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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

#141

Post by PenguinCoder »

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.

There plenty of people getting a BS from WGU that go on to Master level degrees at other universities. I know quite a few of them personally. Going to WGU for a BS and then a different university for a Masters, is quite possible and not unheard of.

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

#142

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#143

Post by dguaraglia »

djsumdog wrote: post #32

Almost seems like the writer treated the process like playing a video game, without all the pretty colors and sounds that give you that dopamine hit. I feel like I did get a lot out of my Computer Science degree. I got it in 2004 and I picked up a lot of stuff I don't think I would have learned on my own. I also went to a small state University in the middle of nowhere that' wasn't very expensive, and I didn't rack u…

As someone in the same position that the author was in (dropped out of college, have had a successful career in Silicon Valley) I can understand the allure of doing a 'speedrun' to get a degree. For one, if you want to emigrate to Europe, most work visas will require you to have a degree, no matter how many years of experience you've had in the US. You might also be tempted to do a masters or PhD in a particular topic you are interested in.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the college experience. I loved it and made friends I'm close to to this day. But sometimes you just want the paper.

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

#144

Post by PenguinCoder »

miguelrochefort wrote: post #116
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.

You're correct. The path I took is not without compromises: - WGU is not ABET accredited. - WGU is not as rigorous as other universities. - WGU is not as prestigious as other universities. - WGU gives all graduates the same 3.0 GPA. I probably should point them out in my post. That said, I still believe WGU was the right choice given my circumstances. I don't value these things enough to justify taking 12 to 16 times…

I agree with all of your points. Thanks for sharing your experience and especially the break down on the time. Do you plan on going for a Masters, either elsewhere or at WGU ?

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

#145

Post by Bakary »

abfan1127 wrote: post #107
astura wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How much did you tally as living expenses during that period? As a rough estimate

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

#146

Post by papercrane »

vmception wrote: post #97

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

It's not new. Some accredited institutions will give credits for "life experience", and I know some University's work with local community colleges so that students can transfer credits in. Typically these transfers are very limited though and only let you bypass "Intro to X" type classes, or meet requirements for graduation that aren't core to the program.

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

#147

Post by abfan1127 »

wffurr wrote: post #135
abfan1127 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a sole provider making under $100k. Edit: salary. We were receiving small bonuses ($10k) at the time. but we learned to keep our expenses down, and every bonus we did receive we rolled right into debt before spending it on stupid crap.

Something is off with the math here. I don't doubt your story, but perhaps your numbers are a bit off? 240k over 3 years is $80k/yr in principal alone, substantially more with interest. If your post-tax take-home was $95k, that leaves only $15k/yr for living expenses for your household, which is extremely low. Maybe that's possible with a lot of beans and rice, paid off used cars, and second-hand clothes and such. Se…

no, you may be right (it was a few years ago). It may have been 3.5 or 4 years. I did receive small raises over the years, but we kept our budget fixed. I did receive a big windfall near the end from a company acquisition ($40k iirc). But at the rate were were paying stuff off, it brought it in ~6 months.

The math still shocks me every time I do it.

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

#148

Post by andjd »

I think the takeaway point from this is how dumb it is that most organizations value credentials over experience. It shouldn't come as a surprise that someone who has a decade of work experience in the field can sail through a college curriculum like this, and it is really a failing of society more broadly if the author feels that he needs to get a diploma to be taken seriously.

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

#149

Post by xenihn »

rement wrote: post #125

How important is a CS degree to a hiring manager? I have two unrelated degrees (both STEM though). Does a CS degree play a role when looking at a resume or does several years experience say more? I've been a software engineer for over 5 years and people still ask why I have the degrees that I do.

The best employers don't care. People will stop asking once you have FAANG experience, but once you do, why would you want to work at the places where interviewers ask that question anyways?

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

#150

Post by abfan1127 »

bavent wrote: post #140
abfan1127 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a sole provider making under $100k. Edit: salary. We were receiving small bonuses ($10k) at the time. but we learned to keep our expenses down, and every bonus we did receive we rolled right into debt before spending it on stupid crap.

This math doesn't check out. $240k for three years is $80k/year. Assuming you are already factoring interest in. So you and your wife lived off less than $20k a year? Where?

Arizona
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