2-3 YOE in Marketing, 62K TC, HCOL, No 4-Year Degree, Early 20s TL;DR: Should I go back to university in my early 20s, even though I invest in resources such as Coursera and Leetcode? Hi all, From a previous post on Blind, it was recommended that, upon posting my resume for review, I go back to school to improve my professional prospects and advance my career. For context, I was unable to afford a 4 year degree when I was younger due to the amount of debt it would put me in, and self-studied my way into my current role via certifications and courses. I currently pay for Coursera Plus, Leetcode Premium, Brilliant Premium, Udemy Pro and books from Amazon. [I’m considering also investing in Educative for the Grokking courses.] I’ve considered professional certificates from Coursera, but Western Governors University is another choice, likely for CS. I’ve also considered a cybersecurity bootcamp from UCF, and certificates from edX. Is it worth it to back to college at my age? Should I continue to self-study and create a more targeted learning plan to advancing in my career? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
Do WGU as fast as you can (it's possible to finish it in 6 months). Then you can start applying to Fortune 500 companies with a lower bar (like where I work), as well as smaller startups. If you want to grind really hard then you could do Leetcode at the same time as WGU and apply for FAANG. I've seen WGU alumni get jobs at good companies.
JPC, thank you for the advice. I did some prior research about the amount of credits I would be able to transfer over from my high school days and my self-study experience, but there’s a lot of prep involved. I know there are some sites with college classes that you can take for credit to speed up the process as well, but it’s been such a long time that I would be starting from scratch.
Yeah, there are ways of speeding up the process. Check out the WGU_CompSci subreddit. Lots of good info there. People have found a way to basically cheese the degree and get it in as efficient/easy way as possible.
Do it now. I'm doing WGU in my mid -30s with a wife and kids. It's a lot harder the older/more established you get.
Thank you, Cloudera. I’m already feeling the weight of having to study and work at the same time. I wish I did more studying when I was looking for a job and when I was younger as opposed to now, so something like WGU might work.
Disclaimer: I had to quit my job to focus full time on my degree because of my existing responsibilities. We have enough saved up to make it work. I really wish I had done it before having kids. It's going to be tough doing it plus a full time job, but it's only going to get tougher, not easier.
Depends on price / cost too. If you can afford, go to college. If you want to save money and go fast, do a GOOD bootcamp. It's easy to get distracted when self-teaching.
Hey Better, thank you for the advice. I did previously go into the UCF Cybersecurity bootcamp before, but I’m not sure which boot camps are worth it. I’ve heard good things about WGU, though.
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Respect your hustle, you’ll find plenty for good choices in moocs, boot camps, and online degrees. Considering you are pivoting from marketing into Dev, would advice you to see what learning method works for you. For example, I need guided learning, recorded sessions don’t work for me.
Thank you, Oracle. I’m still undecided if I’m pivoting from marketing, though I’ve wanted to improve my programming skills and can see myself working as a developer for that reason, especially since I tend to enjoy problem-solving more (even if I suck at it). I’m generally agnostic when it comes to learning, so either video or text works for me.