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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

#221

Post by abfan1127 »

cxr wrote: post #170
abfan1127 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Heads up: this is a common pattern of expression that makes you come off as really obnoxious to people who will never tell you that that's what's happening. If you can't understand why people have a problem with this, here's the explanation: there are almost certainly smarter people than you who happened to be more unlucky than you . You were lucky-but-stupid before, so you stopped being so stupid, and now your messa…

At the risk of more down votes, I'll disagree with you. There are certainly smarter people than me who are less lucky than me. However, its a much smaller subset than many would believe. Many claim unlucky when in reality their luck is a consequence of their past choices. They've taken risks and those risks didn't work out.

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

#222

Post by boyband6666 »

TuringNYC wrote: post #23
miguelrochefort wrote: post #2

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

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.

I did mine based far from the University (a very good one) but travelling down every few months to meet with my supervisors. I learnt tons, and it has helped my career. It also meant a lot of work over 6 years (part time). Time well spent! I effectively swapped TV and movies for statistics, and have no regrets. Over the period we had 2 kids.

You could probably do it faster / easier with a pro forma type place, but it would be a debasement of standards - it might tick a box but you probably wouldn't learn the skills. What I really like about the author's post is that they are detailing it all, and it is about getting a formal qualification to recognise the knowledge they have.

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

#223

Post by kbenson »

ChrisRR wrote: post #171
abfan1127 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What the hell? So you're literally earning $80k above your living expenses. Waaaaaay above average I'd be more surprised if you couldn't pay that sort of money off Re your edit: I'm even more sceptical now. Your figures were off by a third. I know exactly the value of my mortgage when I took it out. That figure is burned into my mind. I don't know how you could be out by $100,000

The other side of this is that "average" living expense has little meaning when applied to a place as big and varied as the U.S., much less the world. In some areas, the cost of living is much higher. The commonly provided solution to living somewhere the cost of living is too high is move. Unfortunately, moving comes with all sorts of other constraints that are rarely considered.

I this case, we're talking about a family, so what if one or both of the the spouses needs to work but can't find work or is paid much less in the new location? Is it still a net win if the family income is reduced to a large degree?

What if there is family in the current location but not any target location? Beyond any help they may be able to provide (child care, if not regularly, in special circumstances), they may provide a real tangible mental health benefit compared to living in a new location where you know few if any people. Or what if you're providing help to that family member, and leaving would be problematic?

The bottom line is that is that some people are stuck in or around places like SF making very little compared to the cost of living in the area, but also don't feel like they are in a position they can leave. If you made $80k in SF and lived in SF or close enough to commute, you might find that a large portion of that goes purely to housing. For a family, probably $24k a year minimum, even if you commute in from an hour away.

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

#224

Post by the_only_law »

bserge wrote: post #120
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…

Some people on Reddit did say they completed 2-3 month bootcamps/courses with no prior experience and got junior dev jobs (in the UK), so I don't even know. Then again it's online and on Reddit, so they may be just lying. I believe it is possible to learn enough to be decent in 3 months full time, and then learn everything else as you go. However, I don't see anyone hiring with that kind of experience. But then why p…

> But then why pay for a certificate? Four figures, no less. You could go through a bunch of free programming courses in 3 months and print your own certificate, same thing as long as you can actually do a job...

My understanding is a lot of these boot camps have parterships with companies and help place the people who complete them.

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

#225

Post by Buttons840 »

jventura wrote: post #218
Buttons840 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took a Data Structures and Algorithms course at a brick and mortar university. It was being taught by a substitute teacher from the art department who knew some programming. The class was 5 assignments, the first of which I completed with about 60 characters of Python code; I remember feeling smug because others struggled with the same assignment. The other assignments weren't much harder. It's not all bad though,…

> It was being taught by a substitute teacher from the art department who knew some programming. The class was 5 assignments (...) I guess you were unlucky! Teacher from the art department, and a class with only 5 assignments?! Didn't your university had a CS department with CS-competent people to substitute? For instance, the CS department of my college has at least 40 teachers, and it's a polytechnic school (more l…

It was a summer class, and I don't know what their staffing situation was like.

> What I want to say with this is that maybe your university is also questionable for delivering CS courses like that.

