Wanting to enter tech

gel

I have played around with coding for a long time and would love nothing more than to break into programming. I found a school called Western Governers University that seems to fit my schedule. I work 5 13 hour shifts a week but can easily take it down to 2-3 shifts a week. Sometimes while at work I have time to study. I am married but the only kids I want or will ever have (if I can help it) are my cats, dogs, and horses. So no restrictions there.

I want to be a programmer. It is a dream of mine that I did not follow from high school due to the attitude of my parents at the time towards computers. Now I am an adult and can make my own decisions and I wish to pursue a career in programming. I would eventually like to be a remote developer. I would even love to start out doing that because I live in the country and while I already travel an hour each way for work I would like to minimize travel time, as well. I understand that starting out I may be unable to do that, though.

I do not know any languages, however. I have signed up for several courses on Coursera, Codecademy, and Udemy. I am not certified in any way but I have bought books on A+, Project+, Security+, Network+, and OCA Java SE 7. I have been reading through the A+ and have watched the Professor Messer videos but am honestly quite bored with the information. I am wanting more software side instead of hardware so maybe that has something to do with it.

I know that I need a certification in order to start at WGU. I want to go for Software Development.

What certification would optimize my money spent since WGU pays for the certs? I would like to have WGU foot the bill for as much as possible, quite honestly.

Thank you for your time.


P.S. I am wanting to do either app development or medical aspect like creating the programs that ventilators run or charting systems.

iBrokeIT

If your life goal is to be a programmer then skip the CompTia certs and WGU, they will not help you.

If you want to be employable you need a Computer Science degree which is something WGU doesn't offer.

gel

So the B.S. Software Development is not a degree for becoming a programmer?

gel

So the BS in Software Development is not a programming degree? I would have thought that something concentrating on software would be a better option than a computer science degree for becoming a programmer. Confused now. I don't have the time to deal with brick and mortar and trying to arrange my schedule nor am I willing to spend the excessive amount of money that the other online only colleges want for a BS degree...

iBrokeIT

Computer Science is THE programming degree. It is the gold standard and all others are second rate.

Go look at job posting for entry level programming jobs, how often do you see Software Development mentioned compared to Comp Sci? Have you actually looked at the curriculum difference between the two degrees?

I am a current WGU student going for Network Admin. Before that I went to a state engineering school for Computer Engineering. I hated the upper level math and Electrical Engineering portion of the degree. I was only 2/3s the way though the programming classes before I left but I took Intro to Digital Design, Digital Design, Computer Science I & II (which taught C++), Data Structures and Assembly Language.

If the "Software Development" degree is your option then I say go for it. It is better than nothing but just keep your expectations realistic and realize that you will only be getting 1/3 the education of a Computer Science major which will put you at a disadvantage when starting your career in the field. You also better get an internship before you graduate or you will be even further behind.

Just my $.02 from what I have personally experienced and hear from friends that work in that field.

iBrokeIT

I believe DSU.edu offers an online Computer Science degree which I strongly suggest you consider over WGU.

I also think you should also reach out to 3-4 other people that actually work as full time programmers about he curriculum difference between the two and which program they think is best.

You need to realize you are making a substantial investment in your career and choosing the right degree does matter so it is important you get it right.

gel

The structure of classes at WGU is what has really made me choose them - but the cost is nearly as important to me. I can swing a $6k bill for a degree... but $20-30k is unacceptable. The cost at DSU would really depend on how generous they are with their credit transfers, honestly. I have an Associates in Cardiopulmonary Science and have taken many classes for Chemical Engineering and Physics - the original career path I was taking. So if I had to take all of my general education credits again I doubt I would even consider the institution. WGU transferred in every single GE credit so now all I have left is the ones that actually matter.

I have spoken to some programmers. I work with some at the hospital. They all either have IT degrees or no degree at all - only one person is over 40 years old (so not all old timers in coding). They have told me that the degree is not as important as the quality of the coding by the programmer. Even the ones I asked that are the managers and directors said the same thing - which is what also helped me in my decision with WGU. I appreciate you telling me about DSU. I will add them to the list of colleges I still have saved as possibles in case I change my mind.

I do intend on continuing my education within a few years in order to get my Masters from Georgie Institute of Technology since they now offer that $7k Masters.

