Paths for a degreeless but established SWE to pivot into AI research

[allvia]

University of Colorado Boulder has a Masters in Data Science on Coursera which doesn't require a Bachelor's degree: https://www.coursera.org/degrees/master-...ce-boulder

There's six 8-week sessions per year and the upcoming session is open for enrollment right now. Taking 3 courses per session has you graduate in 2 years, but you're not actually capped on the number of courses you can take per session, so you can finish within this year if you take on more courses per session. Tuition is $525 per credit with 30 credits needed to graduate, with pay as you go model. Which means the total price would end up as $15,750 when it's all said and done.

This in theory sounds great, but without a doubt a person (at least in the US) it is going to look very suspicious on a resume to have a master's without listing a bachelor's (of any kind). Even just filling out many online job applications they are going to be requiring you enter the lower before you list the higher degree.