From Social Work to Programming?

[louise]

Hello all!

I'm new here and looking for some advice. I am currently a social worker interested in making a career change to computer programming. After some extensive research I am interested in the BA in CS from TESU. I plan to complete as many classes on Study.com as possible to lower the cost of the degree. Will completing this degree be enough to land me an entry level job in programming/coding?

When I was around 12 years old (about 20 years ago) I taught myself HTML and CSS. I then moved on to learn a very tiny bit of PHP to help me in modifying Wordpress templates. I really enjoyed coding and would do it for hours completely losing track of time. I unfortunately did not choose this as a career path and regret it. 

I understand that I could self teach a language (very interested in Python) and probably land a job eventually, but when looking around at jobs in my area most want a related degree.

I'm hoping to make a career switch in the next 12 months. Any advice?

Edu History:

• Currently working on an MBA at WGU (not enjoying this at all)
  
• MS in Social Work from state school - 2016
  
• BS in sociology from state school - 2012
  

[natshar]

Are you planning on fiishing your wgu MBA? It might make sense to switch to wgu's bachelor of computer Science.

[louise]

Are you planning on fiishing your wgu MBA? It might make sense to switch to wgu's bachelor of computer Science.

Thank you for the reply.

I'm on the fence if I want to finish the MBA or not. I have this term and next term left, but I'm really bored with the classes to be honest. I also am not enjoying the format of WGU classes which is why I haven't considered doing a computer science degree there. I really dislike the program mentor aspect and I receive a lot of calls from course mentors because I'm not progressing fast enough for their taste (my goal was to never accelerate but to do all four terms to finish which I am on track to do). 

I also don't see myself being able to accelerate enough for the cost of WGU to be worth it, but $200/mo for Study.com is feasible for me and I can take a break if my work schedule gets really hectic and then pick back up easily without constant emails and phone calls.

My understanding is TESU has a more liberal transfer policy as well and with WGU I think I might have to take more classes to finish.

I guess I'm wondering if others who completed the TESU CS degree were able to work in the field without years of experience?

[MrBossmanJr]

I think a BA in CS at TESU would help you get a job in programming, but I think you would need to really focus and prepare yourself for the interviews. It seems like a couple side coding projects would make you more marketable too.

[louise]

I think a BA in CS at TESU would help you get a job in programming, but I think you would need to really focus and prepare yourself for the interviews. It seems like a couple side coding projects would make you more marketable too.

Thank you for the reply! I do plan to do additional learning on the side and build some projects. I wasn't even initially thinking about getting another degree, but all of the jobs I would want in my area seem to require it.

[bluebooger]

lots of study.com courses transfer into WGU's CS degree
https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/Single.as...142&pid=86

compare and see how many courses you can transfer into WGU and TESU from your MS in Social Work and BS in sociology and from study.com courses
and see how many courses you'd have left to take -- then factor in the additional TESU and WGU costs and see which is cheaper and faster

[bugfree]

Something else to consider....
I have a Sociology and Psych undergrad degrees and I decided I wanted to work in the computer field.  At the time it would take me 89 credit hours to get a bachelors in computer science, but only 39 to get a masters in CS, so I did that.  You would probably have to take a programming class in the school's language and then do all graduate classes.  I was lucky because some of the classes would include undergrad and grad students in the same class and they would have 2 course numbers (1 for undergrad and the other for grad, so I was able to get graduate credit).  


This is a very similar degree to the one I did: https://www.edx.org/masters/online-maste...-utaustinx
I had 2 undergrad social science degrees and it took 2.5 years.  

I will say that the combination was fantastic.  I worked at a large computer company and I had very different skills than most of the people....this was a good thing. 

[louise]

Something else to consider....
I have a Sociology and Psych undergrad degrees and I decided I wanted to work in the computer field.  At the time it would take me 89 credit hours to get a bachelors in computer science, but only 39 to get a masters in CS, so I did that.  You would probably have to take a programming class in the school's language and then do all graduate classes.  I was lucky because some of the classes would include undergrad and grad students in the same class and they would have 2 course numbers (1 for undergrad and the other for grad, so I was able to get graduate credit).  


This is a very similar degree to the one I did: https://www.edx.org/masters/online-maste...-utaustinx
I had 2 undergrad social science degrees and it took 2.5 years.  

I will say that the combination was fantastic.  I worked at a large computer company and I had very different skills than most of the people....this was a good thing. 

Thank you so much for the reply. It's reassuring that someone else made the jump from social sciences to computer science! I considered a master's but I'm paying out of pocket so another bachelor's seems to be the cheapest route and allows for more flexibility. I'm hoping once I'm employed for a few years I'll be with an employer willing to pay for a master's. 

Also, yes I suspect, or at least hope, all of my "soft skills" and social work background will be seen as an asset. I've been a bit worried about getting a job with such a massive career change, but I think the tech culture has shifted in my favor thankfully.