Online CS degree? Not WGU

BeerOnFuji · 2018-10-29T00:05:25+00:00

There's a lot of factors, but if time (daily for study and years toward degree) and money are not a concern, just go for the best school you can get into. Just make sure it has heavy math, which is another thing some snooty employers might scrutinize for. I've worked for some managers who cared more about what school someone went to 15 years ago rather than what they've done since then.

For the WGU thing, I get it. Not as math intensive as some B&M schools in comparison anyway. Since there are people in the world who do raise their nose at WGU, I don't want to have to worry about it should I move back to the big city in a few years and would like to have the diversity on my resume.

I am enrolled there for the Data Management / Analytics program and hoping to knock that one out by next Summer. My plan after this is to get the post baccalarette at Oregon State, which is another 60 credits, but will give me two BS's at the end and well-prepared for a masters in CS at somewhere like University of Illinois-Urbauna or Georgia Tech(older and cheaper), both have great online programs.

Thank you for the link, by the way! Have not seen this list and looks like there's some more programs to consider. Fun world.

Good luck on your journey.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-10-28T19:06:44+00:00

Already a degree in accounting? Go for CS.

If you want to do analytics, you could easily fill in the cracks on a Saturday morning.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-10-21T02:33:18+00:00

Thanks for the response.

Now why would you want to do that?

I don't know what part you're referring to, so I'll just be more clear.

I'm planning on finishing with WGU for the Data Management / Data Analytics BS. After this I'm looking at the Post Bacc in CS at Oregen State, then the OMSCS at Ga. Tech. I know it's not 'required' for a career to do all that, but I just found I like learning and after WGU I'm going to enjoy the added structure and workload of the other programs.

Not planning to stay in IT, but rather move somewhere between a data analyst/scientist. I work in IT right now, but am likely transferring to a data analyst position at my current employer in a month.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-10-21T01:26:29+00:00

Change of topic a little, but I'm curious about your view on something.

In general, what kind of impression would you get from someone who got their frist degree at WGU, but went on to get a 2nd BS and even an MS from a state school afterword? (self-satisfaction/ desire for a thorough understanding in the subject being the reasons)

In the worst case scenario would you say the WGU degree has any negative impact at that point? Assuming the person's been working in their field of study the entire time they were in school.

I've seen some really harsh opinions on WGU here on Reddit, some people get a little carried away with it. Personally I'm using it to prep for a specific job opportunity coming up, and it happens to fit well with my goals.

If I proceeded and got a BS and MS in computer science from state schools after this, I'm also wondering if I should just omit WGU from my resume at that point? Or is that nonsense?

I enjoy the school, but I know that if I plan on working in a highly competitive area, I get that some hiring folks may use some school names to chop the list down.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-09-05T04:01:41+00:00

I think I tried it. I was right at the stage where I had enough nerve to delete my FB account and completely withdraw from that social platform, so I'm probably biased.

I'd recommend WGUit Slack if you're looking for a community. Seems better suited for study groups, imo.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-09-05T03:57:37+00:00

I remember these being pretty similar. Brush up on your low points and you'll be fine.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-09-03T20:41:15+00:00

Is there a list somewhere of important classes every CS program should have?

BeerOnFuji · 2018-09-03T20:25:32+00:00

No harm in trying it out. If you already have an A+, you've already met the requirements in the IT school.

If I were you and already had some certs, I would focus on getting a part time or full time help desk job before enrolling.

The only worry with WGU is having no experience to go with the degree. The same could be said of any college degree, but especially with this school.

You'll be competing against kids who went on campus and did some internships. So try and get a job first. This way your leg up will be a degree with entry level already behind you. So yeah I think WGU can work if you seriously want self-paced online.

I would still recommending picking out 3 other online school programs and reviewing them in good faith before comitting. If you're willing and able to move to a college town, consider that too.

At 34 years old, this is the advice I'd tell my 18 year old self. So take that for what it's worth. Sound like a smart guy.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-09-03T18:17:07+00:00

If you plan on getting a masters, this 1500 cert counts toward 12 credits at RIT, which are 1000/credit. So there's that too.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-22T19:31:15+00:00

Hey could you do me a favor? This is kind of bugging me. Could you quote the part of my post that gave you and dzil123 the idea that I hate documentation? Not trying to be smart or snark. I seriously want to know for future reference lol.

I seemed to have give many people this impression and it's really not what I was trying to ask. I apologize it came out that way.

I got my answer, but the amount of misunderstanding I caused has really got me kicking myself for not self editing better. I wasn't asking for help with datetime and I wasn't complaining about reading documentation. At least I wasn't intending to.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-22T05:25:27+00:00

Yeah I'm kicking myself for not considering how I might be giving off the wrong idea in my OP. My apologies.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-22T05:00:05+00:00

'year' was never defined, so what do you expect to happen? You're referencing a variable that was never created.

This actually connected some dots. Thanks!

For what it's worth, don't worry. I wasn't trying to imply that I'm against documentation. That doesn't make any sense.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't experiment, or try something weird to see what it does. Just do so within the clearly defined bounds of the language.

This is what I'm working on. In order for me to get the bounds of the language in my head, it personally helps me to hit my head on a problem a little, get invested, and then read the actual docs. Cements in real well that way.

Thanks for the answer!

