Degree advice
The market is pretty tough these days. My company just did a layoff, although I was not impacted. I have some concerns for the future and was thinking about solidifying my position a bit.
I have a psych degree, and did 1.5 years of a second degree in computer science. Long story, but basically issues with the uni would leave me taking 4 years to do what they said I could do in 2. I left that to take a bootcamp, and got a job right after. I’ve been working for 6 years and have survived two layoffs. Even still, it would be nice to have the degree for greater job security. It’s possible I pass screenings because I have a degree and state how much of the CS degree I completed.
What are recommendations for schools or programs? I’ve heard of WGU, although I’m in Canada. Should I do that and try to transfer credits? Try for a masters somewhere? Ideally it’d be online, i live in Calgary a stones through from Mount Royal University but it’s not exactly the best uni. Is it worth it overall? I’ve not had issues with being a bootcamp grad so far and always get great performance reviews. More concerned about the future, I’m iOS which is niche and not really taught in uni though.
I also have 1 decent portfolio project on the App Store with another, more significant one coming soon.
6 comments · 100% upvoted · other discussions
Tbh, b4 u apply for school. Can I give a suggestion, send ur resume out like let's say 10-20 every week and see if u get hits.
I'm all for college if it gives you and edge. I also realize how expensive it is. My main though is you have 6 years of expiernce. I would let market decide if you actually need go back to school or if ur resume actually gets hit.
Preface, this man has 6 years of experience-> that's a lot of experience. If you have 0-2 years, college is prob best bet.
abear247 [OP] 1 points · Aug 2023
That’s a great suggestion. I recently applied to DuckDuckGo, had no issues getting an interview but didn’t pass one of the rounds. I think that was on me for misinterpreting the question. I did apply to Meta before and got to the last stage of the interview process before I took a different job.
I think I’ve got a decent network to lean on. I’ve been approached by a few asking if I was open for work. Probably best to do what you said and cold apply to see how I fare though.
MangoDouble3259 1 points · Aug 2023
I mean if ur already getting interviews, I don't see much roi. Unless ur going into some specialized field like AI/ML and need higher education.
Like u said urself ur already getting top level interviews. Maybe I'm wrong, but fact they're interviewing tells me ur fine. Just prob failling due to minimal skill deficiencies not bc a degree.
Who wants to throw like 25k+ a year on tuition again ha ha?
abear247 [OP] 1 points · Aug 2023
Yeah that’s fair. DuckDuckGo i failed on the essay-ish portion, wasn’t the actual coding round. So that’s a different skill I need to work on.
Tuition prices are killer. They almost discourage continued learning.