets are valid to pursue.) With that said, even for that use case, it feels clickbaity to label it "I got a CS degree" rather than "I learned the content of a CS degree".

> "I'm looking for stuff that optimizes more for personal enlightenment than a credential"

The point of accreditation is to assure that various minimum standards are met by the educational institution. (Whether that works or not is a different discussion.) Lack of normal accreditation is usually a sign of a diploma mill and, more importantly, that the student will not be getting their money's worth either in terms of a credential or personal enlightenment.

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

#102

Post by codingdave »

chrisseaton wrote: post #38
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.

> but the qualification (from whichever accredited university) would open up a lot of opportunities I'd caution about this - if you think you can apply to jobs requiring a PhD I would think that when you apply the first thing they're going to do is to ask you who your advisor was and what you did. Unlike a bachelors just having a PhD isn't worth much - they will want to know what you actually achieved. If you have a…

I have heard exactly the opposite from people who work in the administrative side of academia. If your future job prospects are research-based, sure it matters. But if you just need to hold a doctorate to apply to be a president of a local college, or to get a leg up on a superintendent job at a school district? Any doctorate is fine.

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

#103

Post by alisonkisk »

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?

Sure, but not in 3months.

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

#104

Post by avl999 »

brighton36 wrote: post #3
miguelrochefort wrote: post #2

Author here. I'd be happy to answer your questions.

why bother getting the degree?

OP is Canadian. If they want pursue an opportunity in the US- a degree is a requirement for the TN Visa (technically you can get the visa with "equivalent experience" but that is much more cumbersome and unpredictable where as the process is a breeze with a CS degree). Since he mentioned in the article something about "overseas opportunities", I am guessing that is part of his consideration.

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

#105

Post by aketchum »

simoneau wrote: post #21

Does anyone have a good sense how online degrees are perceived by employers? Or graduate programs? I wonder if the pandemic will be shifting these attitudes.

Im doing OMSCS at GaTech and once you graduate you just have a Masters degree from The Georgia Institute of Technology, it says nothing about online or in person or anything. My resume just says Masters Degree, in progress. People asked about it during my last round of interviews but nobody seemed to care it was online.

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

#106

Post by alisonkisk »

Cro_on wrote: post #95
tmaly wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

College students are all amateurs.

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

#107

Post by abfan1127 »

astura wrote: post #86
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…

Reminds me of every single one of those "how I paid off $100,000 in debt in 1 year" articles. It's always like "dad got me an executive job at his company and grandma gave me a condo as a graduation gift so instead of living in it I moved in with my parents rent free and turned the condo into income stream. (Aren't I smart!?!) Since mom always had a gourmet hot meal prepared for me I could put all my income into my l…

I paid off $240,000 in 3 years by not being an idiot with my money. I got on a budget with my wife. We cut up our credit cards because we always double or triple spent our money. We budgeted for things like Christmas. We followed Dave Ramsey's plan. We're 2 months from paying off our house now.

Edit - I went back and checked, it was $140k.

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

#108

Post by tmaly »

alisonkisk wrote: post #103
tmaly wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Sure, but not in 3months.

Yes of course, but could someone pull it off in 1 year if they take all the free MIT courses ahead of time?

College debt is a huge burden on kids these days.

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

#110

Post by D13Fd »

dumbfounder wrote: post #73
D13Fd wrote: post #64

For anyone who is wondering, the school he listed (Western Governors University) is unfortunately not ABET accredited as far as I can tell.

I assume this matters if they want to go to grad school, but does it matter for any other reason? I think employers attribute value to programs they have heard of, whether it is ABET or not is not something I have ever considered.

One example is taking the patent bar in the United States. A CS degree from this school cannot be used for that purpose. I'm not saying it matters to employers (I don't know either way) and I expect its regional accreditation may be fine for some purposes.
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