Already a software engineer, degree worth it?

[Pats20]

I wouldn't do liberal studies if I wanted to continue working in the tech field. There are a LOT of jobs that specifically want a degree in IT, Comp Sci, or Math. Any other degree and you're just as likely to wind up in the bin as the people with no degree at all.

I agree. I wouldn’t recommend someone in tech or pursuing tech  to get a liberal studies degree. Especially if they have the knowledge and capability of getting a cs degree. Get the bacs. Then if you want to continue go after an mba or an mscs/ data science / cyber ect.

[dfrecore]

I wouldn't do liberal studies if I wanted to continue working in the tech field. There are a LOT of jobs that specifically want a degree in IT, Comp Sci, or Math. Any other degree and you're just as likely to wind up in the bin as the people with no degree at all.

I agree. I wouldn’t recommend someone in tech or pursuing tech  to get a liberal studies degree. Especially if they have the knowledge and capability of getting a cs degree. Get the bacs. Then if you want to continue go after an mba or an mscs/ data science / cyber ect.

I know plenty of people in tech who don't have degrees at all, or who have degrees in all kinds of things besides tech.  I certainly wouldn't tell them to go get a CS degree (I can just see telling my husband that he's going to have to take calculus 25 years after he got an AA with College Algebra as the last math course he took).

For someone who is in tech and has many years of experience, most jobs just don't care if you have a CS degree, or IT, or business, or whatever.  For many, literally ANY degree will work, because the employer is looking for experience, certs, all kinds of other things besides a degree. The degree is a check-the-box thing.

An IT degree from 20 years ago is probably as worthless today as anything around.  None of those courses are probably relevant today - they are completely outdated.

I still say, for many people in tech, you do NOT need a tech degree.

[rachel83az]

No, you don't NEED a tech degree or a degree at all, as OP has already proven. But if you know you want to remain in tech and yet you pursue a degree in anything else, you're just making things more difficult for yourself later on. The question isn't whether you can find jobs with a non-tech degree (you can), but whether the quality and number of job opportunities increases if you have a STEM degree. Which they do.

Portfolio comes above degree a lot of the time. (At least for now.) But, if you're against an applicant who is more or less equal to you except they have a STEM degree and you just have liberal studies, guess who wins? It's probably not going to be the guy with the liberal studies degree.

Why hamstring yourself if you don't have to?

[dfrecore]

No, you don't NEED a tech degree or a degree at all, as OP has already proven. But if you know you want to remain in tech and yet you pursue a degree in anything else, you're just making things more difficult for yourself later on. The question isn't whether you can find jobs with a non-tech degree (you can), but whether the quality and number of job opportunities increases if you have a STEM degree. Which they do.

Portfolio comes above degree a lot of the time. (At least for now.) But, if you're against an applicant who is more or less equal to you except they have a STEM degree and you just have liberal studies, guess who wins? It's probably not going to be the guy with the liberal studies degree.

Why hamstring yourself if you don't have to?

The chances of which degree someone has making the difference in choosing between 2 people is not going to be high.  If it comes down to 2 people, they are just not going to look at the degree, as it will have zero relevance.  If it doesn't even matter IF you have a degree in the first place, then it won't matter if you have whatever degree you want.

Again, this is for people who have already proven themselves in the marketplace, and don't actually need a degree.  In that specific instance, I say do what makes you happy.

If my kid, who is just about to graduate from high school, says he wants to work in IT, and wants a degree, then I'm obviously going to steer him in a completely different direction.  (And even then, my husband has already told him to get certs first and foremost over a degree and get working immediately, as that's what's going to make the difference in his career, rather than a degree).

[sanantone]

I watched an interview of a Google recruiter. She stated that they either look for extensive experience or a computer science degree. They've noticed that applicants who don't have either of those typically can't pass their technical interviews. If you can get hired based on extensive experience, there's no point in wasting time and money on a liberal studies degree.

