Degree Planning from scratch for late career software engineer

[christinadq]

I am seeking help with degree planning for my husband.  His next promotion up the software engineering management ladder requires a US based Bachelor's degree.  20 years ago I graduated from TESC (now TESU) with an AS and Excelsior with a BS, so I am familiar in general with what is/was out there.  There are some new players though that I am not as familiar with at this point and many more options in the realm of competency-based education.  I am interested in advice about program offerings that would fit his needs while still allowing for some growth and learning like he wants.


His Location: Texas, United States. 

His Age: 40s

What kind of degree does he want?: He has 25 years experience as a software engineer, with experience as a presenter at international conferences and recognized as a leader in his field.  If there was a programming based degree that could be significantly competency based or had many courses that could be challenged by exam or even by having someone review his code, software architecture etc in a portfolio review/PLA option, this would be super easy.  I don't see anything like that though.  WGU's Cloud Computing would be something that he could learn some new things as well as have academic verification of skills he has developed.

BUT -- lately he's gotten into management too, which he never thought he'd like until the last couple of years.  A business degree that actually teaches him new things and lets him put that knowledge to good use would also be useful and maybe actually better when looking towards the future.  So UMPI's BABA looked like a decent option or even their BLS with a Management or an MIS minor might really work OR perhaps even TAMUC's BAAS in Org Leadership (we are based in Texas and a local university would have more name recognition near us).

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0

All his previous college is from his childhood in Europe and all those credits are 20+ years old.   That program is in software development so not likely considered transferable due to age at this point even if we could get the records translated.  It was not a full degree, it was a shorter training program.  But for all intents and purposes he is starting from 0 US college credits.

He can do foreign language testing and probably earn 24 credits (12 UL) in one foreign language (native speaker, 100% fluent) and at least 12 in another (raised speaking it at home with Mom).  

Other than that I foresee a lot of Sophia credits.  He can probably test out of a lot of this or move very smoothly through sophia type courses in history, social sciences, basic business, general ed etc.  He has previous work experience as a technical writer/journalist for a tech publication (in english) so writing is a strength.  

He has no certifications.

Budget: Would like to accomplish reasonably cheaply, will pay cash most likely. Up to $10k is doable, more could be possible for the right program.  The priority is on finding the right program that strikes a balance of being relatively fast and either also teaching him valuable things or quantifying existing skills on paper.

Commitments: He works fulltime and I can take on most household and family things needed, so fulltime work is about it.  Right now is a super busy time at work but that will get better in the next 30-60 days. 

Dedicated time to study: He can study probably 30-40 hours a week.  He is someone who is driven to stay busy and keeps his brain engaged, so some of this will take the place of time/energy currently spent on independent side projects he does to stay on top of his field.

Timeline: Finishing reasonably fast is the goal, with the right program. A year or so would be ideal.  Two would also not be out of the realm of reasonable to us.

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: They provide graduate reimbursement only.  Everyone hired into the company is assumed to have a Bachelor's so they only reimburse for advanced degrees.  He is kind of a special case that they hired because of skill, not education.  He is open to MBA or MS down the line to learn new things that would benefit him in the large business he currently works for.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[rachel83az]

How does he feel about papers vs. exams? Purdue Global has a CBE IT Bachelor's with several possible concentrations, including "Program & Software Development". https://www.purdueglobal.edu/degree-prog...echnology/ It would be a lot of work, though, since each PUG class is broken down into 5 papers/projects.

UMPI would also consist of quite a few papers, but each UMPI class is only a single paper or project (rarely exam). So, if you plan things right, it'd only be 10-15 papers at UMPI vs. about 45 at PUG.

WGU would be mostly/entirely exams.

I'm not sure about TAMUC's program.

[christinadq]

How does he feel about papers vs. exams? Purdue Global has a CBE IT Bachelor's with several possible concentrations, including "Program & Software Development". https://www.purdueglobal.edu/degree-prog...echnology/ It would be a lot of work, though, since each PUG class is broken down into 5 papers/projects.

UMPI would also consist of quite a few papers, but each UMPI class is only a single paper or project (rarely exam). So, if you plan things right, it'd only be 10-15 papers at UMPI vs. about 45 at PUG.

WGU would be mostly/entirely exams.

I'm not sure about TAMUC's program.

Hi!  Thanks for the information.

Papers are probably more of a strength than exams but not by much.  Either would work.  I think if he was proving new knowledge vs being assessed on current knowledge, he would rather do something in Business as it would literally be new knowledge and he would like that.  If the degree was based mostly on portfolio or testing out, development would make the most sense.  In some ways he's maxed out as far as software development and would like a new challenge.  45 or so papers/projects to walk away without (too much) new learning would not energize him very much.  But I will look at PUG because I had not really considered them, thank you!

