WGU announces the B.S. in Cloud Computing

[bluebooger]

 No MCSA Microsoft Certs? 

there are no MCSA certs anymore -- that's why WGU changed the curriculum 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning...&Id=375282

[dfrecore]

I feel like WGU's focus on the name choice for degrees is a disservice. Algorithms are looking for Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Information Technology. Deviating from that makes the degree look odd and suspect if you're just scanning quick and don't know what WGU is.

Why people don't just knock out the B.S. Information Technology degree is beyond me. WGU's certification model makes it too specific to be really helpful. No MCSA Microsoft Certs? Linux? VMware? Azure? A Cloud Engineer needs to know Linux very deep, but they barely touch it.When someone has a WGU degree, i just think "Okay, they spent $15k to get a AWS/CCNA/insert cert here.

If WGU had been a for profit school using industry certification for it's coursework, people would be up at arms about it. WGU rubs me the wrong way for some reason.

My husband works directly in Cloud computing on the sales/architecture end, he has been offered every job he has for at least 10 years because of his expertise in cloud.  He doesn't actually NEED a degree, but if he gets one, it will have a bunch of cloud stuff that he can pass easily.  Just because YOU think that it's not important doesn't mean it applies to everyone.

He will also not spend anywhere close to $15k for the degree, which is the entire point.  With the Cloud degree, he'll get certs AND it will take him 1 term to complete.  So less than $3000.

If WGU rubs you the wrong way, don't get your degree there.  Easy peasy.

[xicovu]

I just don't know how they can call it "Cloud Computing" and push it as a DevOps cert without full stack development, automation, and deep Linux knowledge, docker, Kubernetes, kafka and a bunch of others are what makes cloud computing, cloud computing. Leaving out MCSA's and Linux options severely limits what grads can do.

CarpeDiem8, if you or your husband would like some DevOps career advice I'd be happy to help, I've got a pretty decent background. BS Cloud Computing isn't going to be super helpful for DevOps.

---

I just don't know how they can call it "Cloud Computing" and push it as a DevOps cert without full stack development, automation, and deep Linux knowledge, docker, Kubernetes, kafka and a bunch of others are what makes cloud computing, cloud computing. Leaving out MCSA's and Linux options severely limits what grads can do.

CarpeDiem8, if you or your husband would like some DevOps career advice I'd be happy to help, I've got a pretty decent background. BS Cloud Computing isn't going to be super helpful for DevOps.

MCSA certs don't "go away". They're a certification for that particular release. For MCSA Windows Server 2016 is the most current, but you still can get MCSA Server 2012. I just don't get why they don't cover base OS admin, either Linux or Windows. "Cloud" is advanced stuff that you aren't going to get with just an AWS cert.

The BS Cloud isn't going to hurt necessarily you but you've got a lot of learning left to do when your done if you actually plan on working in cloud. I can't stress this enough for people that want more than just a "check" box. Learn software development, or just burn through the IT degree ASAP and focus on more useful learning. The degree is a lot of wasted space that other degrees at WGU would help you better reach your goals better or faster. You can think I'm a jerk all you want but I've been in the tech industry and had enough intense interviews to know what I'm talking about. Maybe it could be useful for people to get some career feedback on there chosen degree path?

[jsd]

MCSA certs don't "go away". They're a certification for that particular release.

They're retiring them for existing and previous releases in June 2020. They'll no longer offer them for future releases. In two years current release MSCA will go inactive.

I'm not sure how that's different from "going away."

[dfrecore]

I just don't know how they can call it "Cloud Computing" and push it as a DevOps cert without full stack development, automation, and deep Linux knowledge, docker, Kubernetes, kafka and a bunch of others are what makes cloud computing, cloud computing. Leaving out MCSA's and Linux options severely limits what grads can do.

CarpeDiem8, if you or your husband would like some DevOps career advice I'd be happy to help, I've got a pretty decent background. BS Cloud Computing isn't going to be super helpful for DevOps.

---

I just don't know how they can call it "Cloud Computing" and push it as a DevOps cert without full stack development, automation, and deep Linux knowledge, docker, Kubernetes, kafka and a bunch of others are what makes cloud computing, cloud computing. Leaving out MCSA's and Linux options severely limits what grads can do.