Even among the experienced, having the advanced math background and other foundational computer science knowledge can set you apart. There are many who have gotten by in software engineering without math or theoretical CS knowledge, but for the occasional project where it'll make a difference, some companies want to make sure someone on their team has that knowledge.

[Pats20]

Again. IMO If the op has the experience and desires a degree , why waste time and money on a liberal studies degree when they already have the knowledge to cruise through a cs degree ? Makes no sense to me.

[mahaganapati]

No, you don't NEED a tech degree or a degree at all, as OP has already proven. But if you know you want to remain in tech and yet you pursue a degree in anything else, you're just making things more difficult for yourself later on. The question isn't whether you can find jobs with a non-tech degree (you can), but whether the quality and number of job opportunities increases if you have a STEM degree. Which they do.

Portfolio comes above degree a lot of the time. (At least for now.) But, if you're against an applicant who is more or less equal to you except they have a STEM degree and you just have liberal studies, guess who wins? It's probably not going to be the guy with the liberal studies degree.

Why hamstring yourself if you don't have to?

The chances of which degree someone has making the difference in choosing between 2 people is not going to be high.  If it comes down to 2 people, they are just not going to look at the degree, as it will have zero relevance.  If it doesn't even matter IF you have a degree in the first place, then it won't matter if you have whatever degree you want.

Again, this is for people who have already proven themselves in the marketplace, and don't actually need a degree.  In that specific instance, I say do what makes you happy.

If my kid, who is just about to graduate from high school, says he wants to work in IT, and wants a degree, then I'm obviously going to steer him in a completely different direction.  (And even then, my husband has already told him to get certs first and foremost over a degree and get working immediately, as that's what's going to make the difference in his career, rather than a degree).

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's making the decision difficult for me! I don't actually *want* a degree, because most of the requirements to fulfill it are so boring. But I do want the signal. I am thinking that adding a degree to my already strong signal (work experience, portfolio) isn't worth the time... In any case I'm still working towards it.

[dfrecore]

Again. IMO If the op has the experience and desires a degree , why waste time and money on  a liberal studies degree when they already have  the knowledge to cruise through a cs degree ? Makes no sense to me.

Except that calculus isn't a "cruise" for many.  Most people in IT don't need a CompSci degree, which is quite different than an IT degree - CS is much more theoretical, while IT is much more hands-on.  But looking at TESU, someone decided a person getting a CS degree needs calculus but no actual science, while for some reason, getting an IT degree requires Physics I & II with labs or Chem I & II with labs.  There's not a real great reason for that as far as I can tell.  None of that makes any sense.

For many (most?), a BLS degree with tons of computer courses and credits for certs will be fine, as will a business degree, as will anything else.  My husband doesn't have a degree, but if he was to get one, it would NOT be a CS degree as that is not considered necessary in the area he works in (IT Sales - a degree in cybersecurity or cloud would be much more useful for him).  He said that it has literally NEVER been an issue.  If nobody cares about a degree, then there is no reason to get one in something you don't want to.  So if you WANT to get a CS degree, great, go ahead.  But if you have a burning passion for history, then for goodness sakes, get a history degree.  It will make you more interesting in job interviews.

[rachel83az]

Your husband is still just one person. Just because he has never needed a tech degree doesn't mean that, in most circumstances, having a tech degree is only going to help your career. Or that getting a non-tech degree AFTER you decided to join the tech industry isn't a bad idea.

[carrythenothing]

But looking at TESU, someone decided a person getting a CS degree needs calculus but no actual science, while for some reason, getting an IT degree requires Physics I & II with labs or Chem I & II with labs.  There's not a real great reason for that as far as I can tell.  None of that makes any sense.

Different schools within TESU (different staff, goals, etc.)

The School of Applied Science and Technology seems to require at least two lab science courses (often more) for its Bachelor of Science degree programs: https://www.tesu.edu/ast/programs/bs/

A few programs at the Heavin School of Arts and Sciences (including the BA in Biology, BA in Environmental Studies, and BS in Data Science and Analytics) require at least one lab science course.