
Ask HN: Should I go for a CS degree? - zacvivo
Currently I am working in a completely unrelated field in a non target tech hub but have been debating about what I want to do. In my spare time I have been writing BS little utilities such as a sports card DB (that was then broken by a change in website code) and also have been working on a desktop application to solve an issue I have noticed. Having said that I am Ok with Python, working with Tkinter, Beautifulsoup, and other libraries. I may eventually dive into ML with Python but have not had enough time to work on it. Further I have been learning Java to get outside only programming in Python.having said all this I am not sure whether I will be staying with this job so I have been debating about going back to school for CS (currently I have a BA in Business Administration with a minor in Marketing). This school would be a state school and would be about 5k a year for tuition. Further they offer certificates and was thinking of maybe doing that and adding a few classes here and there before committing to a full CS degree. I am wondering for the cost would it be worth it to pursue it or just get a certificate and call it a day (as Algorithms and Data Structures are probably the biggest thing I need to work on)? Also the unemployment rate is low where I am so find A job would not be a problem but if possible I would like to work on more application development stuff instead of web based stuff.
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mikekchar
Personally I would say that certificates are not worth anything at all. If I'm
hiring someone with no experience, I don't expect them to know much and I
don't care about the certificate. If I'm hiring someone with experience, then
I assume they can pick up the knowledge that they need quickly. In some fields
certificates can be useful, but IMHO application programming is not one of
them. When I was doing Windows development (nearly 20 years ago now, mind you)
an MSCE was really not very impressive. In fact, almost the reverse: it's
almost an indication that the candidate doesn't have confidence in their
abilities.

A degree is useful. Whether it is worth the price really depends on the
situation. I've known quite a few people who have made the transition from an
external field to programming, but you have to be a bit lucky. Your first job
is kind of critical. If you can work for a good company for 2-3 years, then
you pretty much have it made. Most companies won't care about official
qualifications after that. However, it can be a real crap shoot to get that
first job.

Whatever you do, I would say that programming _education_ is very, very
important in the career of a programming. I'm 30 years or so into my career
and I still spend a large amount of my time studying on my own. No matter
what, you need to learn this stuff and you will need to keep learning for
decades after. IMHO, this is really what distinguishes a programming job from
many others -- the treadmill of new techniques, technology and ideas never,
ever stops and you have to be running constantly. If that appeals to you, then
this might be a good career for you. If you have the idea of, "Well, I can
just push to get this done and I'll be set", then I think you'll end up being
in a huge amount of stress a few years into your career.

With all that said, I would recommend doing some academic MOOCs to see how you
feel about it and how you would feel about going back to school. Or as you
say, take a few courses. However, I would encourage you to stick to academic
courses and stay away from certificates (which are likely to be
unrepresentative of what you need to do for a CS degree).

Finally, if you think you can find a good job, then you might just want to go
for it directly. However, be picky and make sure that you find somewhere that
has some good senior people and who don't mind mentoring juniors.

Good luck!

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trcarney
I would first see if you can find a job at a tech company and see if they will
pay for it. Second, I would talk to the university and see if you can go for a
Masters. You would have to take a ton of prerequisites but I think it is worth
asking.

As far as if you should go for the career change, I would say yes. This is
mainly due to the fact that you clearly enjoy the work because you do it in
your free time.

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zacvivo
My current company offers tuition assistance so may try it but it seems like
to do anything with this company you need to ask your boss 5 times about it
and there is a cap on earning. My only concern is that I suck at math but
honestly I think it is my fault and thus why I mentioned about the
certificates as I can take everything else while I brush up on math. Also it
seems like with changes in the company there may be less demand for the
position I am angling for at my company.

~~~
zacvivo
Also would Indeed, Dice, or networking through a hackerspace be a better
option for finding work? Someone mentioned someone at the group was working on
something related to BeautifulSoup but then my schedule did not allow me to go
to said hackerspace.

~~~
trcarney
It doesn't hurt to look there. I would also add your programming skills to
your LinkedIn. You will get recruiters hitting you up. That's how I got my
current job. I recommend doing this while actively searching. Just be aware
some recruiters on there are pretty shady.

With your background (business and marketing) and your ability to use python,
you could look into a business intelligence or data science job as way into
CS. If you decide to go this route, I would get familiar with Pandas, Numpy,
and other popular data science packages in python.

~~~
zacvivo
That is a good point. I have been thinking of moving in that direction (or
data analyst ) but trying to balance the demands of things is the biggest
thing. Right now I am studying for my series 7 and the fail rates of other
colleagues and my own struggles with this and it has made me reconsider the
field I am in. I appreciate the insight and I think I will try to look into an
Analyst type job to get on board. Thank you.

