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WGU BS: IT Security Completed
quickman007
Member Posts: 195
As of today, I've officially graduated with my Bachelor's in IT Security from WGU. My course breakdown is below.
Project Management
Linux Foundations I
Linux Foundations II
Principles of Management
Organizational Behavior and Leadership
Designing Customized Security
Data Management - Applications
Technical Communication
IT Capstone Written Project
I transferred to WGU with an Associates in IT, A+, Network+, Security+, and CCNA R/S. Even with all that, I was very surprised at how few classes were needed to graduate. I started back in September of 2016. unfortunately, due to two new jobs and two moves, it took me three terms to complete. I'm going to briefly give my take on the courses I took and my WGU experience as a whole.
Project Management - Passing this course gets you the Project+. Extremely easy test. I crammed for a little over a week and passed with an almost perfect score. The WGU provided study material was more than enough to pass.
Linux Foundations I - Very fun and interesting course! Passing it results in completion of the LX0-103 exam from CompTIA. I felt like the labs were a little tough for the study material that was provided, but nothing a little Googling couldn't fix. The study material was just enough to pass the exam, though I failed by about two questions on my first try.
Linux Foundations II - Same deal as above, except you end up with the Linux+ at the end of the course. Pretty sure you can get LPIC-1 as well, but I never cared enough to do that.
Principles of Management - The material is very similar to what was taught in the Project Management course. I was able to pass the pre-assessment and take the post-assessment immediately. If you studied hard and passed the Project+, you can knock this course out in a day.
Organizational Behavior and Leadership - Could hardly tell the difference between this course and Principles of Management. Same deal, Study hard for the Project+ and pass in a day.
Designing Customized Security - This is where my troubles with WGU started. The provided study material, The CCNA Sec OCG, was horrible. Hardly any detail or even mention of topics that were covered in the exam. The CBT Nugget CCNA Sec course that was supposed to be provided didn't want to play. After a few days of troubleshooting and not much help from WGU, I was able to get the course from a friend. I failed my first attempt at the CCNA Sec. Ended up Googling every random thing that was mentioned in the book, prayed hard, and passed with the exact score I needed. Honestly, I've got no real advice for this one. There didn't seem to be any good study material out there.
Data Management - Applications - Pretty simple class. SQL syntax for basic table commands and joins. The provided study material was decent, although the complex joins could have been expanded on a bit. My real issue was with Taskstream and the course mentor. This was my first time dealing with either, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Taskstream took 4-5 days to grade my work and kept nitpicking at random things without giving any detail on what was actually wrong. The course mentor didn't seem to have a clue on how to complete the assignment. I took his advice several times, and parts that weren't wrong before ended up being wrong after I made the changes he recommended. It took about a month of trial and error before I finally passed, no thanks to the course mentor.
Technical Communication - Easy class. Go to Taskstream, look at the grading rubric, make sure your assignments satisfy the rubric, pass. Don't worry if your assignment seems awful. As long as it follows the grading rubric, it will pass.
IT Capstone Written Project - The Capstone was actually very similar to the Technical Communication course. My Capstone subject was a network upgrade for a small organization. Pick something you know about and it should be pretty easy.
Course mentors - These are the "experts" that are there to "help" with the individual courses. I honestly didn't contact them very much, as my experience with the Database Management course mentor wasn't very good. It seemed hit or miss. A couple that I spoke with briefly seemed to be very helpful, others talked to me like I was an idiot and never actually answered my questions.
Student Mentor - My student mentor was great! He switched me to bi-weekly phone calls almost immediately and left me alone for the most part, which I really appreciated. There really isn't much to say about my experience with him, as I was independent throughout the majority of my time at WGU.
Overall - My bachelors cost around 9k, could be worked on at my pace, and allowed me to make several big life changes without any issues. With that being said, I still think the average student will learn more at a traditional B&M college. Having other students to interact with helped toss ideas around and I picked up a lot of good tips during my time at a community college for my A.S. degree. I'm sure that partially because I was new to IT and was learning all the basics. I'd still recommend WGU for anyone who's working full time, doesn't want to shell out 10s of thousands of dollars, or just needs a bachelors for that HR checkbox.
On to the CCNP for me!