Anybody have any suggestions for the certs? I would like to start in February or March and get away with as little money spent as possible since WGU pays for so many certs.


EDIT: I found the transfer information for DSU... They accept not a single credit from TTU or RSCC that I have - so I would go from needing 70 credits to needing 120. That simply does not work for me, unfortunately.

IIIMaster

gel wrote: »

The structure of classes at WGU is what has really made me choose them - but the cost is nearly as important to me. I can swing a $6k bill for a degree... but $20-30k is unacceptable. The cost at DSU would really depend on how generous they are with their credit transfers, honestly. I have an Associates in Cardiopulmonary Science and have taken many classes for Chemical Engineering and Physics - the original career path I was taking. So if I had to take all of my general education credits again I doubt I would even consider the institution. WGU transferred in every single GE credit so now all I have left is the ones that actually matter.

I have spoken to some programmers. I work with some at the hospital. They all either have IT degrees or no degree at all - only one person is over 40 years old (so not all old timers in coding). They have told me that the degree is not as important as the quality of the coding by the programmer. Even the ones I asked that are the managers and directors said the same thing - which is what also helped me in my decision with WGU. I appreciate you telling me about DSU. I will add them to the list of colleges I still have saved as possibles in case I change my mind.

I do intend on continuing my education within a few years in order to get my Masters from Georgie Institute of Technology since they now offer that $7k Masters.

Anybody have any suggestions for the certs? I would like to start in February or March and get away with as little money spent as possible since WGU pays for so many certs.


EDIT: I found the transfer information for DSU... They accept not a single credit from TTU or RSCC that I have - so I would go from needing 70 credits to needing 120. That simply does not work for me, unfortunately.

IBroke IT is right and wrong. I agree A degree is computer science is the standard. But in reality it is the "standard" for all IT jobs. Any other degree is a water down version on a computer science degree. They take out the majority of the prigramming and they add other subjects to fit the degree concentration. If that degree is what you like then do it. Most jobs do say computer science is perfer but they also say any degree that is similar will do. I myself started in a computer science program at the associated level with dreams to transfer. Lets say I was young and dumb then. I flunk out and was not focus. I could not go to any regular community college or university at that point. I took myself out of school for like 8 years and had to go to technical school. I had to go through there Diploma program to prove I can keep my grades good for a year and half. Then I was able to switch over and grab my associates, finish that up after 2 more semesters. But i do know when i apply for jobs in my old state my I felt like my degree had warts since it wasnt a traditional degree. Once i relocated it was a different tune everyone wanted to hire me. So your degree value is only of the beholder.

JB3

Do you have ANY programming experience? If not, I would highly recommend you read up and do some free tutorials/courses before going all-in with a CS or any sort of Software Development degree.

I am currently working on my CS degree and every semester more and more students at my grade level switch majors. If you do not have a true love for programming, you will get burnt out very quickly. There are alot of "self-taught" programmers out there, however it is difficult at some companies to get past HR without a CS degree, regardless of what your experience shows.

gel

I have programming experience. I used to code in PHP, HTML, Python, and I took a few courses in C++ in college for my engineering. I have just lost all of that because it was about 7 years ago and I have not coded since due to being so busy with my new career and the schooling for it. Out of all of the classes I have taken, though... the programming classes were always my favorite. I remember being happy in those classes and spending hourrs doing extra credit modules just for the heck of it even though I had an A in every class.

I just have not used those skills in a long time. I have went through the Javascript course on Codecademy about 82% in one night and am absolutely loving it. I truly love to code.


I got to thinking... Straighterline could take care of a lot of my gen ed courses if the university I choose makes me take them... so I am going to look into that harder. I just kinda stopped looking after I found WGU because I fell in love with the concept of being able to go at my own pace and not have to live off of ramen to pay my tuition. If my parents had not paid for my education and refused to allow me to go into anything not engineering, medical, or law then I would have went for something technology related right out of high school. Now I can control what I am going for, though... I don't know if I will be a great programmer but I know that I will love what I do. The mere thought of sitting down and going through hundreds and thousands of lines of code trying to find the problem or sitting there typing and creating something with just my knowledge - something that people can use... It gives me goosebumps and makes me excited. May sound kinda of weird but it is an honest statement.