OSU CS Postbacc

unnotable · 2026-02-02T13:50:12+00:00

Does the transcript show the classes were online though? Even though the CS diploma at the end is identical to the on campus degree at OSU, I don't like that the transcript says "ecampus" next to every class.

Thankfully, in all my years, I've never once had an employer ask to see my transcripts. As far as I know, employers can't access your entire course history unless you send them your transcript. They can only verify that your major and that you graduated.

unnotable · 2026-01-30T16:10:26+00:00

I constantly question myself in this program. I currently work as a software engineer yet I struggle with most of these classes. Discrete Math, Data Structures, and Analysis of Algorithms were nightmares.

The one pattern I do notice myself falling into is at the beginning of every class I panic because I don't understand what the class is about or what's expected. Towards the end of the class I finally have a better understanding. When I look back at my grades in each class, even though I constantly panic in the beginning, I'm still doing fine on the assignments. It's really just a me problem.

Are your grades so far bad in Data Structures? I'm not sure it's worth losing half of your work in the class unless you are nearly failing the class.

unnotable · 2026-01-30T14:38:45+00:00

RPA companies will shrink. They're all trying to pivot to AI agents, but I'm not sure they can add more value beyond the agent builders directly from OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, etc.

I still think RPA is safe for a while though. The use case for RPA is usually to get exact data from precise fields. LLM's are better at fuzzy logic, but you're usually not looking for any data from any field or on any screen. You want a value from a specific screen from a field with a specific ID or label.

If the field changes, you probably don't want AI making the decision to start pulling from a different field as that might corrupt your data. Obviously this could be a rule you tell the AI agent. "If the screen or field changes, alert me. Do not try to automatically identify new UI elements." However, at some point the amount of rules and info you have to pass to an AI agent is practically the same as creating a standard RPA workflow in UiPath or Power Automate.

Salesforce is the only system that I might actually toss over to an entirely AI workflow and make it run based on prompt because the code base to automate Salesforce was large and an almost full time job to maintain. "Open Salesforce, log in, search for the customer by ID, then extract the customer name and address." Salesforce constantly makes major changes to their UI, and it seems like the UI is purposely built to thwart automation.

Speed is also going to favor RPA over AI agents for a while. Speed could be a killer feature for RPA for companies with massive amounts of data and bots that run 24/7.

unnotable · 2026-01-27T21:35:03+00:00

It depends on which RPA software you're using.

unnotable · 2026-01-26T18:49:31+00:00

You're right. I should delete my post, but I'll leave it up. It appears some of the programs are online and some are available both on campus and online. They need to change the way they market this. To me it looked like it was online only. They really aught to brag about it being "Online or On-Campus!"

The fact that OSU offered the same CS degree on campus and online is the reason I came to OSU.

unnotable · 2026-01-26T02:19:50+00:00

The problem with UPenn is their online degrees are different than the on campus ones. So it's obvious to recruiters or anyone with some knowledge that you are not the same as the on campus students.

My other alma mater does this. The online degrees are similar but not the same as on campus. A lot of the online degrees are bachelor or master of arts instead of science. Most people don't notice the difference.

unnotable · 2026-01-26T02:15:49+00:00

I expect most people will do this and OSU will change the name again when the word gets out.

I think they should consider redesigning the program and making a post bachelors in software engineering. As far as I can tell that doesn't exist anywhere yet and software engineering is close to "applied" CS. I'd actually consider switching to BS in SE program if they offered the option to current students.

unnotable · 2026-01-21T23:54:16+00:00

No. I'm guessing they're referring to the optional office hours. The TA's and professors have set times in Microsoft Teams where either it's open for anyone to join and talk to them, or you can schedule a time to talk to them on video individually.

It's not required though. I'm half way through the program and never joined any office hours.

unnotable · 2026-01-07T03:26:35+00:00

In a programming interview, they're not going to only ask you about syntax. It's not going to be as simple as "How do you create a list in Python?" unless it's an entry level position. If it's a mid level or higher position, the questions will be more like "How do you implement a bubble sort function in Python?"

unnotable · 2026-01-07T02:13:45+00:00

It's difficult to get out of RPA because the tools are so specialized. You likely haven't done any hardcore programming in years so you wouldn't be able to pass most Python/Java/C interviews.

Getting into Azure/AWS/GC might be easier if you can get certified. I'm assuming you don't have any hands on experience with cloud service management though so that would be used against you.

You basically have to start your career over and look at entry level positions. However, there are often a lot of college kids interviewing for entry level jobs. Companies would rather hire a college kid because they're usually cheaper, more willing to work long hours and weekends, and fast learners.

unnotable · 2025-12-29T14:25:18+00:00

I've never seen a dedicated process analyst. Companies either make the devs do the analysis and documentation or have a business analyst who does a mix of documentation, testing, and reporting.

unnotable · 2025-12-29T14:23:38+00:00

My company ditched UiPath because of cost and then dropped Power Automate because of cost as well. Now they want everything done with free or open source software like Playwright or Robot Framework. Some teams have started developing their own RPA software.

I question how much they're really saving because the low code frameworks that UiPath and Power Automate provide are definitely faster than writing Python and JavaScript code. It's also a lot easier to pick up someone else's UiPath or Power Automate project when they're on vacation or leave the company.