Project Management
Linux Foundations I
Linux Foundations II
Principles of Management
Organizational Behavior and Leadership
Designing Customized Security
Data Management - Applications
Technical Communication
IT Capstone Written Project
I transferred to WGU with an Associates in IT, A+, Network+, Security+, and CCNA R/S. Even with all that, I was very surprised at how few classes were needed to graduate. I started back in September of 2016. unfortunately, due to two new jobs and two moves, it took me three terms to complete. I'm going to briefly give my take on the courses I took and my WGU experience as a whole.
Project Management - Passing this course gets you the Project+. Extremely easy test. I crammed for a little over a week and passed with an almost perfect score. The WGU provided study material was more than enough to pass.
Linux Foundations I - Very fun and interesting course! Passing it results in completion of the LX0-103 exam from CompTIA. I felt like the labs were a little tough for the study material that was provided, but nothing a little Googling couldn't fix. The study material was just enough to pass the exam, though I failed by about two questions on my first try.
Linux Foundations II - Same deal as above, except you end up with the Linux+ at the end of the course. Pretty sure you can get LPIC-1 as well, but I never cared enough to do that.
Principles of Management - The material is very similar to what was taught in the Project Management course. I was able to pass the pre-assessment and take the post-assessment immediately. If you studied hard and passed the Project+, you can knock this course out in a day.
Organizational Behavior and Leadership - Could hardly tell the difference between this course and Principles of Management. Same deal, Study hard for the Project+ and pass in a day.
Designing Customized Security - This is where my troubles with WGU started. The provided study material, The CCNA Sec OCG, was horrible. Hardly any detail or even mention of topics that were covered in the exam. The CBT Nugget CCNA Sec course that was supposed to be provided didn't want to play. After a few days of troubleshooting and not much help from WGU, I was able to get the course from a friend. I failed my first attempt at the CCNA Sec. Ended up Googling every random thing that was mentioned in the book, prayed hard, and passed with the exact score I needed. Honestly, I've got no real advice for this one. There didn't seem to be any good study material out there.
Data Management - Applications - Pretty simple class. SQL syntax for basic table commands and joins. The provided study material was decent, although the complex joins could have been expanded on a bit. My real issue was with Taskstream and the course mentor. This was my first time dealing with either, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Taskstream took 4-5 days to grade my work and kept nitpicking at random things without giving any detail on what was actually wrong. The course mentor didn't seem to have a clue on how to complete the assignment. I took his advice several times, and parts that weren't wrong before ended up being wrong after I made the changes he recommended. It took about a month of trial and error before I finally passed, no thanks to the course mentor.
Technical Communication - Easy class. Go to Taskstream, look at the grading rubric, make sure your assignments satisfy the rubric, pass. Don't worry if your assignment seems awful. As long as it follows the grading rubric, it will pass.
IT Capstone Written Project - The Capstone was actually very similar to the Technical Communication course. My Capstone subject was a network upgrade for a small organization. Pick something you know about and it should be pretty easy.
Course mentors - These are the "experts" that are there to "help" with the individual courses. I honestly didn't contact them very much, as my experience with the Database Management course mentor wasn't very good. It seemed hit or miss. A couple that I spoke with briefly seemed to be very helpful, others talked to me like I was an idiot and never actually answered my questions.
Student Mentor - My student mentor was great! He switched me to bi-weekly phone calls almost immediately and left me alone for the most part, which I really appreciated. There really isn't much to say about my experience with him, as I was independent throughout the majority of my time at WGU.
Overall - My bachelors cost around 9k, could be worked on at my pace, and allowed me to make several big life changes without any issues. With that being said, I still think the average student will learn more at a traditional B&M college. Having other students to interact with helped toss ideas around and I picked up a lot of good tips during my time at a community college for my A.S. degree. I'm sure that partially because I was new to IT and was learning all the basics. I'd still recommend WGU for anyone who's working full time, doesn't want to shell out 10s of thousands of dollars, or just needs a bachelors for that HR checkbox.
On to the CCNP for me!
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Dakinggamer87
Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
Way to go!! Congrats on finishing the degree
*Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63 -
OptionsNotHackingYou
Member Posts: 1,460 ■■■■■■■■□□
Great job finishing your degree, thanks for sharing a little about each class and your experience.When you go the extra mile, there's no traffic.
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boxerboy1168
Member Posts: 395 ■■■□□□□□□□
congrats just finished up my first semester looking forward to this post!Currently enrolling into WGU's IT - Security Program. Working on LPIC (1,2,3) and CCNA (and S) as long term goals and preparing for the Security+ and A+ as short term goals.