[dfrecore]

You did not say which foreign language(s) he's fluent in, which makes a difference. If it's any of these, he'll get the most: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. If it's not, then he's limited to far fewer credits.

Here are the options as I see it:

1) TESU BALS - this is going to make the most use of the ACTFL exam if it's one of the main 8. He could get 12 UL and 24 LL credits, and they would fill Humanities and Hum/SocSci/His electives in the GE; and 12cr of UL and 15cr LL in the AoS. He could get any credits that interested him, including getting some Undergrad certs if he wanted (Computer Info Systems, CompSci, Organizational Leadership, Ops Mgmt, Psych). He could fill his free electives with business courses if he wanted to. Super flexible degree, but general. Could still lead to MBA if he wanted. ($6500)

2) TESU BSBA - this will only use 24 LL credits of the ACTFL exams if it's one of the main 8. Still worth doing, but not sure you'll get the bang for your buck. The good thing about TESU BSBA is that they have multiple concentrations he can get if interested. ($6500)

3) EC BSBA - not 100% sure how the ACTFL works here, I know they use ACE, so I'm guessing it will be similar to TESU in how it comes in. If so, and you get 36cr for it, that will be used in the Humanities and Free Electives, and you'll only have 2cr of Free Electives remaining. No concentrations here without a big price tag, but the price is right ($4000).

4) WGU BSBA - plenty of concentrations; few GE's which is nice for someone starting from scratch (not so good if you took a bunch of GE's in college already). He can bring in up to 90cr depending on the concentration.

5) WGU SW Dev degree is also a nice option. He could probably get through it quickly.

6) UMPI BLS w/MIS and MGT concentration - cheap as heck, and a good option for someone who has no credits. Sophia for most, ACTFL for foreign language and Free Electives, double concentration if he wants.

Just depends on whether he wants a specific degree, and how quickly he wants to work (obviously he'd have more pressure for WGU and UMPI.

I'm not an expert on TAMU and the CBE degree, but there's a thread on here for that. Worth looking at. No idea about Sophia.

[mohelena02]

I am currently enrolled in the TAMUC Org Leadership program. This program is NOT a business degree by any means. I am learning leadership/management content. I have 15 years of management experience and chose this degree because of the price, I am also in texas. I spent around 8 months prior doing Sophia and Study.com to have the least amount of classes to take here.

You said starting from scratch, so I would recommend starting with Sophia and Study.com first and getting as many of those classes.

However, I think he should consider the WGU SW eng program, seems like something he could do quickly as someone else mentioned. Or if you want to learn business a UMPI business degree or a WGU one.

[christinadq]

You did not say which foreign language(s) he's fluent in, which makes a difference.  If it's any of these, he'll get the most: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.  If it's not, then he's limited to far fewer credits.

Here are the options as I see it:

1) TESU BALS - this is going to make the most use of the ACTFL exam if it's one of the main 8.  He could get 12 UL and 24 LL credits, and they would fill Humanities and Hum/SocSci/His electives in the GE; and 12cr of UL and 15cr LL in the AoS.  He could get any credits that interested him, including getting some Undergrad certs if he wanted (Computer Info Systems, CompSci, Organizational Leadership, Ops Mgmt, Psych).  He could fill his free electives with business courses if he wanted to.  Super flexible degree, but general.  Could still lead to MBA if he wanted. ($6500)

2) TESU BSBA - this will only use 24 LL credits of the ACTFL exams if it's one of the main 8.  Still worth doing, but not sure you'll get the bang for your buck.  The good thing about TESU BSBA is that they have multiple concentrations he can get if interested. ($6500)

3) EC BSBA - not 100% sure how the ACTFL works here, I know they use ACE, so I'm guessing it will be similar to TESU in how it comes in.  If so, and you get 36cr for it, that will be used in the Humanities and Free Electives, and you'll only have 2cr of Free Electives remaining.  No concentrations here without a big price tag, but the price is right ($4000).

4) WGU BSBA - plenty of concentrations; few GE's which is nice for someone starting from scratch (not so good if you took a bunch of GE's in college already).  He can bring in up to 90cr depending on the concentration.

5) WGU SW Dev degree is also a nice option.  He could probably get through it quickly.

6) UMPI BLS w/MIS and MGT concentration - cheap as heck, and a good option for someone who has no credits.  Sophia for most, ACTFL for foreign language and Free Electives, double concentration if he wants.

