Where I stand.. want a CS degree

[nyvrem]

I’m really weighing all options right now.
I can’t go to a UC/cal state school because I lack junior standing (upper level transfer eligibility) since I don’t have math or science courses. This led to me exploring CS / SE programs entirely online since I work as a police officer full time.

I do have a tuition reimbursement which is great but it’s $100 per credit I think.

I’m just trying to figure out if I’m better off getting a degree in CS/SE at a school like ASU, OSU, auburn or penn state world campus or if I’m better off doing a bootcamp and trying to get work/job experience.

My second dilemma is whether I should do my pre req courses like math , science etc at a local college prior to getting into a CS/SE program at those schools listed above. If i have to do 2-3 math courses that’ll be at least a year in community college vs getting into a program and starting CS/SE courses right off the bat. I don’t know what’s best and don’t have much insight on this. That’s why I posted

TESU/WGU I’m sure are good schools but it’s not what I’m looking for. If I go back to school 3-4 years, I want a degree from a more recognized school. It’s my preference. My third dilemma which is related to #1 is whether it’s worth it to even get a degree in this field. Bootcamps and experience seem to triumph degrees I’ve seen?

Thanks

A CS degree is just a piece of paper. How you put into practice, what you've learned in your program and what you do on your own time will determine it's worth. CS is not a field where you can just graduate with a CS major and 'be done with it'. You'll always be learning new stuff in CS on your own time, else you're gonna fall behind. heck, i would even say a CS degree won't even prep you for a job as a web dev. you gotta plug the gaps on your own.

Is a bootcamp better than getting a CS degree? that's up to you to decide, but from what i understand, you're in the police ? don't you need a degree for promotions later on ? and since you don't have any degrees, getting a CS degree as your first wont harm you at all. my guess is, if you don't want to enter the CS field, you could always use it for ur career in enforcement. 

you'd also wanna consider the cost of a bootcamp Vs getting a cheap CS degree (TESU). bootcamps, from what i've seen, teach you the flavor of the month. a CS degree, gives you CS foundations that you take with you for whatever u wanna do in the future (think graduate studies etc).

[supreme1995_a]

Yea police is correct as my current occupation. No degree needed to “rank up or promote”. I don’t plan on staying long anyways so looking to start a new career.

[nyvrem]

Yea police is correct as my current occupation. No degree needed to “rank up or promote”. I don’t plan on staying long anyways so looking to start a new career.

ahh ok. just FYI, the programs you've mentioned, ASU / Penn State, etc. it really requires a lot of studying.

have you thought about a BS in IT program maybe?

Northern Arizona U has a competency based BS in IT. If you were to commit time into it, you can finish it in 2 maybe 3 terms, especially since you have 40+ credits that could transfer in as Gen Eds.

https://nau.edu/online-innovative-educat...e-degrees/

[freeloader]

You're looking too far ahead and not starting your journey, you need to decide otherwise you'll get "stuck" at the analysis paralysis stage.  You may want to get a degree from a State/Public university such as TESU and then decide on a more recognized Masters at Georgia Tech or Univ of Texas - Austin (yes, a Masters at a higher ranked institution).  You need the Bachelors before you can ladder up to a Masters, the TESU CS or WGU option is perfectly fine for a springboard to get you there, cheaper, easier, faster...

I don’t want a masters. If I stated that I misspoke. Bachelors only for now

No, you have been more clear about what you want. BJ is simply trying to get you to think a little beyond what you have been focusing on to this point. Allow me illustrate:

You mentioned Penn State World Campus. They have a variable tuition structure, but your tuition is probably going to end up averaging around $620/credit. Their software engineering degree requires 126 credits. Let’s imagine you get, say 36 credits transferred in, leaving you 90 to do. Setting aside your tuition waiver, 90x620= $55,800. You probably are going to need 3 years to finish that, especially working full time. The other schools you mentioned are probably in the same ballpark from a cost and time perspective. 

56 grand is a lot of money. You can complete a BA in CS from TESU for around 10k (specifics elsewhere, but that’s close enough). WGU probably would be a little higher since you don’t seem to have a strong CS background, but probably well below the price noted above. The UT Austin and GA Tech masters degrees are around 10k each. So, you could to do a bachelors and masters for less money and likely around the same time, if you are motivated. So, let’s say you go to TESU and GA Tech. You have spend around 20k for your degrees. If you have a 50k budget, you now have 30k left to spend on boot camps and other things, like industry certifications, to boost your resume.