CarpeDiem8, if you or your husband would like some DevOps career advice I'd be happy to help, I've got a pretty decent background. BS Cloud Computing isn't going to be super helpful for DevOps.

MCSA certs don't "go away". They're a certification for that particular release. For MCSA Windows Server 2016 is the most current, but you still can get MCSA Server 2012. I just don't get why they don't cover base OS admin, either Linux or Windows. "Cloud" is advanced stuff that you aren't going to get with just an AWS cert.

The BS Cloud isn't going to hurt necessarily you but you've got a lot of learning left to do when your done if you actually plan on working in cloud. I can't stress this enough for people that want more than just a "check" box. Learn software development, or just burn through the IT degree ASAP and focus on more useful learning. The degree is a lot of wasted space that other degrees at WGU would help you better reach your goals better or faster. You can think I'm a jerk all you want but I've been in the tech industry and had enough intense interviews to know what I'm talking about. Maybe it could be useful for people to get some career feedback on there chosen degree path?

With more than 20 years in the IT industry, my husband really only needs a check-the-box degree.  I'm not sure why YOU personally care about what he does, or if WGU offers degrees that YOU don't think are appropriate.  Yes, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but yours is very narrow, and doesn't take into account the many other reasons why people get degrees.

Many schools offer degrees that I personally don't think are useful, but obviously some people do because they get them.  LOTS of people go back to school to get a check-the-box degree, lots of people get degrees that aren't super relevant to their field and learn on the job or through training, or certifications, or all kinds of things.  YOU can't possibly know the reasons people do things.

You can offer an opinion on why you think a certain degree doesn't offer what you think it should for someone who wants to work in a particular field and needs to learn some specific things - but it will only apply to some people, and some jobs. It will only apply to a narrow subset of people getting that degree.  Try to keep that in mind.

[xicovu]

MCSA certs don't "go away". They're a certification for that particular release.

They're retiring them for existing and previous releases in June 2020. They'll no longer offer them for future releases. In two years current release MSCA will go inactive.

I'm not sure how that's different from "going away."

An MCSA from 2008 or 2003 or 2016 usually will have the same effect on your employment and an MCSA doesn't go away from your resume or Microsoft transcript. Now that they've announce the retirement of MCSA, they'll probably have a role based cert out to replace it. I doesn't change the root of the problem that WGU's coursework is leaving some serious gaps in Windows or Linux knowledge you need to know to function as a system admin/engineer. You need to know how to run VMs on top of the cloud or it's pointless.

[jsd]

I don't disagree with your overall point about the gaps, but MSCA is definitely going away. It's pretty poor form to put. expired/inactive certifications on your resume.

[dfrecore]

I don't disagree with your overall point about the gaps, but MSCA is definitely going away. It's pretty poor form to put. expired/inactive certifications on your resume.

I talked to my husband who's had dozens of certs over the years, he removes expired certs from his resume whenever he updates his resume.  He would NEVER keep an expired cert on there for any reason.

[bluebooger]

you mean my cert in MS Windows 3.11 is no good anymore ?

[xicovu]

I don't disagree with your overall point about the gaps, but MSCA is definitely going away. It's pretty poor form to put. expired/inactive certifications on your resume.

I talked to my husband who's had dozens of certs over the years, he removes expired certs from his resume whenever he updates his resume.  He would NEVER keep an expired cert on there for any reason.

MCSA's and VCP's officially do not expire anymore, I'm not sure how long that's been the case. Knowledge for Cisco, Microsoft, VMWare certs doesn't "expire" and changes very little and I can't think of a single hiring manager or team that I know of that would care. Mark it as "expired" or have a column for current & expired certs. They are paper. Nothing but paper.

A three year expired CCNP would have more sway with me than an active CCNA. I've heard of someone hired post 2013 with a MCSE NT 4.0 from the 90s. All the time you spend studying to keep paper exams active could be put to better use working on a home lab building projects or MOOCs. This is why being decked out in certs is not impressive and will probably hurt you. MSP's, Microsoft/VMware/Cisco/Redhat partners or tech support engineers are the only ones that need these so they keep "partner" status.

The best career advice I can give anybody is don't worry about your degree or certs past what it takes to get past HR. Your manager and the team hiring you will not care. This goes for IT/CS master's degrees that aren't MBA or management as well. BS + one good expert level cert is going to be the best thing for tech careers.