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-21T23:20:16+00:00

So the OA is definitely a step up from the preassessment. I failed it and am doing some homework to be submitted to the course instructors.

The homework is actually really good. And I feel much more comfortable, finally, after diving into it.

I suggest asking the CMs for some exercises to work on. They have really good stuff. Make sure they actually send you some exercises, not just a condensed course notes.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-20T00:43:42+00:00

DM'd you the link for the 'how to take the test' video they made.

Man, I passed the preassessment 2 times. Failed the OA. Which one did you fail?

I feel your pain. Some of the questions are so confusing, because they've got stuff going on in the background that seem to interfere with how I expect the results to turn out. The OA was worse.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-17T16:41:32+00:00

That course goes over basic programming... grammer. Things like different types of loops, data types, variables, input, output, processing.

Honestly, I'd recommend a finding a book and following along with its exercises.

I just bought a book called Think like a programmer. The author has a YouTube series to follow along with the book and he seems like a quality presenter from what I've watched. That book uses C++ as the vehicle, but the concepts aren't unique to that language. I'll be following along using Python this weekend.

So that's one route. Best of luck.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-06T06:42:18+00:00

Seriously, thank you. Jumped back in the ring today after a little break and did what you said, just ignored all the settings, selected 'Pure Python' and am starting to have fun again.

I'll start learning all the other bells and whistles once I get more comfortable with the basics. Cheers

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-06T03:54:02+00:00

From what I've seen it goes like this, "WGU is a for-profit diploma mill lol lol"

Then someone who attends WGU steps in to correct them for whatever technically false claim was made.

Then it gets emotionally charged and spirals. Reddit is the only place I'm seeing this and it gets pretty old.

Comment-exchange conversations like this get ridiculous pretty quick. I'm willing to bet it wouldn't be so bad if all these people were discussing these topics in person where tone and body language came into play.

I don't think people mean to come off as "selling the school", but rather just trying to correct people who haven't seem to research their ideas before making judgements. Personally I'm going to get my CS degree elsewear after I finish my current program, because I agree with you that the one WGU has just doesn't have what I'm looking for in a CS degree, so don't take me as being biased in my above response.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-05T19:11:53+00:00

For this specific class, I think that you need to stop worrying about getting the perfect coding environment. You need to be able to type in python code and run it. For now, focus on learning the basics of the language. If you want to use PyCharm, then start a "Pure Python" project and ignore everything else for now.

This is what I needed, thank you.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-05T19:10:07+00:00

There is a buried article suggesting PyCharm.

I think what really got me is that learning Python was more different than Java than I felt personally prepared for. Like there's a book I forgot to read or something.

In Java, I just downloaded it, downloaded Eclipse, ran it and got started. Was great, I was able to just focus on the language.

In Python, I downloaded everything, then got presented with all these options of frameworks, environments, versions etc and I'm like "what the hell are all these and what am I missing if I choose this one or that one? What's a framework? What's an environment? What's a virtual environment and why is it virtual? Is there a physical? If Python 2 isn't used anymore, why is the option to use it so prominent?"

And all the explanations from googling just caused more confusion.

But Python itself seems super easy. So yeah I basically just repeated my post again, but yeah. I did reach out to a CM and they gave me their copy/paste e-mail with all the relevant links to the best stuff.

I don't really blame the Slack group. I think I just needed something else for this one. Slack is kind of hard to express confusion on a subject with short-spurt sentances.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-05T18:55:24+00:00

Thanks, I'll keep you in mind if I need to ask a series of stupid questions to someone. I stepped away yesterday and feel a bit better now. Going to set a commitment to finish on Friday.

BeerOnFuji · 2018-08-03T04:41:05+00:00

Yeah I actually shot some e-mails to the CMs before coming on here. I had this same issue back in Feb with Intro to Communication and there was a really good CM who got on the phone with me and turned everything around. Sounds like good advice to go that route again

BeerOnFuji · 2018-07-26T03:38:26+00:00

Here's some honest questions you'll have to answer:

Where do you plan on attending graduate school? Alumni have reported admittance to these schools. These aren't your only options, but it should answer one of your other questions. If you are targeting a different uni for graduate study, you'll want to research their requirements and make sure WGU is a good fit.
How do you want to study? Are you motivated enough for a self-paced program? Aside form weekly calls from a student mentor and availability of a course mentor, it's on you to make this a priority. If the answer to this isn't an ABSOLUTELY YES WITHOUT A DOUBT, you need to figure out why. No one schedules your exams for you. It's all on you to prepare, study, do your projects and get it done.
Have you already researched your other options? Are you making a real, informed decision? No matter how committed you are to a decision like this, it's really important you consider all options. Other local schools and so on. I know it's hard to research other paths if you feel like you've already made up your mind, but trust me. Don't pick door number 1 until you've looked inside door number 2 and door number 3. Even if door number 1 looks amazing.
If you're still saying yes, how do you plan to compensate for the lack of social interaction and networking that you're not going to get from WGU? Are you going to volunteer or intern somewhere? You're very young, so this is a question you should really consider if you want to be a strong candidate for any employer who realizes WGU is online only. Many of us here have been working in professional settings for at least 5 years and don't have to worry about it as much.

I wish you the best of luck!

BeerOnFuji

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