Let me ask you, if you were a hiring manager and two candidates sent in resumes to work on a software development team with the following credentials, who would you pick?

Supreme: BS in Software Engineering, Penn State World Campus. 

BJ: BA/CS TESU. Master in CS UT-Austin (one of the best universities in the world for this subject). 2 well-known boot camps completed. 5 industry-standard certifications. 

Maybe you would pick supreme. I would not. I would pick BJ every time and twice on Sunday. 

As to whether boot camps or a degree are better, I personally have no idea.  Again, though, it depends on your career goals. That is why I asked you that. But, of course, you ignored it. If you want to move to Silicon Valley and work for Google or Oracle the advice may be different than if you want to parlay your prior experience into becoming a federal agent who works on cyber crimes. The advice might be different still if you want to start your own software business on the side.

[rachel83az]

For what it's worth, I've heard that companies are becoming a bit more wary about hiring people whose "best" qualification is that they completed a specific bootcamp. As mentioned earlier in this thread, bootcamps teach you the "flavor of the week". They're also not that good at going into great depths. (There is a big business tutoring students who have completed a bootcamp and got hired on that basis, but now they need to actually do a job and they didn't learn how to do that.) Also, students who completed a bootcamp and can do "Popular Programming Thing (2020)" are generally less flexible and less able to move onto "New Popular Programming Thing (2024)" and companies tend to not want employees who can only do one thing.

[Pats20]

You're looking too far ahead and not starting your journey, you need to decide otherwise you'll get "stuck" at the analysis paralysis stage.  You may want to get a degree from a State/Public university such as TESU and then decide on a more recognized Masters at Georgia Tech or Univ of Texas - Austin (yes, a Masters at a higher ranked institution).  You need the Bachelors before you can ladder up to a Masters, the TESU CS or WGU option is perfectly fine for a springboard to get you there, cheaper, easier, faster...

I don’t want a masters. If I stated that I misspoke. Bachelors only for now

No, you have been more clear about what you want. BJ is simply trying to get you to think a little beyond what you have been focusing on to this point. Allow me illustrate:

You mentioned Penn State World Campus. They have a variable tuition structure, but your tuition is probably going to end up averaging around $620/credit. Their software engineering degree requires 126 credits. Let’s imagine you get, say 36 credits transferred in, leaving you 90 to do. Setting aside your tuition waiver, 90x620= $55,800. You probably are going to need 3 years to finish that, especially working full time. The other schools you mentioned are probably in the same ballpark from a cost and time perspective. 

56 grand is a lot of money. You can complete a BA in CS from TESU for around 10k (specifics elsewhere, but that’s close enough). WGU probably would be a little higher since you don’t seem to have a strong CS background, but probably well below the price noted above. The UT Austin and GA Tech masters degrees are around 10k each. So, you could to do a bachelors and masters for less money and likely around the same time, if you are motivated. So, let’s say you go to TESU and GA Tech. You have spend around 20k for your degrees. If you have a 50k budget, you now have 30k left to spend on boot camps and other things, like industry certifications, to boost your resume.

Let me ask you, if you were a hiring manager and two candidates sent in resumes to work on a software development team with the following credentials, who would you pick?

Supreme: BS in Software Engineering, Penn State World Campus. 

BJ: BA/CS TESU. Master in CS UT-Austin (one of the best universities in the world for this subject). 2 well-known boot camps completed. 5 industry-standard certifications. 

Maybe you would pick supreme. I would not. I would pick BJ every time and twice on Sunday. 

As to whether boot camps or a degree are better, I personally have no idea.  Again, though, it depends on your career goals. That is why I asked you that. But, of course, you ignored it. If you want to move to Silicon Valley and work for Google or Oracle the advice may be different than if you want to parlay your prior experience into becoming a federal agent who works on cyber crimes. The advice might be different still if you want to start your own software business on the side.

Very good illustration

[thecontrarian]

No one in NJ thinks TESU is a diploma mill.

Don't see where you find that Google OP.

I'm in central NJ and here many people mistakenly assume TESU is some sort of branch of Rutgers.

How you gonna pay for regular college is the big question. TESU gonna let you walk away with a degree for $5K.

Doesn't seem from your post that you'll be a big candidate for aid at any of these places.