Just depends on whether he wants a specific degree, and how quickly he wants to work (obviously he'd have more pressure for WGU and UMPI.

I'm not an expert on TAMU and the CBE degree, but there's a thread on here for that.  Worth looking at.  No idea about Sophia.

With the languages he speaks, he should be able to get 24 credits in his native language (they offer two options for testing) and 12 or more in the secondary (they offer 4 testing options for that one).  English is the third language and he has a low level of Spanish as well, but should be able to get 3 credits for that through Sophia or Study.com or something like that.

I am going to dive into TESU's current offerings a little bit with the examples you've outlined.  Thank you for guiding me towards it.

[freeloader]

One school that hasn’t been mentioned in this thread, but might be worth looking into is South Texas College. They offer a couple of self-paced/competency based degrees that might be good for him: Bachelor of Applied Technology in Computer and Information Technology and a Bachelor of Applied Technology in Technology Management.

https://www.southtexascollege.edu/academics/cbe/
https://catalog.southtexascollege.edu/ba...gies/#text

Some info here, some good and some bad, about the program: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...as+college

Tuition is $850 per 7 week term for people in Hidalgo and Starr counties, $910 for other Texas counties. They take CLEP exams, but not ACE or NCCRS credit (so no Sophia, study.com, etc). A year at WGU (2 six-month terms, likely what he would need to finish his BA) is $7,840. That is in the same ballpark as. TESU degree in CS or IT. A year at South Texas (7 terms of 7 weeks each) would be $6,370, assuming you aren’t in the college’s district.

[bjcheung77]

@christinadq, Welcome to the board! I am going to be blunt and ask, do you have your tax info from last year? How much did you make? How about the hubby? Previous posts of mine usually mention 3 things, 1) Certs 2) Degree 3) Experience. Since your hubby has the experience, he can work on the certs/degree.  My recommendation is to get a Pierpont BOG AAS emphasis in Info Systems, ladder that up to TAMUC BAAS-OL or UMPI BAS triple minor, and finish with a PUG MBA/MSIT or WGU Masters of his choice.

TAMUC - For reference, here's a thread from about 10 months ago, review my post #11 and #19: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ch-credits
TESU - Reference for a BALS NSM about 6 months ago, review entire thread, page two post #12: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...hts-Please
UMPI - A thread from last month, in regards to the triple minor, reference post #25 and #29: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...t-is-May-3

[Zardoz]

BUT -- lately he's gotten into management too, which he never thought he'd like until the last couple of years.  A business degree that actually teaches him new things and lets him put that knowledge to good use would also be useful and maybe actually better when looking towards the future.  So UMPI's BABA looked like a decent option or even their BLS with a Management or an MIS minor might really work OR perhaps even TAMUC's BAAS in Org Leadership (we are based in Texas and a local university would have more name recognition near us).

With an established career in software engineering, he probably doesn't really need to take a CS-heavy degree, unless he wants to go into research. I'm in a similar kind of position as he is- and to be honest, even for many research positions I'm a strong enough candidate as-is.

Given that he likes management, I would definitely encourage you to to look at a business / management / org leadership degree, since he'll probably learn more new & useful material that way and it will be a better career accelerator.

He can test out of languages with ACTFL and/or NYU SPS, depending on whether or not he wants/needs RA credit. Again, I'm in a very similar position there with a couple of European languages under my belt, and since I'll probably have more than enough RA credit, I'm really just rounding out my transcript with ACTFL for the shits and giggles.

If I were him, I'd probably gas up on Sophia and ACTFL and then go for the UMPI BLS w/MIS and MGT concentrations.

[davewill]

I wouldn't write off those foreign college credits so easily. The fees for having them evaluated are not onerous, and they will likely count as RA credits. Sure, the actual engineering courses may not be accepted toward a degree, but even if he only gets 50 or 60 transferable credits out of it, that would be a big help.

I don't often recommend PLA to folks, as ripping through an online course can often be quicker and easier, but it sounds like your husband is in a good position make use of it. Someone with as much experience as he has, could probably handle creating the needed portfolio(s) and get most or all of his CS credits done that way, as I did at TESU. The two PLA links in my signature should be helpful.

P.S. Another thought. While his job may want his bachelor's degree to be U.S. based, graduate programs will not mind that he has a foreign degree. He could consider doing a master's to satisfy this need for a U.S. degree rather than getting a "redundant" bachelor's degree. The downside is that it won't be as cheap as the bachelor's (although the Georgia Tech OMSCS, at $7K or so, is pretty cheap), nor will he be able to go through it quickly. On the plus side, he will actually be learning new things, and enhancing his resume in a more meaningful way.