Careers after TESU Degree

[davewill]

Here's the deal, IMNSHO. A TESU BACS isn't going to impart a lot of skills. The coursework isn't as rigorous, and it's all self-taught. An in-person program at a 4 year school would include labs and internship opportunities that would help you become skilled. A TESU BACS is mostly going to benefit people who either have significant experience, but need a degree to check the box, or who are very self directed and motivated and will develop the skills needed to land a job on their own.

It's similar with BSBA CIS. The coursework alone probably won't be enough to land a good IT job. You'll need a lot of self-study and some certifications in all likelyhood.

That said, there are tons of people out there who have bootstrapped themselves by working for small outfits that were willing to take a chance on them, and climbing the learning curve on their own. Some even without degrees. But if you think that the degree will open doors all by itself, probably not.

[spohara]

I'll second the checkbox nature of the degree but also say that you can absolutely fill in the gaps. There is a ton to learn through industry certs and the like, and not knowing exactly what you want to do with the degree, it is flexible. You can become a developer, move into data science, do tech support, get into cybersecurity. I've seen people with CS degrees do all of these things.

For my own story, I have been pursuing data science and needed a checkbox degree. I've picked up data science skills through other academic study, certs, and on the job work. But after I was almost finished my CS coursework, another opportunity presented itself, and I started working on the "business side" of software development, and ended up getting promoted to a program manager position right after my degree was conferred. It worked out well for me that I didn't over-specialize in data science, as the general CS degree will serve me well for this role and now I'm looking at Engineering Management for my masters. I had every intention of specializing and I'd still very much like to end up closer to working in data one day. But life is unpredictable, so I recommend taking a flexible path and committing only when a clear career path presents itself.

[aussiegbrl]

I'll second the checkbox nature of the degree but also say that you can absolutely fill in the gaps.  There is a ton to learn through industry certs and the like, and not knowing exactly what you want to do with the degree, it is flexible.  You can become a developer, move into data science, do tech support, get into cybersecurity.  I've seen people with CS degrees do all of these things.  

For my own story, I have been pursuing data science and needed a checkbox degree.  I've picked up data science skills through other academic study, certs, and on the job work.  But after I was almost finished my CS coursework, another opportunity presented itself, and I started working on the "business side" of software development, and ended up getting promoted to a program manager position right after my degree was conferred. It worked out well for me that I didn't over-specialize in data science, as the general CS degree will serve me well for this role and now I'm looking at Engineering Management for my masters.  I had every intention of specializing and I'd still very much like to end up closer to working in data one day.  But life is unpredictable, so I recommend taking a flexible path and committing only when a clear career path presents itself.

thanks for providing your own personal experience!

[rachel83az]

One good option for filling in the gaps is to follow this plan while working on your degree: https://github.com/ossu/computer-science

Whichever school you choose, you're going to have gaps to fill in.

[bjcheung77]

@aussiegbrl, when you work on the trifecta (certs, degree, experience), you'll get your rhythm and understand what subjects/topics or sub fields you'll be interested in. Take the time to get some Coursera/TADA certs and see if these courses interest you, from Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, Project Management, UX Design, etc.

Basically, I recommend grouping the certs in a specific order to ladder the knowledge from one to the other, such as this...
Essentially, when you get the certs, you're adding 'some experience' to hit the trifecta I mentioned earlier: certs, degree, experience.

1. Cybersecurity/IT related - Start with Coursera/TADA, IT Support Pro Cert, ladder that up to IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Pro Cert.
- You can do some freebies such as the TEEX Cybersecurity courses along with this or as prep for this track.

2. Coding/Development - Start with Coursera/TADA, UX Design Cert, ladder that up to IBM Full Stack Software Developer Pro Cert.
- You can take the Meta Front-End and Back-End developer certs (I think these are also free from TADA) for the Coding part.

3. Project Management - Start with Coursera/TADA, META Social Media Marketing, ladder up to Google Project Management Pro.
- Take Sophia.org Project Management and their other business/communication counterpart courses to get an idea of Business/Management.

4. Data Analytics - Again, Start with Coursera/TADA, Google Data Analytics and ladder up to all the IBM Data options combined...
Consider again taking as many cheapie/freebie options along with the Google offering, plus the various IBM Data Analytics/Science options.

TLDR: You can take one or more routes, decide what your passion lies, then you can see if taking a degree (another Bachelors or a Masters) would do.
There are several Masters of Applied Computer Science or Data Science, etc offerings that do not require a prior Bachelors for entry all around 10-15K.

Coursera/TADA offerings Wiki: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Coursera
TEEX & other Free Sources of Credit: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Fr..._of_Credit