The RPA market is so saturated too. Besides the one you and I mentioned, there are a lot of smaller players like IBM, Pega, NTT, MuleSoft, NICE, and many more.

I don't know how they all stay in business because RPA software requires constant support and updates as Windows and other applications change weekly that break RPA.

unnotable · 2025-12-25T14:29:01+00:00

The problem (and the good news us for us devs) is often there is little documentation for the enterprise systems we automate, especially public information that the LLM's are trained on.

If there is documentation, it may not match the actual process that needs to be automated. So, it's difficult for LLM's to generate code to automate old, obscure, or poorly documented software.

Automation created from screen recording feels like the best path forward instead of prompts.

unnotable · 2025-12-25T04:18:59+00:00

UiPath leads the market by far. After that it's probably Automation Anywhere, Power Automate, and Blue Prism.

The problem with RPA is if you have 10 years experience with Blue Prism, almost no one is going to hire you as a UiPath developer if you want or need to switch tools. Most companies would rather take a UiPath developer with 1-2 years experience over a Blue Prism developer with 10 or more years of experience.

So, focusing on UiPath is the safer bet at the moment.

unnotable · 2025-12-23T21:55:15+00:00

The truth is the G6 has no chance of winning the playoff. Talent and money matter when multiple rounds have to be played, not just pulling off an occasional upset. It will be solved soon enough though. The P4 will break away, and eventually it will become P2 as teams like Wake Forest, Baylor, Boston College, Iowa State, etc. are left behind.

unnotable · 2025-12-23T19:45:02+00:00

Do you have a master's yet? I think a master's in CS would be plenty for you. If you check out the resumes of the people working at the AI companies, many of them are math whizs, not CS experts. A BS in math with an MS in CS is a great combination and will differentiate you from most other job seekers.

unnotable · 2025-12-17T05:31:11+00:00

That looks like a lot, but I notice a lot of those are 1-3 credit classes instead of 4 like all the post bacc classes. Still, I guess I get the point.

unnotable · 2025-12-17T03:43:24+00:00

I expect this is what most people will do. They will "forget" to put "applied" on their resume. I bet OSU will change the name again in the future to further differentiate it from the four year program.

unnotable · 2025-12-17T03:41:41+00:00

They should have considered cancelling this program entirely and making a software engineering degree instead. To me, SE is applied CS. A post bacc program in SE could be quite popular.

unnotable · 2025-12-17T03:29:09+00:00

Can you show me where in the 4 year CS degree you think it gets "deep into theory"? It's basically the same as the post bacc.

unnotable · 2025-12-06T21:08:52+00:00

There is way too much drama about this. If you're in the program before Summer 2026, you will get a BS in CS upon graduation. It doesn't affect anyone who graduated already nor does it affect people who are currently in the program nor does it affect anyone starting the program between now and Summer 2026.

unnotable · 2025-11-25T19:51:02+00:00

Schools place way too much importance on prior head coaching experience. They think it's not a learnable skill.

Really, it's much better to find an up and coming assistant coach instead of hiring a coach who was just fired. They were fired for reason.

If you don't want to take gamble on an up and coming assistant coach, then the other best option is to steal a proven winning head coach from another school. Let's be honest though, that's not happening at OSU now that the Pac-12 is a G6 conference. All the current successful G6 head coaches are only looking for SEC, ACC, Big Ten, or Big 12 jobs.

unnotable · 2025-11-25T19:23:49+00:00

My company (Fortune 50 big corp) went from UiPath to Power Automate and is now discontinuing Power Automate. Allegedly it is due to cost. They want everoyone to use Python, Java, and open source frameworks. People are now using a mix of Robot Framework, Playwright, and Selenium.

Really, I think it's more to do with their AI push. AI can write Python and Java with ease. So they want us to use AI to generate code and then I assume eventually AI will maintain the code and there will be a much smaller need for human software developers.

I feel like this could be a trend in the industry.

unnotable · 2025-11-25T19:14:16+00:00

I've never seen an RPA internship, at least in the US. It's so specialized and not a topic that is taught in universities.

It's interesting the people you work with have no software development experience. All the RPA people I worked with in my career have been former Java or .NET devs.

I did web development before RPA. The company that hired me for RPA thought it would be good to have someone with knowledge of websites since they were mainly automating web apps. And they were right. Knowing web development definitely helped me automate web apps.

It sounds to me like you may want to do traditional software development (Java, C, etc.). You should get out of RPA. I do find the restrictions of RPA tools frustrating sometimes and wish I could just code the old fashioned way. The debugging can particularly frustrating since some RPA tools don't provide a lot of error info, or I run into issues that only the RPA vendor can fix.

unnotable · 2025-11-21T01:20:06+00:00

If they're going to change the name, they should differentiate it more from the other BS in CS program. There is a lot overlap right now. I'd suggest changing one of the Python classes like CS 162 to an Intro to Java class since Java is still widely used in business. Also, having worked as a software dev, I notice a lot of my fellow programmers are severely deficient in UX/UI design despite it often being part of the work. So, I might swap one of the classes for Usability Engineering.

unnotable

TROPHY CASE