A lot of American Universities are beginning to offer completely equivalent online degrees at a really cheap price to promote sustainability, diversity, and cheaper education. For instance, I'm in my second semester of Georgia Tech's Online Master's of Computer Science program. For around $6000, you can obtain a master's degree from a top 10 institution for Computer Science. The low price and the fact that you never have to step foot on campus makes it a very plausible opportunity for students who live outside of the US. The program is very progressive so classes are around relevant topics like AI, Machine Learning, & more. I highly recommend it! omscs.gatech.edu/
In that case, I'd skip it and work on your personal brand. I think you're off to a good start by sharing knowledge here. Keep building (IMO one good personal project is better than many) and create a pleasing portfolio and overall web presence and you'll be on easy street as long as you keep improving as a coder. And you will keep improving if you go deep on a project.
That's just my thought, but if you want more specific, more opinionated advice, let me know.
I agree with Ben-- if the classes are not on the same level as universities elsewhere, then skip it. But understand that this puts an initial hurdle in front of every job you apply to: they're going to want you to prove you have your coding fundamentals in order. (The exception is freelance work.)
I have a CS degree, and I've been a professional dev for ~18 years, and I typically get questions about:
recursion
basic data structures (queue, stack, hash table, and I was once asked about skip lists.)
tree traversals (depth-first & breadth-first)
graph traversals (Dijkstra & variations)
sorting (mostly partition & pivot variations)
And for Java-related jobs (and even some JavaScript stuff) I get questions about design patterns (See Gamma, et al.) and Interfaces vs. Abstract classes, etc.
If you don't have a degree, many interviewers will want to cover this stuff in depth with you to make sure you know it. Yes, this is slightly silly: I literally can't remember the last time I had to actually implement a sorting algorithm at work. On the other hand, you know they'll ask about it, so don't let the silliness get in the way of your career.
The other things you gain by taking classes/attending university are not in the syllabus. I found that every class taught me at least one or two things that were not actual course requirements. (Sometimes it'll hone your testing skills. Sometimes the biggest take-away is how to deal with a Professor who's an asshole.)
And honestly, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my career until I went to university. I started out studying music, then switched to computer science without even really knowing what kind of coding I'd find interesting, and then I saw Mosaic...
I guess what I'm saying is that if the classes are cheap, and you have the time, university is not a bad way to meet cool people, learn unexpected stuff, and find direction. All of that is orthogonal to what's in the course description or the quality of the instruction.
Get a degree and work simultaneously, if the university is not strict with attendance. This is what people in my country generally do.
My course had a lot classes that are not immediately applicable to the work I do but they gave me a lot of perspective, so I do think a degree makes a more well-rounded software engineer.
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
I personally don't put a lot of stock in the CS degree (and don't have one), but it certainly helps in general.
I wouldn't go out of my way to get a degree just for the degree, but I'm sure there's a lot to learn along the way as you do it!
Well I live in Tunisia and the educational system in my opinion is just a waste of time ... And I can't wrap my head about what I should do ...
A lot of American Universities are beginning to offer completely equivalent online degrees at a really cheap price to promote sustainability, diversity, and cheaper education. For instance, I'm in my second semester of Georgia Tech's Online Master's of Computer Science program. For around $6000, you can obtain a master's degree from a top 10 institution for Computer Science. The low price and the fact that you never have to step foot on campus makes it a very plausible opportunity for students who live outside of the US. The program is very progressive so classes are around relevant topics like AI, Machine Learning, & more. I highly recommend it! omscs.gatech.edu/
In that case, I'd skip it and work on your personal brand. I think you're off to a good start by sharing knowledge here. Keep building (IMO one good personal project is better than many) and create a pleasing portfolio and overall web presence and you'll be on easy street as long as you keep improving as a coder. And you will keep improving if you go deep on a project.
That's just my thought, but if you want more specific, more opinionated advice, let me know.
Thank you
I agree with Ben-- if the classes are not on the same level as universities elsewhere, then skip it. But understand that this puts an initial hurdle in front of every job you apply to: they're going to want you to prove you have your coding fundamentals in order. (The exception is freelance work.)
I have a CS degree, and I've been a professional dev for ~18 years, and I typically get questions about:
And for Java-related jobs (and even some JavaScript stuff) I get questions about design patterns (See Gamma, et al.) and Interfaces vs. Abstract classes, etc.
If you don't have a degree, many interviewers will want to cover this stuff in depth with you to make sure you know it. Yes, this is slightly silly: I literally can't remember the last time I had to actually implement a sorting algorithm at work. On the other hand, you know they'll ask about it, so don't let the silliness get in the way of your career.
The other things you gain by taking classes/attending university are not in the syllabus. I found that every class taught me at least one or two things that were not actual course requirements. (Sometimes it'll hone your testing skills. Sometimes the biggest take-away is how to deal with a Professor who's an asshole.)
And honestly, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my career until I went to university. I started out studying music, then switched to computer science without even really knowing what kind of coding I'd find interesting, and then I saw Mosaic...
I guess what I'm saying is that if the classes are cheap, and you have the time, university is not a bad way to meet cool people, learn unexpected stuff, and find direction. All of that is orthogonal to what's in the course description or the quality of the instruction.
Get a degree and work simultaneously, if the university is not strict with attendance. This is what people in my country generally do.
My course had a lot classes that are not immediately applicable to the work I do but they gave me a lot of perspective, so I do think a degree makes a more well-rounded software engineer.