09-30-2021, 10:46 AM
(09-30-2021, 07:21 AM)freeloader Wrote:This post alone may make me attend TESU and pursue a masters vs any of the typical 4 year university with an online degree.. cost and time are the big deciders here.(09-30-2021, 12:01 AM)supreme1995_a Wrote:(09-29-2021, 11:34 PM)bjcheung77 Wrote: You're looking too far ahead and not starting your journey, you need to decide otherwise you'll get "stuck" at the analysis paralysis stage. You may want to get a degree from a State/Public university such as TESU and then decide on a more recognized Masters at Georgia Tech or Univ of Texas - Austin (yes, a Masters at a higher ranked institution). You need the Bachelors before you can ladder up to a Masters, the TESU CS or WGU option is perfectly fine for a springboard to get you there, cheaper, easier, faster...
I don’t want a masters. If I stated that I misspoke. Bachelors only for now
No, you have been more clear about what you want. BJ is simply trying to get you to think a little beyond what you have been focusing on to this point. Allow me illustrate:
You mentioned Penn State World Campus. They have a variable tuition structure, but your tuition is probably going to end up averaging around $620/credit. Their software engineering degree requires 126 credits. Let’s imagine you get, say 36 credits transferred in, leaving you 90 to do. Setting aside your tuition waiver, 90x620= $55,800. You probably are going to need 3 years to finish that, especially working full time. The other schools you mentioned are probably in the same ballpark from a cost and time perspective.
56 grand is a lot of money. You can complete a BA in CS from TESU for around 10k (specifics elsewhere, but that’s close enough). WGU probably would be a little higher since you don’t seem to have a strong CS background, but probably well below the price noted above. The UT Austin and GA Tech masters degrees are around 10k each. So, you could to do a bachelors and masters for less money and likely around the same time, if you are motivated. So, let’s say you go to TESU and GA Tech. You have spend around 20k for your degrees. If you have a 50k budget, you now have 30k left to spend on boot camps and other things, like industry certifications, to boost your resume.
Let me ask you, if you were a hiring manager and two candidates sent in resumes to work on a software development team with the following credentials, who would you pick?
Supreme: BS in Software Engineering, Penn State World Campus.
BJ: BA/CS TESU. Master in CS UT-Austin (one of the best universities in the world for this subject). 2 well-known boot camps completed. 5 industry-standard certifications.
Maybe you would pick supreme. I would not. I would pick BJ every time and twice on Sunday.
As to whether boot camps or a degree are better, I personally have no idea. Again, though, it depends on your career goals. That is why I asked you that. But, of course, you ignored it. If you want to move to Silicon Valley and work for Google or Oracle the advice may be different than if you want to parlay your prior experience into becoming a federal agent who works on cyber crimes. The advice might be different still if you want to start your own software business on the side.
Does a computer science degree as a BS or BA change anything when it comes to a masters?