Confused Brit looking for advice

[BritStudent]

@BritStudent, you're a year younger than me, take a little time - decide what your goals are and plan to reach it is, read through the thread again, and see which options are more suited for you.  What you're trying to do is get into Cyber Security and move to the US... Why? You're going from #2 to #1, is there such a need when UK has a great national university system?  

In this day and age, you're going to be evaluated by immigration to meet certain criteria, nations such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and so on will have slightly different requirements, including here in the US. My suggestion usually is the trifecta of certs, degree, experience, if you're already working in Cybersecurity or a subfield in IT, great, if not, try to get in first...

You want to make sure that field is something you're looking into and want to continue in, not just because you read it online and thought it was a good profession, something good or recommended for one person, may not be for another.  When you're in IT and have a job, experience along with certs and degree, you've got a very strong application already.  

In short, you don't need a specific degree to get into Cybersecurity or IT, even their subfields of data analytics/science, etc.  People nowadays look at the trifecta I mentioned and 'ageism' exists, they'll look at what you bring to the table and length you've been in that field.  Just make sure you've checked all the boxes, dotted your i's and crossed your t's, you'll be fine with the UMPI BABA PM/IS.

Thanks for your reply once again, I've lots of experience in IT and some security oversight, although not strictly what I'd class as Cyber Security roles, fair few certs too with plans to rack up a lot over the next 6 months.

As to why I want to move? Lifestyle reasons basically. I realise it won't be easy due to the lottery as much as anything else, even with a masters - but worth a try. I may have contacts willing to at least sponsor me if I can meet the requirements.

The UMPI BABA PM/IS is definitely still a tempting option due to cost and I think speed?

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To my thinking it comes down to time. If you can do the U.S. degree a year faster and that results in you moving on a job faster, then a modest increase in the cost would (hopefully) pay off in increased pay/quality of life improvments a year early.

If you're able to quickly move through the CS coursework at Study.com, then I think you could graduate from TESU with a BACS in under a year.

Hi Dave, thanks for the reply - yes, that's my thinking on it too re speed and the relatively modest cost - would be enjoyable just for the learning experience, even if it never got me the move I'm hoping for, but it could turn out to be a very beneficial investment in myself.

I'll look into the Study.com courses further, thanks. I'm no coding expert by any means, but I've passed all the courses I've done previously that have had coding elements - oh and I just remembered I did a whole introduction to Java programming course at the OU in the past too.