
Ask HN: Getting a Cs Degree After 15 Years in the Industry? - empath75
I’ve been in the industry for 15 years and I’m a senior software engineer at a very large company, but I also dropped out of community college and I’ve never taken a cs class.<p>I have, however invested a lot of time learning higher math and advanced computer science topics on my own and I’d like to get a degree, but the idea of having to spending all the time and money going through undergraduate prerequisites feels like a waste for me.<p>Is there some way to get credit for work experience so I don’t have to spend a semester doing a basic algorithms and data structures class and so on?
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mangoleaf
Here is what I would do: 1\. Find online degree at REAL university. 2\. IF
they don't let you challenge the final exam, then let the videos run on a
separate machine while you work. THEN take final.

List of REAL universities that offer REAL degrees online:

[http://ecampus.wisconsin.edu/](http://ecampus.wisconsin.edu/)

[http://online.unl.edu/](http://online.unl.edu/)

[http://online.missouri.edu/](http://online.missouri.edu/)

[http://bamabydistance.ua.edu/](http://bamabydistance.ua.edu/)

[http://asuonline.asu.edu/](http://asuonline.asu.edu/)

[http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/](http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/)

[http://online.wsu.edu/](http://online.wsu.edu/)

It took me a while to compile this list. They don't advertise. I'm sure there
are others that I missed. Many good PAC-12 schools in that list!

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ultrasounder
Upvoting this as some of the analytics programs look really interesting with a
good mix of Traditional Statistics and Learning. Also the turion plus fees
make them much more attractive than a boot camp with possibly better
recognition. Thanks for sharing and doing all the hard work.

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Jackypot
A colleague of mine read and thoroughly recommended 'The Imposter's Handbook'
for devs in this situation - it's a CS overview for developers without CS
degrees. Data structures, Big O etc.

I don't think going to university after 15 years of industry experience will
reap any benefits. Something like this could just plug the gaps in your
knowledge for less than a hundred dollars and a fraction of the time.

[https://bigmachine.io/products/the-imposters-
handbook/](https://bigmachine.io/products/the-imposters-handbook/)

~~~
jolmg
> I don't think going to university after 15 years of industry experience will
> reap any benefits. Something like this could just plug the gaps in your
> knowledge for less than a hundred dollars and a fraction of the time.

I think OP knows this and just considers it for the piece of paper at the end,
probably to help ensure future employability.

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deepaksurti
I am making an assumption here as you have not stated so explicitly. May be
you are less challenged at your job and hence the thought to go get a degree,
as getting a degree has probably always been at the back of your mind.

You are already learning higher math and advanced CS topics, so better to
design your own curriculum and go for a more difficult domain, if you are not
in one.

Instead of a degree, do side projects related to the curriculum you design,
get it added to your portfolio, if possible keep publishing the stuff you
learn and it will be a better ROI.

Also leaving job and just going to school may not be so much fun in other
aspects as well (no income, working on subjects that you may not enjoy
learning); for the no income part if you go do it part time, it can be insane
hard work.

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toomuchtodo
Look at CLEPing out of as much class time as possible.

[https://clep.collegeboard.org/](https://clep.collegeboard.org/)

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sloaken
I love CLEP. I did it a long time ago, no prep just walked in and knocked out
12 semester hours. I was a freshman, would have scored 18 hours but I had
already taken calculus.

You can easily get out of your first year. Cost now is about $85 a class. But
you need to check that your targeted university accepts the CLEP.

Western Governors is an interesting choice to consider.

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theonemind
Once you get admitted somewhere, you can perhaps talk to the faculty about
skipping classes. You should have an advisor or set of advisors to talk to,
and they should help you get something out of your education, including
skipping requirements for things you know.

You'll have to do a certain number of credit hours either way, but you can
perhaps avoid sitting through a lot of stuff you already know if you can
convince them you know it and just don't want to waste the time (not just your
advisor; they might have you talk to faculty who can evaluate you); you can,
perhaps, skip to classes full of material you won't know, perhaps even
graduate courses for credit as an undergraduate. You'd probably have to know
the stuff you want to skip pretty well.

Honestly, your advisor should work with you to make sure that you're not
wasting your time at a minimum. If not, you can drop out of the program.

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DoreenMichele
_Is there some way to get credit for work experience so I don’t have to spend
a semester doing a basic algorithms and data structures class and so on?_

There are books on this subject.

As someone else suggested, you may be able to get class credit via passing
standardized tests. The CLEP is the most common one, but it's not the only
one. I can't think of the other big name right now.

Some colleges will assess your experience and give credit.

If you have taken any kind of courses at all, you may be able to get college
credit for that. For example, a lot of American colleges have standardized
what military courses they will count as college credit. From what I have
read, military members basically get exempted from having to take any kind of
PE classes.

Get a book on the subject. Contact local colleges and ask questions. You may
need to take some classes to wrap up a degree, but if you can cut it down
some, that can really help.

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ohyes
I skipped undergrad CS and went directly to a masters.

There are ‘working professionals’ masters degrees that are geared towards this
type of thing. They don’t have the cachet of Stanford or whatever, but can be
interesting and useful if you apply yourself.

If they accept you, they will make you take a prerequisite class to ensure you
are at the right level.

I wouldn’t expect a monetary gain from this as college is quite expensive, it
isn’t clear a degree noticeably increases your salary. I would recommend doing
it primarily out of personal interest.

It does make the ‘foot in the door’ at a bigger company easier, but it’s not
clear that it has directly helped me in that way due to the size of companies
I normally gravitate towards. The knowledge has been very useful, however.

~~~
darpa_escapee
> I skipped undergrad CS and went directly to a masters.

Did you have any undergrad credits or degree?

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ohyes
I had some credits, no degree. I didn’t want to take calculus and at the time
(I think it would have been 4 courses in it, amounting to 1/8 of my credits).

I wasn’t particularly bad at math, just uninterested in rehashing calculus.
Other stuff was more interesting than a double major. (Music, English,
Science).

I had been working as a software engineer for about a year, so that helped.

It also helped a lot that I have had some very supportive mentors in my life
(willing to recommend me).

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mehh
Why? Why do you want a degree?

Is it purely a personal satisfaction thing, prove to yourself that you can do
it? If so then you probably suck it up and do the full thing.

Is it the nag that you missed something or may not be percieved as good as
others in your job? Moocs are a very good way of leveling the field here, get
the paid cert, get it on your linkedin, do some hard ones challenge yourself.
They are literally badges of merit, but don't do the simple trendy ones, do
the compilers one or some other advanced foundation CS ones (not be a data
scientist in 24 hours type rubbish).

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vkaku
My personal advice is that while learning CS is helpful but University degrees
are expensive and may not give you a ROI.

The right course taught by the right person and learnt the right way will. And
often, I found that some MOOCs have a way better structure and content than
the ones I was taught in my University back in the day.

I'd suggest going through them and strengthening your concepts yourself - and
if you feel all you need is a degree (or) a course that offers you far better
discipline, then go for it.

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seanwilson
> I have, however invested a lot of time learning higher math and advanced
> computer science topics on my own and I’d like to get a degree, but the idea
> of having to spending all the time and money going through undergraduate
> prerequisites feels like a waste for me.

If you know you can learn it yourself and you've got this far without a
degree, why do you want one?

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IloveHN84
Higher salary?

~~~
seanwilson
Genuine question but after 15 years working experience when is a degree going
to make a difference when looking to get hired? Does it even make a difference
after a couple of years of experience?

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bjourne
You do not need to be present in class a whole lot in most CS curricula. You
can do exercises and homeworks on your own and only need to be present for
exams and presentations.