Yes, it was. My point is that most CS degrees come with questionable quality. We should not knock WGU for its flaws while ignoring the widespread flaws of traditional universities.

> Even having 7h of classes per day, things had to be really succinct, and in 4 months, although they were capable of doing some web apps, there was a lot of confusion in their heads because of the fast pace.

If I'm reading that right you taught 7 hour per day for 4 months? 16 weeks * 5 days a week * 7 hours = ~500 hours?

If I were to spend just 100 hours doing (WGU style) self study of any topic I would expect to come away with a clear view: not knowing everything, but at least knowing what I know, and knowing how to learn more as needed. I think the traditional style of teaching (large class, one teacher) isn't very time efficient, so it makes me sad to see something like WGU dismissed solely because of the time spent.

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

#226

Post by disown »

This article reads like an ad for those online "schools".

But ignoring that, it seems like the courses were mostly exams rather than projects as he didn't delve much into what projects he had to do.

I have a hard time believing he could have built an OS, AI program, Network Stack, Security (pentesting/auditing/etc ) and dozens of fundamental data structures ( given he didn't take these courses before ) in that time. Also, as he acknowledged, they didn't offer compilers, which is a biggie when it comes to CS.

He could also have done the same thing without paying thousands.

> If you’re thinking about getting a Bachelor’s degree in CS, already have experience in the field, and live in the US/Canada, you should seriously consider Western Governors University’s Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program.

If you already have experience in the field, why bother? I know it's "accredited" but nobody is going to take that degree seriously.

If you are interested in the "prestige" of having a degree, why not just do it via a college near you. Most major colleges offer programs for working professionals or adults who want to earn a degree. And you can even network with professors/TAs/etc if you are inclined.

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

#227

Post by war1025 »

Privacy846 wrote: post #168
abfan1127 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. But I also changed my mentality. We became intentional with our money. Its amazing how you can find money in a budget to put towards debt. Its also how you stay out of debt going forward. You learn to prioritize your spending.

It’s amazing what you can do when you earn way more than the median household.

Yea. You can get $240k in debt.

Good luck getting anyone to lend you that kind of money if you're actually poor.

Someone who is able to get deeply in debt basically by definition has access to money. They would not be granted loans otherwise.

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

#228

Post by cjameskeller »

bserge wrote: post #120
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…

Some people on Reddit did say they completed 2-3 month bootcamps/courses with no prior experience and got junior dev jobs (in the UK), so I don't even know. Then again it's online and on Reddit, so they may be just lying. I believe it is possible to learn enough to be decent in 3 months full time, and then learn everything else as you go. However, I don't see anyone hiring with that kind of experience. But then why p…

Personally did a bootcamp about 4 years ago. Also taught myself a couple more tech skills in the 2 months post-certificate before I got hired, but nothing special. Applied to several dozen jobs a week (easy to do when most don't follow up in any way...)

Went from about spot-on median salary for the US prior to switching into tech, to 50% more in my first role. In my first 3 years I increased my income over 400%, though I also switched from salaried to contract, so it end up about 300% increase for net pay.

Wouldn't have been able to afford a CS degree, in terms of either money or time, so it was a huge opportunity for me to go the bootcamp route. Have moved up into a senior/lead position, as well, so all the late nights of working on my skills post-bootcamp (and still while working, even now!) seem to have paid off.

But I don't know what the market in Europe is like. MCOL area, US, here.

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

#229

Post by boyband6666 »

mateioprea wrote: post #57

Does anyone know something like this, but in Europe?

Not the same, but I'm sure some (10?) years ago I saw something about University of Buckingham doign straight through the summer learning, so you completed in 2 years. So it isn't unheard of for everything not to be the standard 3...

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

#230

Post by autotune »

baron816 wrote: post #109

Seems like the biggest accomplishment here is getting to the top of the front page on HN. But seriously, if you have 10 years of software engineering experience, what do you gain by doing a bachelors CS program?

Some companies still require college degrees even for software development, unfortunately. This checks the box for those companies at a low cost. Of course whether you'd want to work at such a bureaucratic institution is another question entirely, but there is a good reason for still wanting a degree if you do.
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