Software Education Level

I figured this would get more views here than the career section... but here it goes...

I'm in the process of transitioning majors from ME to CS after having gotten overwhelmed with intrigue starting a few months ago with the "C for Dummies".

No degree and still at a CC with a lot of the lower level classes completed (fortunately they share that much) and I'm working on deciding what level of education I'd like to get to.

Ideally, I'd like to be the first in my family to get a BS or Masters... but financially not really feasible right now with living on my own and in the Bay Area and running a business.

I don't have any friends/family in tech/software to bounce my ideas off of so I will go to my next biggest family, Taco owners.

Currently, I'm leaning towards an AS and getting some OTJ experience and then later, potentially/hopefully going back to finalize my degree in systems engineering once I have a little more money to fall back on.

Any insider recommendations from industry workers? Or would an AS be something passed over even for an entry level position?

 

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the AS degree unless you're just one or two classes shy. Just go straight for the bachelors. I assume you're attending a community college. I would look to transfer as soon as you can. If you're going into the Cal State system, I believe they will only transfer about 70 units so anything above that is a waste of time. Plus some of the community college classes are duplicated but at the upper division level, so they won't transfer. The thing that will be difficult is when you start making money, to stop and go back to college. You'll make much better money as a systems engineer than you would with the AS but it can be difficult to stop if you start incurring living expenses. Plus, once you get the bachelors, no one will care about the AS. If you need money, consider doing internships. It will give you experience to put on a resume without you having to stop.

I have a BA in Computer Science. I didn't get it until 2001. I spent a lot of time working full time and trying to go to school.

 

I'm director of tech support and over the years I've hired more people and read even more resumes than I can remember. Degrees and certificates are great but experience is better. All things being equal a degree or cert can tip the scale in a candidate's favor, but things are seldom equal.

I hire entry level positions all the time, just yesterday as a matter of fact. Hiring isn't a science, more of a black art. For an entry level position I'm looking for certs, evidence of initiative, training, experience, a desire to be in IT. The best first cert is an A+ that one along with evidence of initiative is enough to get your foot in the door with me. There are a lot of ways to show initiative, building your own computer, web sites, networks, helping friends and family. Being a life long techy I can pretty much tell by the way a person answers my questions if they've got the spark to be a good IT person. (side note. What is the difference between a good tech and a Great tech? It is not superior tech knowledge. The best techs are those with superior interpersonal skills and a willingness to learn. Given the choice between a gruff person with tons of knowledge and a pleasant one that is willing to learn, I will choose the pleasant one 10 times out of 10. I can teach any willing learner about technology, but changing a personality is beyond my ability. ) I realize people have to start somewhere, so how they do in the interview counts a lot.

So should you get Certs, AS, BS MS? Yes, yes, yes and yes. And probably in that order. Maybe even skipping the AS in favor of more certs.

 

I don't agree. Certs age and have to be renewed. You shouldn't get certs until later, just before you start looking for employment, if at all. If you start with certs, they'll likely be out of date by the time you're ready for employment. For IT certs matter. For computer science, not so much. The only time a cert would matter would be if you wanted to be a Microsoft certified developer.

 

I'm around 6 classes away. I'm hoping to use the classes to narrow down a specialization.

An internship around here wouldn't pay enough to put a roof over my head AND eat. I'm working two jobs right now at a decent rate for not having a degree but it's still borderline too expensive.

I don't necessarily think that I'd have a problem up and going back should I decide that I do want to get my BA; all financial burdens aside, even an entry level job is going to pay more than I'm making right now so that's a big bonus for me, especially knowing that conventional work weeks aren't 60+ hours like mine are...

Like I said, ultimately I want to get my BA, but right now, dedicating myself FT to school is just not feasible with my work hours. Consolidating 2 jobs to 1 that makes more money, and living at the same means would let me achieve that in a relatively short period of time.

I agree wholeheartedly about having the right character for the job, unfortunately, companies do also have to see gains; they aren't in it to see their employee get better (in the short term), they're in it to make money.

I have all the initiative; started off in ME and then got absorbed and I've taught myself C, in the process of learning C++ and am going to jump to Java once I've completed my current book and who knows where that will take me.

I've got examples up the wazoo that I've made but there's only so much that you can show without a degree to woo an employer.

 

CS is what I'd like to stick with; I've done enough IT support in my current position to know that it's not for me.

 

Being as the field is mainly based behind a computer, are there any online universities that would be recommended for a BA in CS?

A quick google search yielded Grantham having both an AA and BA program but I'm not really in the mood to shoot off admissions for all of the different listed possibilities.

Others include Rasmussen, Walden, Utica??? Never heard of 'em...

 

The complete truth of the matter is getting into IT puts you on a tread mill of never ending change and never ending training. You have to keep up or get out. So getting a cert should be timed with getting a job. I've hired guys that hadn't finished their certs because they did well in the interview. I'm going to train them to do things my way anyway. So, between you me and the internet certs aren't that important to me in the hiring process.

The other thing most people don't understand about IT is saying "I work in IT" is lot like saying "I work in construction." In construction there are plumbers, electricians, welders, carpenters, etc, etc. In IT there are networks, database, programmers, user support, business analysis, etc, etc. And, just like you wouldn't ask a certified welder to frame your house, your CCNA isn't really going to know what to do with your Oracle databases. So entry level guys needs to make some decisions about the branch of IT they want to pursue.

With a few exceptions all of my entry level guys and gals have families and kids and all of that. They work full time during the day and if they are going to school, it's online or at night. If they get a degree or cert it can give them a bump in pay. This sounds more like the OP than, say a person who goes to school full time and then looks for a job.

 

I'd be careful with online universities. There's a lot of expensive crap out there. Stay away from any for-profit university. I don't know about Grantham (never heard of it).

If their classes won't transfer to a standard four year college, stay away. You'll have a huge bill with not much to show for it.

 

After quite a bit of consideration and speaking with my counselor, my tentative plan is to finish up all of the classes that I can before transferring into ASUs accelerated Software Engineering program (online so it won't make a huge impact).

Thanks for your help guys!

 

Cool

 

Decided to go ahead and make a little website to keep track of my projects for future reference in applications at your suggestion

link in sig!

any suggestions would be appreciated should you have a chance to take a peek

 

Its a good start. You'll learn a ton and have a place to showplace some skills. You will out grow of a weebly site in time, but there is nothing wrong with them until then.