PhD IT, $383 PCH, Bachelors entry, thoughts!?

[armstrongsubero]

@Ideas I totally understand the importance of doing an education based degree, it's a shame I cant do WGU because it's ideal, but they don't accept international. Hodges program was a consideration for me until they stopped it, if only I had discovered this forum sooner in life. Apsen general has positive reviews, a DSc from Aspen wont turn any heads, but it will help me fulfil my goals with affordable monthly payments. 

At Patten I'm taking 6 months vacation so that I can dedicate day and night to finishing, the MBA would also give me a spike in salary. 

Yeah, I'm so close to finishing I can almost taste it!    


Yeah, concerning PhD costs well locally at least doing a B & M degree it is almost free to pursue, because you teach classes and help the prof with his research and get a stipend for it, so they pay you. I only looked at science and tech based programs, so can't say for the others. Searching "PhD stipend"  in google yields a lot of results, so I guess on campus PhD's in the US have a similar structure. The "almost" would be your living expenses you have to consider dropping everything and working with a prof. 


@bluebooger There are two main reasons I want to do a PhD. I hate people who only look at a degree as a piece of paper to get a job, that mentality is the reason my generation of millennials see so much problems to find work. Getting an education is more than getting a piece of paper to get a job, and getting a PhD is not about getting a job. I think that people should try to find work after they graduate from high school, work on college part time while working, then according to their personal education or career goals consider higher education. And don't start on how hard it is to find a job after high school, when you come from a small country like mine with 1.3 mil people and very little jobs and high prices, you understand the importance of doing a job, any job. What wrong with working in the trades, retail or private security? Based on what I've been reading jobs in tech like networking, digital marketing, programming, web development etc had a lot of cheap or free resources to learn. Look at freecodecamp and all the moocs available. Work for non-profits, some people take internships anyway, go to community college, do any job while getting your education. There are also places you can freelance in the field you are interested in.

So to understand the point here is my background. 

It is possible because in my case when I finished high school I got a job as an electrician because I had been learning electronics on my own from the internet since I was like 8, I then worked in private security firm that had a contract with a local hospital, and was charging very little to fix computers and help with networking.  Eventually I got to the point where I was helping businesses set up their computing systems and writing very simple low cost programs for them to do things like payroll and inventroy.

Doing this I met a lot of people and networked like crazy, and was able to land a job as a systems technologist repairing and helping design medical equipment as well as doing software work with a small company called Trius Medical that has branches locally and a branch in Florida. Working in the hospital allowed me to get that job because they wanted someone with experience in a healthcare environment, and I had that and whilst the positing required a degree, my unique knowledge of electronics, electrical installation and software development allowed me to take the palce of three employees they just lost! So it was a steal for them, it was a nice job and my boss was very good to me, I worked hard and he treated me like family.

But whist working there I kept networking and going to events, then they hired a contractor to help them work on setting up ebay and amazon stores etc cause I had to much on my place to focus on that only. I met the owner and she offered me a job as a software engineering consultant.

Doing all these things allowed me to get a job with the police service which my security background helped a lot with. Now during this time I was doing probably one or two courses a semester and when I joined the police service my time got to be almost non-existant. So I couldn't finish. I however kept studying on my own with all the free resources available.

Why do a PhD in IT.


Point 1: Personal Goals

To study what I love and contribute back into my field, IT, Info. Systems or computer science are fields that I like, I already read very advanced books on the field, and would like to give back to the community. 


Point 2: Career

For my job despite having the experience, to go into the unit I am desirous of going, I need a degree and the BALS will give me that as well as a pay increase, so I started it last year and will finish this year hopefully. A PhD in IT would allow me to not only get a pay increase but would allow me to be qualified enough to run a department as well as move up in rank much quicker. Each degree I get thanks to standing orders would give me a salary increase. 

I also started a side thing writing technical books as a sort of sideline, and got Apress to publish my first title:




https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484232729




I love studying and reading and writing about technology and helping beginners get their feet wet because I know what it's like to need help and guidance. I have tons more books lined up I would like to write and having a PhD in IT or Comp Sci would really help my bio and knowledge to be more lucrative to publishers and would lead to probably colleges adopting books I have planned to write. For me it would do a lot. 


Point 3: Charity

I work with a local non-profit doing software and web work for them, the more I learn, the more I can contribute to people who are making a change in people's life.


Point 4: Migration

If I continue on my career path, I can live fairly comfortable and be a big fish in a little pond. However my country is dependent on oil and gas, and I see the economy going down. So I plan to migrate to the US and do my dream job as a Field Applications Engineer at Microchip Technology or TI. I really love that line of work. However as I was told it would be easier to get a job in software, then study the ABET program in electrical engineering necessary for that position. Here is that thread:

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ing+choice

I won't call a PhD to work useless, it would help with my getting an H1B. I have no connections to the US. An H1B is the way I will get into the US. A PhD will qualify as an "advanced degree" and hopefully I can get sponsorship from a company. 


Point 5: Self-Actualization

Essentially a PhD would help me attain self-actualization. I'm 25 and have been though a lot. Finishing a PhD by 30 is my goal. 


Point 6:

When I was younger I always wanted to be a doctor or a scientist. Being able to be called doctor is enough.

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I really wish I could do WGU unfortunality I can't because WGU decided international student's aren't worthy enough. It's a sham that even Harvard has a facility for international students and WGU that claims it want's to help people is for US only and certain parts of Canada. 

It may not be lucrative to you, but to me it means self-actualization. I think if someone thinks a program is lucrative or not is subjective.
So making that generalized statement "no doctorate in information technology is lucrative' isn't right, I expect someone on an education forum above all else would understand that. If you have a degree then I seriously think you need to think about what you learned in your social science and psychology classes. Except for it you're UK then you are excused cause their degrees only focus on the area they are studying.