[Pats20]

I’m really weighing all options right now.
I can’t go to a UC/cal state school because I lack junior standing (upper level transfer eligibility) since I don’t have math or science courses. This led to me exploring CS / SE programs entirely online since I work as a police officer full time.

I do have a tuition reimbursement which is great but it’s $100 per credit I think.

I’m just trying to figure out if I’m better off getting a degree in CS/SE at a school like ASU, OSU, auburn or penn state world campus or if I’m better off doing a bootcamp and trying to get work/job experience.

My second dilemma is whether I should do my pre req courses like math , science etc at a local college prior to getting into a CS/SE program at those schools listed above. If i have to do 2-3 math courses that’ll be at least a year in community college vs getting into a program and starting CS/SE courses right off the bat. I don’t know what’s best and don’t have much insight on this. That’s why I posted

TESU/WGU I’m sure are good schools but it’s not what I’m looking for. If I go back to school 3-4 years, I want a degree from a more recognized school. It’s my preference. My third dilemma which is related to #1 is whether it’s worth it to even get a degree in this field. Bootcamps and experience seem to triumph degrees I’ve seen?

Thanks

Experience may triumph degrees but as you build that experience many times it takes a degree to get to the next level (promotion , mgmt , ect). I’m not convinced that boot camps triumph degrees. In fact I just don’t believe it. How are you going to get the experience ? If 2 people being equal ( hard skills, soft skills , personality ect).  apply for an entry level job one of which completed a boot camp and the other a CS program from WGU or TESU  I’m gonna bet the degree holder gets the nod.  The degree holder will also move up the ladder quicker as well if all else is equal. Now a coding junkie who’s been programming since he/ she was 12 goes up next to the recent CS grad or boot camp grad with little background. Guess what ? The junkie wins more than likely.  But that doesn’t seem to be your situation, and that’s okay though. That isn’t a lot of people’s situation that pursue CS degrees or professions

[Flelm]

In my opinion, not having a degree gets you automatically filtered out of many HR algorithms. You can't impress potential employers with your bootcamp skills if you never get a call back or an interview in the first place.

[dfrecore]

I’m really weighing all options right now.
I can’t go to a UC/cal state school because I lack junior standing (upper level transfer eligibility) since I don’t have math or science courses. This led to me exploring CS / SE programs entirely online since I work as a police officer full time.

I do have a tuition reimbursement which is great but it’s $100 per credit I think.

I’m just trying to figure out if I’m better off getting a degree in CS/SE at a school like ASU, OSU, auburn or penn state world campus or if I’m better off doing a bootcamp and trying to get work/job experience.

My second dilemma is whether I should do my pre req courses like math , science etc at a local college prior to getting into a CS/SE program at those schools listed above. If i have to do 2-3 math courses that’ll be at least a year in community college vs getting into a program and starting CS/SE courses right off the bat. I don’t know what’s best and don’t have much insight on this. That’s why I posted

TESU/WGU I’m sure are good schools but it’s not what I’m looking for. If I go back to school 3-4 years, I want a degree from a more recognized school. It’s my preference. My third dilemma which is related to #1 is whether it’s worth it to even get a degree in this field. Bootcamps and experience seem to triumph degrees I’ve seen?

Thanks

Experience may triumph degrees but as you build that experience many times it takes a degree to get to the next level (promotion , mgmt , ect). I’m not convinced that boot camps triumph degrees. In fact I just don’t believe it. How are you going to get the experience ? If 2 people being equal ( hard skills, soft skills , personality ect).  apply for an entry level job one of which completed a boot camp and the other a CS program from WGU or TESU  I’m gonna bet the degree holder gets the nod.  The degree holder will also move up the ladder quicker as well if all else is equal. Now a coding junkie who’s been programming since he/ she was 12 goes up next to the recent CS grad or boot camp grad with little background. Guess what ? The junkie wins more than likely.  But that doesn’t seem to be your situation.

I agree.  Here's what most companies are looking for, in order of importance:
1) Experience
.
.
2) Degree
.
.
.
.
.
3) not even sure a bootcamp goes here, I'm not sure anyone is looking for that

A person with years of experience will always win out over a degree.  The degree is further behind (especially in CS/IT/Computers).  If there is a lot of hands-on in there, along with some internships, then that's your best bet.

The degree with no experience and no internships is going to get your resume looked at, but that's about it.

Hiring managers are not looking for bootcamps.  It MAY benefit you personally if you learn something you want/need to learn, but I'm almost positive it won't hold weight on a resume.